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Sonos Ultimate Immersive Set with Arc Soundbar Review

Tested using Methodology v1.2
Reviewed May 24, 2023 at 09:35 am
Sonos Ultimate Immersive Set with Arc Picture
8.2
Mixed Usage
8.4
Dialogue/TV Shows
8.2
Music
8.1
Movies

The Sonos Ultimate Immersive Set with Arc is a premium soundbar setup. It takes the standalone Sonos Arc and adds the Sonos Sub as well as two Sonos Era 300 speakers for better surround sound. As with all Sonos products, you can connect them to other devices throughout your room to spread audio wherever you go. There's even built-in voice assistant support to enjoy hands-free control right from the comfort of your couch. Plus, compared to the Sonos Arc with Sub + One SL Speakers, the Era 300 offer additional up-firing drivers for a more immersive overall sound.

Our Verdict

8.2 Mixed Usage

The Sonos Ultimate Immersive Set with Arc is great for mixed usage. This 7.1.4 setup brings an immersive sound right to your living room, making it a stand-out pick for everything from movies to music to TV shows. Dialogue is clear and easy to follow, and the sub brings all the thump and rumble to bass-heavy music. With two satellites, sound effects in your favorite films also stretch around you, so you feel like you're right in the middle of the action. It's a premium bar with a great overall performance.

Pros
  • Bass and treble adjustments.
  • Gets loud.
  • Extended low-bass.
Cons
  • Room correction limited to iOS.
  • No HDMI In ports.
8.4 Dialogue/TV Shows

The Sonos Ultimate Immersive Set with Arc is great for dialogue-centric TV shows and podcasts. Its discrete center channel is designed to improve vocal reproduction in the mix. As a result, it's easy to follow along with conversations on screen. There's even a dialogue enhancement tool on hand to make voices more clear and crisp, which is handy.

Pros
  • Dialogue enhancement feature.
  • Night mode feature.
Cons
  • Room correction limited to iOS.
8.2 Music

The Sonos Ultimate Immersive Set with Arc is great for music. This premium soundbar has a room correction tool, so iOS users can optimize the bar's sound based on their room's unique acoustics. That said, anyone can manually adjust the bar's sound with bass and treble adjustments, which is handy. The resulting sound is clear and balanced, with enough rumble in the sub to bring bass-heavy genres to life.

Pros
  • Bass and treble adjustments.
  • Gets loud.
Cons
  • Room correction limited to iOS.
8.1 Movies

The Sonos Ultimate Immersive Set with Arc is great for movies. The bar supports many audio formats commonly found on streaming platforms and Blu-rays, including Dolby Digital and Dolby Atmos. With satellite speakers, it gives a really clear and real feel to immersive content, so sound effects stretch into the space around your living room. Dialogue is clear in the mix, too, and the sub brings plenty of rumble in the bass during action-packed scenes.

Pros
  • Bass and treble adjustments.
  • Gets loud.
  • Extended low-bass.
Cons
  • Room correction limited to iOS.
  • 8.2 Mixed Usage
  • 8.4 Dialogue/TV Shows
  • 8.2 Music
  • 8.1 Movies
  1. Updated May 24, 2023: Review published.
  2. Updated May 18, 2023: Early access published.
  3. Updated May 15, 2023: Our testers have started testing this product.
  4. Updated May 11, 2023: The product has arrived in our lab, and our testers will start evaluating it soon.
  5. Updated May 08, 2023: We've purchased the product and are waiting for it to arrive in our lab.
  6. Updated May 06, 2023: The product has won our suggestion poll, so we'll buy and test it soon.

Differences Between Sizes And Variants

The Sonos Ultimate Immersive Set with Arc comes in two colors: 'Black' and 'White'. We tested the 'Black model with the following sub and speaker labels, but the soundbar itself doesn't have a label. This setup is made from a Sonos Arc that's paired with two Sonos Era 300 speakers and a Sonos sub. It can be purchased as a bundle, but the Sonos Arc is also available as a standalone bar. You can purchase the wireless subwoofer separately as well as the Sonos Era 300 if you're looking for a standalone speaker too. All of these products come in Black or White variants

If you want to see how the bar performs with the Sonos One SL speakers, check out our review for the Sonos Arc with Sub + One SL Speakers. As always, let us know if you come across another variant, so we can add it to our review.

Compared To Other Soundbars

The Sonos Ultimate Immersive Set with Arc is a really premium, high-end soundbar setup that's versatile enough for lots of different audio content. It adds Sonos Era 300 speakers to the Sonos Arc for a more immersive, all-around sound. Up-firing speakers on the satellites give a clearer and more realistic feel to height content like Dolby Atmos, too. That said, it doesn't have as many features as other premium setups, so, for example, you can't use the bar for video passthrough. If you don't need these features and are already a fan of Sonos products, it's worth a look.

You can also check out our recommendations for the best soundbars, the best Sonos soundbars, and the best Dolby Atmos soundbars.

Samsung HW-Q990C

The Sonos Ultimate Immersive Set with Arc and the Samsung HW-Q990C are both very premium soundbar setups with versatile performances, but the Samsung is a touch better overall. The Samsung has more features like Bluetooth support, a graphic EQ, and HDMI In ports for video passthrough. While the Sonos has a wider soundstage, it also sounds a bit over-processed at times, especially compared to the Samsung. If you already own products in Sonos's ecosystem, you may find it's a better buy.

Bose Smart Soundbar 900 with Speakers + Bass Module

The Sonos Ultimate Immersive Set with Arc and the Bose Smart Soundbar 900 with Speakers + Bass Module are both very premium setups with versatile overall performances. Depending on your listening habits, you may prefer one over the other. The Sonos supports more audio formats, such as DTS, and the up-firing drivers on its satellites provide a more immersive sound with Atmos content. However, it doesn't support Bluetooth like the Bose. The Bose's stereo soundstage is better, too.

Sony HT-A7000 with Speakers + Bass Module

The Sonos Ultimate Immersive Set with Arc is better than the Sony HT-A7000 with Speakers + Bass Module. They're both very premium setups, but the Sonos has a better sound. It gets louder and offers a more even frequency response, so sound effects are clearer and more present in the mix. Plus, the up-firing channels on its satellites give a more clear and real feel to height content like Atmos. The Sony does have Bluetooth support, though, unlike the Sonos, as well as HDMI In ports for video passthrough.

Sonos Arc with Sub + One SL Speakers

The Sonos Ultimate Immersive Set with Arc is better than the Sonos Arc with Sub + One SL Speakers. Both setups take the Sonos Arc paired with a Sonos Sub but use different satellite speakers. The Ultimate Immersive Set uses the Sonos Era 300 speakers, with up-firing drivers built in for a more immersive sound, especially with surround sound and height content. You get a more clear and real feel with sound effects as a result.

Test Results

perceptual testing image
Design
Design
Style - Bar

The Sonos Arc is a premium soundbar with a sleek design. It's a solid and heavy soundbar with a sturdy build, and it's available in 'Black' and 'White' color variants.

Design
Style - Subwoofer
Sub Wireless
Yes
Enclosure
Ported

The Sonos Sub is a large subwoofer with a glossy finish. It has a unique design, with two subwoofers facing each other on the inside, and each of their ports facing out into the rectangular hole in the middle.

Design
Style - Satellites
Satellite Wireless
Yes

The Sonos Era 300 speakers are available as standalone speakers, but you can also pair them to the bar for surround sound. They're rounded speakers with a sleek and stylish design, and the grilles in front help to protect the drivers inside.

Design
Dimensions - Bar
Width 44.9" (114.1 cm)
Height 3.4" (8.7 cm)
Depth 4.7" (12.0 cm)

The bar is pretty wide, so it doesn't fit between the legs of a 55" TV stand. Still, it won't obscure the screen since it isn't very tall.

Design
Dimensions - Subwoofer
Width 6.2" (15.7 cm)
Height 15.6" (39.5 cm)
Depth 15.9" (40.3 cm)

The sub is large and heavy but about the same size as a typical desktop computer. It connects wirelessly to the bar, too.

Design
Dimensions - Satellites
Width 10.2" (25.8 cm)
Height 7.5" (19.0 cm)
Depth 6.4" (16.3 cm)

The Sonos Era 300 is a bigger, wider speaker compared to the Sonos One SL speakers. It takes up some space in your living room, but since it connects to the bar wirelessly, you have some flexibility when setting it up.

Design
Mounting
Mountable Bar
Yes
Bar Brackets Included
No
Mountable Satellites
Yes
Satellite Brackets Included
No

You can mount the bar and the satellites to your wall. However, you have to purchase the brackets from Sonos separately.

8.5
Design
Build Quality

The Sonos Ultimate Immersive Set with Arc has an excellent build quality. Overall, it's a premium setup that feels sturdy and solid. The bar and the speakers are both made mostly of plastic, which feels very durable. Each have grilles designed to protect the drivers inside. Plus, the plastic build for the subwoofer feels very strong and solid.

Design
In The Box

  • Get Started manuals
  • Cleaning cloth (sub)
  • 4x power cables (6.2 ft / 1.9m)
  • HDMI to Optical adapter - for soundbar (9cm)
  • HDMI cable (4.9 ft / 1.5m)

Sound
8.2
Sound
Stereo Frequency Response
Tested Preset
No Preset
Slope
-0.04
Std. Err.
3.17 dB
Channels
7.1.4
Low-Frequency Extension
30.0 Hz
High-Frequency Extension
19.9 kHz

The Sonos Ultimate Immersive Set with Arc has a great stereo frequency response. This premium soundbar has a room correction tool available only with iOS devices. However, Android users can always use its bass and treble adjustments to compensate for room acoustics changes. Overall, you get a nice and balanced sound suitable for listening to many different types of audio content. The addition of the Era 300 speakers means that stereo content like music plays from all available channels on the bar as well as the satellites. As a result, you notice that audio sometimes sounds over-processed, especially compared to other premium setups like the Samsung HW-Q990C. It's not too distracting, so the sound remains pleasing overall.

We also evaluated the bar's performance when listening to Dolby Atmos Music. It provided a nice listening experience, especially with tracks like "On The Run" by Pink Floyd, since sound is accurately placed in the space around you for an immersive overall feel. With "Bad Guy" by Billie Eilish, the thumpy bass makes her vocals subtle in the mix, but it's not enough to overpower her voice. You get an all-around sound, which sometimes seems a bit fake, but it's not overwhelming enough to take away from the overall listening experience.

8.2
Sound
Stereo Frequency Response With Preliminary Calibration
Suggested Preset
No Preset
Suggested Bass Setting
0
Suggested Treble Setting
0
Slope
-0.04
Std. Err.
3.17 dB
Low-Frequency Extension
30.0 Hz
High-Frequency Extension
19.9 kHz

The default settings for this soundbar fall without our target range, so if you prefer a more even sound with stereo content, we recommend sticking to them.

8.0
Sound
Stereo Soundstage
Crosstalk Error
2.17 dB

The Sonos Ultimate Immersive Set with Arc has a great stereo soundstage. The soundstage itself is perceived to be a bit wider than the bar. It tries to use some tricks to make the soundstage seem wider than that, which means that sound effects can seem like they're pushed towards the far ends at times rather than coming from a more natural location in the soundstage. Still, focus is good overall, so you can pinpoint effects to accurate locations in the space around you.

8.5
Sound
Stereo Dynamics
SPL @ Max Volume
98.4 dB SPL
DRC @ Max Volume
1.50 dB

This soundbar gets loud, so it can fill up larger and more open spaces with sound. There's not a lot of distortion when you push it to max volume, either, so audio is reproduced with clarity even when you crank up the volume.

8.3
Sound
Stereo Total Harmonic Distortion
Weighted THD @ 80dB
0.22
Weighted THD @ Max Volume
1.21

Distortion falls within good limits at a normal listening volume, so audio reproduction is clean and pure. As with most bars, there's a jump in distortion at max volume, but it's still within decent limits, so you don't notice it.

8.5
Sound
Center
Localization
Discrete
Slope
0.10
Std. Err.
2.96 dB
SPL @ Max Volume
96.9 dB SPL
Weighted THD @ 80dB
0.32
Weighted THD @ Max Volume
1.52

The Sonos Ultimate Immersive Set with Arc has a discrete center channel designed to improve vocal clarity in the mix. This channel's balanced frequency response means that dialogue is clear and present in the mix, and it's easy to follow along with the action on screen.

8.5
Sound
Surround 5.1
Localization
Discrete
Slope
-0.50
Std. Err.
3.38 dB
SPL @ Max Volume
99.9 dB SPL
Weighted THD @ 80dB
0.32
Weighted THD @ Max Volume
1.00
7.1 Rears
Yes

The Sonos Ultimate Immersive Set with Arc has an excellent surrounds performance. Due to the number of drivers built into the Sonos Era 300 speakers, the 5.1.2 bar transforms into a 7.1.4 setup with two extra surround channels. Pulling the satellites away from the wall also ensures the side-firing drivers have enough space to distribute sound. As a result, you get a really clear and real feel to your audio, and sound effects stretch into the space around you as if you've been dropped right into the heart of your movies. The frequency response on these surround channels is quite balanced, too, so effects reproduce with clarity and detail.

6.8
Sound
Height (Atmos)
Localization
Phantom (Up Firing, Bar & Satellites)
Slope
-0.28
Std. Err.
3.30 dB
SPL @ Max Volume
86.4 dB SPL
Weighted THD @ 80dB
0.78
Weighted THD @ Max Volume
0.32

The Sonos Ultimate Immersive Set with Arc uses up-firing speakers on both the bar and the satellites to ricochet sound off the ceiling, which creates the illusion of height with Dolby Atmos content. The frequency response on these channels is very even and balanced, meaning that sound effects are clear and accurate in their reproduction, so you don't miss any of the action taking place around you.

For a better sense of the bar's real-world performance, we also subjectively evaluate its soundstage with height content. This setup provides a really good, immersive sound. Sound effects stretch into the space around your couch, giving you a clear and real feel. The sub brings out the rumble in action-packed scenes, too. Plus, compared to the Sonos Arc with Sub + One SL Speakers, the Sonos Era 300 speakers add two extra up-firing drivers to the mix, which adds a bit more height over your head. It's especially noticeable in scenes where a helicopter flies over your head. It's a premium setup that stands out from the crowd.

7.7
Sound
Sound Enhancement Features
Room Correction
Yes
Dialogue Enhancement
Yes
Auto-Volume/Night Mode
Yes
Subwoofer Level Adjustment
Yes
Bass Adjustment
Yes
Treble Adjustment
Yes
EQ
No
Surround Level Adjustment
Yes
Rear Level Adjustment
No
Height Level Adjustment
Yes
Virtual Surround
Yes

The Sonos Ultimate Immersive Set with Arc has many sound enhancement features. As with most premium setups on the market, it has a room correction tool to optimize the bar's sound based on your room's unique acoustics. It's only available with iOS devices at this time, though. There are some bass and treble adjustments on hand for manual adjustment, though, which is handy for Android users. Compared to the Sonos Arc with Sub + One SL Speakers, the Sonos Era 300 speakers offer additional features, including a tool that sets the speakers to add either an Ambient or Full surround sound. However, this doesn't apply to Dolby Atmos Music.

Connectivity
Connectivity
Inputs/Outputs - Bar
Optical Audio In
Adapter into HDMI ARC
HDMI Out
eARC
HDMI 2.1 Class Bandwidth
No
Full HDMI In
No
Analog Audio In 3.5mm (Aux)
No
RCA In
No
USB for Files
No
Ethernet
1
Subwoofer Output
No

You can connect the bar to your TV over HDMI or Optical. Without an HDMI In port, though, the bar doesn't support video passthrough.

9.6
Connectivity
Audio Format Support: ARC/eARC
Dolby Atmos
Supported
Dolby Digital
Supported
Dolby Digital Plus
Supported
Dolby TrueHD
Supported
DTS
Supported
DTS:X
Not Supported
DTS-HD MA
Not Supported
PCM Channels
Up To 7.1

The Sonos Ultimate Immersive Set with Arc supports many common audio formats over HDMI ARC. It can playback common 5.1 surround sound formats like Dolby Digital and lossless and object-based formats like Dolby Atmos. You're likely to come across both on streaming platforms and Blu-rays.

0
Connectivity
Audio Format Support: HDMI In
Dolby Atmos
Not Supported
Dolby Digital
Not Supported
Dolby Digital Plus
Not Supported
Dolby TrueHD
Not Supported
DTS
Not Supported
DTS:X
Not Supported
DTS-HD MA
Not Supported
PCM Channels
Not Supported
10
Connectivity
Audio Format Support: Optical
Dolby Digital
Supported
DTS
Supported
PCM Channels
2.0

Common surround sound formats like Dolby Digital and DTS are supported via Optical. Dolby Digital is the more common of the two, but DTS is often used as a fallback for higher-quality formats on Blu-rays.

8.5
Connectivity
Latency
ARC
61 ms
Optical
25 ms
Full HDMI In
N/A

The Sonos Ultimate Immersive Set with Arc has an amazing latency performance. Latency is low, meaning the audio you hear is in sync with the video you see on the screen. It's especially great for watching videos and movies. Some apps and TV may compensate for latency differently, though.

0
Connectivity
Video Passthrough To TV
1080p Max Refresh Rate
Not Supported
1080p @ 4:4:4 Max Refresh Rate
Not Supported
4k Max Refresh Rate
Not Supported
4k @ 120Hz @ 10-Bit
Not Supported
4k @ 4:4:4 Max Refresh Rate
Not Supported
8k Max Refresh Rate
Not Supported
HDR10 Passthrough
No
HDR10+ Passthrough
No
Dolby Vision Passthrough
No
HDMI Forum VRR Passthrough
No
FreeSync Passthrough
No
G-SYNC Passthrough
No
ALLM Passthrough
No

Without an HDMI In port, this bar can't do video passthrough.

3.0
Connectivity
Wireless Playback
Bluetooth
No
Wi-Fi Playback
Yes
Chromecast built-in
No
Apple AirPlay
Yes
Spotify Connect
Yes

As with most Sonos soundbars, the wireless connectivity options are limited. You can stream audio from your mobile devices over Wi-Fi, Apple AirPlay 2, and Spotify Connect. There's no Bluetooth support, though.

Additional Features
Additional Features
Interface
Display
No

While the bar lacks a display, two lights on top of the bar change colors depending on the registered commands. A microphone light also shows when the microphone is activated.

Additional Features
Bar Controls

A few controls are on top of the bar to control basic functions like play/pause, the volume, and the microphone.

Additional Features
Remote

Sonos soundbars don't come with remotes; you're meant to control them through the S2 app. The app lets you connect multiple Sonos products to spread audio throughout your room and control the sound features on the bar itself. You can see a video here.

Additional Features
Voice Assistants Support
Amazon Alexa
Yes (Built-in)
Google Assistant
Yes (Built-in)
Apple Siri
No
Microphone Mute
Yes

The Sonos Ultimate Immersive Set with Arc has built-in voice assistant support that you can mute using the included button. If you're streaming with Apple AirPlay 2, you can also set up Siri to control Apple Music.