Good
Great compact design
HDMI ARC compatible
Superb sound
Bad
App isn’t home theater friendly
No Dolby Atmos
This is the Sonos soundbar we’ve been waiting for. The Sonos Beam is small enough to attach itself to the majority of TVs, and comes coupled with enough innovation and sound performance to impress. There are a few issues worth pointing out but, at this price, they soon fade away.
The Sonos Beam is a fantastic soundbar for its price, one that takes full advantage of the Sonos ecosystem and is a joy to use (and set up, if your television has HDMI ARC). Its smaller form factor means it’s a device that will sit comfortably on your TV unit or wall mount.
This is an affordable soundbar that most could find space for, and that could transform your listening experience. The width, depth and three-dimensionality of the presentation smashes expectations.
The Beam is more than enough speaker for most people, to the extent that spending the extra £300/$399 to get the Playbar could, in many cases, be entirely unnecessary.
Sonos’s larger soundbar sounds fuller, richer and generally more sophisticated, and still has a place for people with larger rooms and budgets who don’t want the full surround sound, but for the average person in the average lounge, the Beam is a good choice.
Key Specifications
Review Price: £300/$399
HDMI ARC
Amazon Alexa support
Google Assistant support
Apple Airplay 2 support
