Again in October, Sonos ended its moratorium on new product launches and launched the Arc Extremely, a brand new model of its widespread Arc soundbar. We thought we would try the Arc Extremely to see if it is value choosing up as Sonos nonetheless struggles to beat detrimental notion of its app.
Priced at $999, the Arc Extremely brings an improve in sound high quality in comparison with the unique Arc. It may be paired with the Sub 4, which can also be new, for added bass. The Sub 4 is not required, and the Arc Extremely sounds nice even with out it. For audiophiles, the Arc Extremely has 9.1.4 spatial audio with Dolby Atmos, and it is ready to produce sound that feels prefer it’s coming from throughout you.
By way of design, the Arc Extremely has a decrease profile than the prior model, however it’s a bit longer. It in any other case seems to be related, with an HDMI port for eARC, an influence button, a Bluetooth button for pairing, Ethernet, and a slider to show the microphone for the voice assistant on and off. Energy and quantity will be managed through a TV distant, however the app is required for different options.
With the Sonos app, you should utilize TruePlay to fine-tune sound, and there are totally different ranges of speech enhancement so that you can choose from. Sonos held off on introducing new merchandise after the criticism that it obtained over its Could app overhaul. When the Extremely launched, Sonos CEO Patrick Spence mentioned that the corporate felt that the app had been improved sufficient to permit for brand new {hardware}.
Sonos has dedicated to common app updates, and launched an replace alongside the brand new merchandise. The app labored effectively with the Arc Extremely for setup, however if you happen to’re not a fan of the redesigned structure and the navigation points that come alongside it, nothing has modified. It is usually value noting that some customers have run into an issue with encompass sound and TruePlay, which Sonos is engaged on.
Within the Apple ecosystem, the Arc Extremely serves as an AirPlay 2 gadget so you should utilize it alongside different AirPlay 2-enabled audio system.
If you happen to’re all-in with Sonos merchandise or if you happen to’re in search of a brand new soundbar, the Arc Extremely is value testing.