The Sonos Era 300 has a funky new angular design, like a misshapen hourglass on its side, and that's because it houses an array of speakers. You've got a forward-firing compression driver, an upfiring driver for Dolby Atmos height, left and right drivers for width, and then two side-firing woofers. The great thing about Sonos is not only its wide range of products, long list of streaming services, user-friendly app and set-up, and consistently impressive performance; it’s also that your system can constantly grow – whether that's through adding wireless speakers to your soundbar set-up or planting them in another room. And if you want to add voice control into the mix, it's a seamless process. All of that effort paid off: the Sonos Arc delivers one of the most convincing Atmos presentations of any soundbar we’ve heard. Height junkies can turn up the volume of the Arc's upward-firing drivers using a separate control, but we don't find it necessary to overly boost the vertical channel to enjoy the Arc's immersive delivery.

I’m not seeing the case that a ‘ standalone’ Arc would be referred to as a 5.0.2 setup? I would class it, in a similar vein, as a 3.0.2 system and perhaps state that it handles the two pseudo rear channels and that the ‘5 phased array channels’ referred to are the Arc’s FR, FL, Center and 2 height channels.There is nothing else quite like it on the market, but the real plus is that you aren’t forced wholly to sacrifice sonic prowess to accommodate the quirky design. And again, it's one of the most affordable ways to introduce Sonos technology into your home – more than the Sonos IKEA Symfonisk bookshelf, less than the One and One SL. We really didn’t feel any desperate need to add a Sub to the Arc soundbar, there was more than enough powerful bass to allow you to feel those on-screen explosions or beat drops when turned up loud. We even felt the night mode settings that lower the bass EQ would be a useful feature for those in apartments with thin walls. So why did it even refresh the product? Well, you're also getting an upgraded processor here, which is key – it signifies that Sonos is likely future-proofing this speaker for potential firmware upgrades, ie. the oft-rumored addition of hi-res music support. So, there's that. See those little feet –on the side?! It can be positioned upright too, you see, to create a stereo pair comprising two Fives or as part of a home theater system with a Sonos Arc, say. (Image credit: TechRadar) Sonos Five review: Sound quality That said, the speaker’s audio positioning was good enough that in a boxier media room we’d expect you’d be able to get surprisingly close to multi-speaker surround sound using just the Arc soundbar.

Sonos isn’t known for affordable audio gear, but the Ray is a convincing soundbar at a more accessible price. And despite the budget status, the Ray bears all the hallmarks of Sonos build quality. At just 56cm long, it’s undeniably compact – and some 10cm shorter than the Beam – meaning it can easily fit beneath smaller TV sets. An optical port lets it connect to cheaper, older sets, but there’s no Bluetooth or HDMI. The Arc's own status light consists of LEDs that shine through four holes above the subtle Sonos logo (fun fact: there are 76,000 holes in all the grilles combined). By default, these LEDs remain off most of the time and their brightness is tailored to the ambient light in the room even when they are lit (when adjusting volume, for example), so as not to appear too bright. We tested it in a room with a 20 foot (6 meter) vaulted ceiling and a nib wall behind the sofa, which makes it essentially impossible to bounce audio around behind you. If you don't care for voice control and simply want Sonos integration, the One SL makes a lot of sense for you and your bank account. But it also serves another purpose for those who do want voice control: to work in a stereo pair with the One. Pair aOneand One SL together in stereo – a set-up that looks and sounds good for the money – and you’ve created a pair of stereo speakers where the One can handle voice activation. Just like all Sonos speakers, advanced features are controlled using the Sonos app on your smartphone or tablet, including access to more than 100 streaming services (these may require subscriptions).We'll have to reserve judgement until we've run the rule over every aspect of the Sonos Roam SL, but on paper, it's a tempting proposition for those who want to dive into the Sonos ecosystem at the lowest price point. The Sonos Era 100 is quite a bit larger than the Roam and Roam SL, with a cylindrical build rather than the triangular prism shape offered by the Roam and Roam SL. They measure around the same in terms of height - the Roam and Roam SL are around an inch shorter - but they are also roughly half the width of the Era 100, making them much more portable, which is of course the point. The speaker will connect to your home wi-fi when in range, and switch over to Bluetooth when you're on the go, such as connecting to your smartphone (it'll reconnect automatically after you've connected for the first time). Some devices may not pass Dolby Atmos by default without making some adjustments to audio settings.