Sonos Soundbars
Last updated: Jan 25, 2023
Sonos has convincingly established itself as one of the most prominent techno-brands in not just the United States, but in countries all over the world. Founded in the year 2002, Sonos has introduced a number of audio gadgets for its customers that have left a mark and consistently solidified its brand name. But amongst all its gadgets, Sonos is known for pushing the envelope with its soundbars. It boasts a fine variety of speakers in its arsenal which are designed to meet all kinds of expectations of consumers as per their preference and needs. Here is a look at the features and history of some of the most popular Sonos speakers and their current prices at various online shopping platforms.
Sonos Soundbar Ray
Released: June, 2022
Sonos Soundbar Ray was released on June 7, 2022 in the U.S., U.K. and Canada among many other countries around the globe. Reputed for designing some of the finest audio gadgets in use today, Sonos had unveiled its bookshelf speaker Ray as a gateway to the brand’s arsenal of multi-room audio devices. This speaker aims at providing sublime audio experience to its users at highly affordable rates. It is priced at $279.99, making it the least expensive speaker as compared to its other Sonos counterparts.
Despite being sold at lower costs, Sonos Ray offers a dense variety of features that makes it an excellent purchase. It has a total of five touch-sensitive buttons that makes it simple for the user to operate the device. You can also operate it via streamlined remote, the Sonos app, Apple Airplay 2 and more. The speaker takes merely a few minutes to be set up and provides powerful bass with its front-facing acoustics. The compact nature of this soundbar makes it the ideal choice for enclosed spaces since it can be easily placed on any TV stand, thereby saving users a lot of room. You can purchase Sonos Ray at the above mentioned price, i.e., $279.99 at all major shopping platforms such as Amazon, Costco, Best Buy among others.
Sonos Soundbar Arc
Released: June 2020
Having been released on June 10 2020, Sonos Arc is considered to be among the top-tier speakers available in the market today. The speaker is equipped with an elite Dolby Atmos sound system that provides users with an impeccable home theater experience, whether it is for films, gaming or any other form of entertainment. The Arc soundbar has been deemed as a replacement of Playbar and Playbase. Sonos Arc was originally sold at $799.99 per piece on the official Sonos website, but its price has now increased to $899.99 due to rising demand. There have been a lot of speculations regarding the arrival of Arc’s Gen 2 model, but no release date has been announced yet.
It has several features that are responsible for its massive success. Along with its superior sound system, the speaker also offers voice control commands that support Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant. On the other hand, one can also use this speaker using touch controls or by syncing it with the TV remote. Unlike what we have seen in Ray, Arc also has an HDMI connection. In addition to this, the device also has LED lights whose brightness matches with that of the room, which creates a pleasant ambience for the user as they enjoy their favorite movies. However, the LEDs remain off most of the time in their default settings. While most shopping sites are selling this product at the above mentioned price, the number may vary in some cases. Here is a look at the sale prices of some of the major sites:
Best Buy: $899.99
Amazon: $824.99 - $899.99
Sonos Beam Soundbar
Released: October 2021
Along with Sonos Arc, Sonos Beam soundbar is also counted as one of the highly sold speakers of this brand. Beam Gen 2 was released on October 5 2021, whereas the original model was released on July 17, 2018. The Gen 2 model matches up to Arc in certain key aspects such as the availability of Dolby Atmos sound and voice control, but gives a significantly better price to the customers in comparison. Sonos Beam Gen 2 soundbar is currently being sold at the cost of $449.99.
The reason why Beam costs higher than entry-level speakers is because it boasts of several features that makes it a worthy buy. It is easy to maneuver with touch and voice controls and also has an HDMI connection. While it has certain similarities with its previous model, Gen 2 provides smarter speaker functions and elevated sound quality. In comparison with Arc, it is smaller in size which makes it more space-friendly; however, it is also cheaper because Arc holds a superior sound system.
Amazon: $430.25 - $447
Best Buy: $449.99
Sam’s Club: $449.00
Sonos Playbar
Released: February 2013
Sonos Playbar speaker was released on February 12, 2013. While it is currently discontinued, Playbar is regarded as one of the top-performing models of the brand of its time - in terms of both sales and performance. This model took the audio experience to a whole new level in comparison to the base-level speakers available on any flat-screen TV. Playbar speaker was sold at the price of $699.99 upon its release, but its prices may vary today.
While it was launched nearly a decade ago, Playbar supports voice controls from both Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant. It has a great bass sound minus the sub bass and has a rather easy set-up. While this model tasted great success in its day, it was eventually taken off sales as its designed was deemed absolete as its advanced counterparts such as Arc and Beam entered the market. Unlike these speakers, playbar did not have HDMI connections amd Dolby Atmos sound, two features that have made a lot of impact on customers today. Playbar may have been discontinued, but its refurbished versions are still scarcely available on the following websites:
Amazon: $499.00
Best Buy: $499.00