The Sonos Arc is an excellent soundbar, and not only because it supports Dolby Atmos, an immersive audio format. But there are a number of big flaws in the Arc, only one of which could ultimately be remedied.
The only way to get around the other restriction completely is to link the Arc to a late-model TV that supports eARC (the improved Audio Return Channel that has three times the bandwidth of the older HDMI ARC) for HDMI.
Let me be up front: I really, really like the Sonos Arc, thus my bottom-line score. Sonos is the undisputed master of mainstream multi-room audio, and for both movies and music it sounds completely amazing. It's stunning to look at.
Sonos Arc limitations
The first problem is that Sonos decided not, at least not at launch, to support multi-channel LPCM audio. The company plans to release a firmware update to add that functionality, but couldn't give me a date, a Sonos spokesperson told me. You may not care about this if you're not a gamer. Inside the Arc
The 45-inch wide Arc is an imposing but elegant-looking soundbar, built for use with larger TVs, with a face that curves at an angle of 270 degrees (black or white available). Behind its grill lie eight elliptical woofers and three silk-dome tweeters, each powered by a separate Class D amplifier.
The 3.4-inch height of the speaker was low enough that it did not invade the bottom of the screen of my TV, but I was unable to listen to it at that spot. My TV is in an integrated wall-to-wall entertainment center that has folding doors so that when it's not in use, I can cover the TV.
Listening tests
Using Sonos' Trueplay program on an iPad mini, I tuned the Arc to my 13 x 19 x 9-foot (WxLxH) home theater before sitting down to conduct my listening tests. Trueplay is very effective, but only using an iOS device can tuning be done, since Sonos will predict which type of microphone is on board and where on the device it will be located.
Is the Arc of the Sonos worthy?
A fantastic sound bar with caveats is the Sonos Arc. With crisp highs, dense midrange, and slabs of well-defined bass, it sounds amazing. It's attractive to look at, and it's part of the planet's strongest multi-room mainstream audio infrastructure. Trueplay will pull off some incredible tricks to adapt the speaker's sound to your space if you have an iOS device or can borrow one for a few minutes.
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