If you've got the Arc, is it worth upgrading to the Sonos Arc Ultra?
The Sonos Arc Ultra replaces the original Arc as Sonos’ flagship soundbar, which has been discounted in price as it’s reach it’s end of life status.
You may be wondering whether it’s worth snagging the Arc for much less money than it’s been for years; purchasing the Arc Ultra as your new sound, or if you’ve already got the Arc, considering whether it’s worth upgrading to the Arc Ultra?
While the Arc Ultra looks the same changes under the hood have resulted in drive units that reproduce dialogue with more clarity, a bigger bass performance and the latest version of the Sonos’ Trueplay optimisation.
Here at Trusted Reviews, we’ve reviewed both models, so which soundbar should you choose, or if you have the Arc, should you upgrade to the Arc Ultra? Read our versus to find out which choice you should make.
Price
The Sonos Arc Ultra is $999 / £999. That’s a higher starting price than the original, which was initially $799 / £799 but was bumped up to $899 / £899.
But, since the announcement of the Ultra soundbar, retailers have discounted the original bar by a hefty amount, which implies that the Acr Ultra is a full-on replacement and not a new bar to sit alongside the older model. As of May 2025, you can find the Arc for less than £600 but it’s low in stock at many retailers.
| Sonos Arc | Sonos Arc Ultra | |
| Audio formats | Stereo PCM, Dolby Digital, Dolby Digital Plus, Dolby Atmos (Dolby Digital Plus), Dolby Atmos, Dolby TrueHD, Multichannel PCM, Dolby Multichannel PCM, DTS Digital Surround | Stereo PCM, Dolby Digital, Dolby Digital Plus, Dolby Atmos (Dolby Digital Plus), Dolby Atmos, Dolby TrueHD, Multichannel PCM, Dolby Multichannel PCM, DTS Digital Surround |
| HDMI | HDMI eARC | HDMI eARC |
| Wireless support | Wi-Fi, AirPlay 2 | Wi-Fi, AirPlay 2, Bluetooth |
| Voice Control | Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant | Amazon Alexa, Sonos Voice Control |
| CPU | Quad Core 1.4 GHz A-53 | Quad Core 4 x A55 1.9GHz |
| Drive units | Three tweeters, eight midwoofers | Seven tweeters, six midwoofers, Sound Motion woofer |
Design
There’s not much that’s changed in appearance from the Arc to the Arc Ultra. It still comes in black or white finishes, and like the original it’s a long bar that’s weighty and chunky.
Get closer to it and you’ll find that the Arc Ultra is slightly longer, and if you choose to wall-mount the new soundbar, it still supports the same bracket as the original, which is helpful for an easy installation.
The recessed area is where the HDMI eARC and Ethernet ports are. To benefit from the extra banwidth and higher quality sound, you’ll need a TV that supports eARC too.
There’s a physical switch for enabling Bluetooth (which the original didn’t support), as well as a switch for disabling the built-in microphone if you don’t want the soundbar listening to what you say.
Otherwise the Arc Ultra looks very familiar to the original Arc. If you liked that design, the Arc Ultra follows on from that.
Features
The insides of Arc Ultra have been completely redesigned. It features a total of 14 drivers to create a 9.1.4 spatial audio experience. This includes the new Sound Motion woofer, six mid-woofers and seven tweeters.
The Sonos Arc is equipped with eleven drivers, including eight elliptical mid-woofers to handle midrange and bass and three silk-dome tweeters that assist with the height channels.
You’ll notice the different configuration (9.1.4 compared to 5.0.2 channels) but the main difference you’ll ‘hear’ with the new bar is the Sound Motion woofer for the low frequencies.
Both support the app, which after a distrastrous launch is slowly getting back to how it used to be.
Like with other Sonos speakers, the Arc Ultra can be used as a stand-alone speaker or as in part of a group. Both soundbars support Spotify Connect and AirPlay 2 but the latest soundbar supports Bluetooth, which the original lacked.
Sonos’ Trueplay optimises the sound for the room the soundbar it’s placed in, but the Arc Ultra features the latest version of the calibration tool of the ‘Quick’ version.
This is mainly for Android users to use but for iOS users there remains the advanced version where you wave your iPhone about the room and the soundbar calibrates via that.
Dolby Atmos is supported (Dolby Digital Plus or Dolby TrueHD). Basic DTS support is available although neither soundbar supports DTS-HD MA or DTS:X.
The lack of full DTS support is inconvenient, especially if you have physical media discs that support it or if you watch on Disney+, which carries IMAX Enhanced DTS audio.
The Sonos Arc Ultra is compatible with the Sonos Ace headphones, and you can beam audio from the soundbar to your ears for a virtual surround effect.
Functionally, we found there’s no difference between using the Sonos Ace headphones with the original Arc and the Arc Ultra; it works in the same way.
Sound Quality
It’d be odd if Sonos enacted all these changes to the audio performance if they didn’t mark a shift in the sound quality. We found the biggest change with the Sonos Arc Ultra is in its speech delivery, with the centre channel optimised to deliver clear dialogue.
We found with the old Arc there were times we’d struggle to hear some bits of a film or a TV series but the Arc Ultra is cleaner and clearer.
With the original soundbar the bass was a bit of a blunt tool. With the Arc Ultra, the Sound Motion technology bass melds into the soundstage, which makes the transitions from low-frequency to high-frequency much smoother. To us, the sound is much more unified and cohesive than it was on the original Arc.
In terms of immersion, the Sonos Arc Ultra is better than its predecessor, too. Watching the opening of Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny and the sound of the bomber is as if it’s just above you.
Watching the bridge fight scene in Black Panther Wakanda Forever, the spears swoop and dash around the sound stage, and every impact is felt. The Arc Ultra isn’t so good at is mimicking rear channels but you can fix that by adding rear speakers.
For music the Arc Ultra is an improvement over the Arc, the bass is songs is more faithfully reproduced while the detail and clarity levels are higher too. It certainly performs better with music than the original managed to do.
Verdict
The Sonos Arc Ultra is a big step up over the original model, particularly when it comes to delivering dialogue and producing bass. We’re still frustrated by some aspects that haven’t changed, such as the lack of any HDMI inputs and the lack of full DTS audio support.
But take the Arc Ultra for what it is and it delivers a stronger, more cohesive and immersive sound than the original. It comes at an extra price but we think it’s worth the jump in price.