If you're shopping for a Sonos soundbar, the biggest decision to make is how much of a home theater setup you want. The brand offers everything from compact, affordable bars to premium multi-speaker setups. Regardless, most Sonos soundbars fit neatly into the wider Sonos ecosystem, making them especially appealing if you already own Sonos speakers or want to expand your setup over time. However, it's worth remembering that Sonos generally offers fewer physical inputs and sound customization options than some competitors.
We've tested 10 Sonos soundbars, and below are our recommendations for the best ones to buy, whether you're looking for a full surround sound system or a small and simple upgrade over your TV's speakers.
Updates
- 01/10/2025Sonos Ultimate Immersive Set with Arc Ultra reviewed
- 11/28/2024Sonos Arc Ultra reviewed
- 01/17/2024Sonos Beam updated
- 12/06/2023Sonos Arc updated
- 10/12/2023Sonos Beam (Gen 2) updated
Our recommendations are built upon our thorough testing and rigorous reviews. Every soundbar we evaluate goes through multiple testing stages with different teams to ensure accurate, authentic results. No cherry-picked units or data.
Curious how we've tested over 200 soundbars (and counting)? Look at our How We Test Soundbars article for a behind-the-scenes look at our lab and process.
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Best Sonos Soundbar
The best Sonos soundbar we've tested is the Sonos Ultimate Immersive Set with Arc Ultra. This versatile soundbar setup builds on the standalone Sonos Arc Ultra, with a dedicated subwoofer for improved bass reproduction and two Sonos Era 300 speakers for surround sound. This package offers a captivating listening experience with Dolby Atmos content, thanks to the up-firing drivers in the bar and the satellites. The kit has a balanced frequency response suitable for music, movies, and TV.
Using its TruePlay room calibration tool, the soundbar automatically tunes to your space's unique acoustics. And features like 'Night' mode, 'Speech Enhancement,' bass and treble sliders, and listening mode presets give you flexibility to adjust its sound. As a hub for home entertainment, you can connect via Bluetooth, AirPlay 2, and Wi-Fi, as well as HDMI eARC, and go hands-free with the voice assistant. Because the Sonos ecosystem is built for modularity, you can often add components from previous speaker releases, which adds a welcome degree of upgradeability to the Sonos Arc Ultra and its various configurations. If you want the best from Sonos, this set is the one to check out.
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Best Mid-Range Sonos Soundbar
If you want a premium Sonos soundbar at a lower price, check out the Sonos Beam (Gen 2) with Sub Mini + One SL Speakers. It's the next generation of the original Sonos Beam, retaining the same compact design as its predecessor, making it easy to integrate into smaller living rooms. This particular setup isn't always available as a bundle from major retailers; it's helpful to shop around or purchase the soundbar, subwoofer, and speakers separately. This generation also supports Dolby Atmos content, so you can enjoy immersive sound with your favorite movies and TV shows on streaming platforms and Blu-rays. Despite its small size, it can stretch sound beyond its edges for a more cinematic feel.
This soundbar is suitable for all sorts of audio content. It's available as the standalone Sonos Beam (Gen 2) for those who don't have space for a sub and satellites, but the add-ons improve its sound, especially in the bass range. This bar clearly reproduces voices and lead instruments, and you get plenty of thump in the bass for explosive scenes. Like the Sonos Ultimate Immersive Set with Arc Ultra, you can access the TruePlay room correction feature, and there's built-in support for Alexa and Google Assistant. It doesn't achieve as much height as the Arc Ultra and doesn't get quite as loud, but this small bar still packs a real punch.
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Best Budget Sonos Soundbar
The Sonos Ray is the best Sonos soundbar in the budget category we've tested. This small all-in-one 2.0 bar is ideal for listening to stereo content, which includes most music and older, dialogue-focused TV shows. Despite its budget-friendly price, you can still access the Trueplay room correction feature through the companion app with a compatible iOS device. Voices are especially clear and detailed out of the box, and lead instruments sound accurate. As a result, it's suitable for listening to many different music genres and TV shows like sitcoms.
As a small, standalone bar, it's ideal for those with limited space in their listening room, like a bedroom, who still want an upgrade over their TV speakers. Of course, it doesn't deliver as much rumble in the bass, so fans of genres like EDM and hip-hop may want to add a separate sub. Compared to Sonos' premium offerings, there's no Dolby Atmos support either. It can still play back 5.1 surround sound formats, like Dolby Digital. Since it has to downmix surround content into stereo to play it, the representation isn't quite as immersive, but separate satellites are always available to enhance its performance.
Compared To Other Brands
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Easily upgradable setup.
If you don't have much space in your setup, you can use standalone soundbars to enhance your TV's sound. However, if you move to a larger space or change your mind down the line, Sonos sells compatible subwoofers and satellites that you can add to your setup to improve its performance.
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Wireless multi-room system available.
Sonos sells a wide array of speakers and home audio devices, and its companion app makes it easy to control your music ecosystem in one place. You can use the app to play audio in every room of your house, either in unison or separately. However, you'll need an iOS device to access the advanced version of the room correction feature.
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Wide, immersive soundstage.
Most Sonos soundbars use psychoacoustic principles to make it seem like your favorite movies and music extend well past the edges of the bar itself, resulting in a soundstage that seems to stretch all around you.
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App volatility.
Sonos soundbars don't have traditional hardware remotes. Instead, they use a companion app to control the bar. However, in 2024, the app was overhauled, and users lost access to some features overnight. Most of these functions have since been reinstated, but this highlights the possibility that the app experience can change dramatically over time.
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No EQ.
Unfortunately, Sonos doesn't offer many tools to customize the sound of your bar. Its premium setups come with bass and treble adjustments, but you won't find a graphic EQ to customize the sound across the range.
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No HDMI passthrough.
Sonos' soundbars don't come with HDMI In ports. That means you can't use them to pass through high-quality video formats from media devices or gaming consoles.
Sonos vs Bose
Bose and Sonos are two premium soundbar manufacturers whose products address a similar market segment. Their top-of-the-line products have built-in smart features like voice assistants for hands-free control and create a wide, immersive soundstage with formats like Dolby Atmos. However, Sonos supports DTS content, unlike Bose soundbars. If you already own products in their ecosystem, you can usually connect them to stream audio around your house.
Sonos vs Samsung
Samsung manufactures a wider array of soundbars, so you'll find more mid-range and budget-friendly models in its lineup than Sonos. Samsung's top-of-the-line models are comparable to Sonos', with impressive sound quality and built-in smart features for hands-free control. Sonos tends to stand out for how immersive a soundstage its bars produce, but Samsung soundbars offer more sound enhancement features and HDMI In ports for video passthrough.
Sonos is a premium audio brand with a small array of soundbars to enhance your TV's audio. The brand's setups are easily upgradable by adding a subwoofer and/or satellites from the brand's range of speakers. If you have the Sonos Ace Wireless, you can even connect these headphones to supported bars and stream audio to them. Compared to other premium brands, there aren't as many sound customization tools on hand, but Sonos' best soundbars deliver clear sound out of the box, so you don't have to tinker with their settings too much.
Lineup
Sonos only has a few soundbars on the market. Unlike other manufacturers, Sonos tends to keep these products available for multiple years in a row, and it doesn't replace them annually. You can learn a bit about the expected features through the naming conventions:
- Arc series: Top-of-the-line model with Atmos support. The second generation has the suffix 'Ultra'.
- Beam series: Mid-range offering; only the 2nd generation supports Atmos.
- Ray series: Budget-friendly model for stereo content.
Recent Updates
Aug 12, 2026:
We've updated some feature descriptions and clarified the differences and trade-offs between our Sonos soundbar picks.
Apr 17, 2026:
We've updated some of the article's text for clarity, but our picks remain valid and available.
Jan 14, 2026:
We haven't tested any Sonos soundbars since our last update, and our recommendations remain unchanged. We've verified that our picks are still in stock and up to date.
Apr 14, 2025:
We added a note to clarify that the various components of the Sonos Beam (Gen 2) with Sub Mini + One SL Speakers set can all be purchased separately, but we haven't changed our picks.
Jan 10, 2025:
Our top Sonos soundbar pick has been updated to the Sonos Ultimate Immersive Set with Arc Ultra, replacing the previous Sonos Ultimate Immersive Set with Arc. The text has been lightly updated throughout for accuracy.
Conclusion
Sonos is a popular brand for audio lovers who want to enhance their favorite music, movies, and TV shows. The brand's premium soundbars are a solid choice, with great audio quality right out of the box and compatibility with your existing Sonos ecosystem. You don't get as many enhancement features and physical connection ports as other premium brands, but their soundbars generally offer straightforward setup and clear sound out of the box.