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Sonos Upgrades Flagship Soundbar With $999 Arc Ultra

The new Sonos soundbar boasts a 'breakthrough in audio engineering' and will go on sale Oct. 29th. It'll also arrive alongside a software update to improve the Sonos app.

 & Michael Kan Principal Reporter

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(Sonos)

Sonos is introducing a new premium soundbar, the Arc Ultra, that promises to take the home theater experience to the next level. In addition, the company is preparing a software update for the redesigned Sonos app, following its negative reception from users. 

On Tuesday, the company debuted the $999 Arc Ultra, which is slated to go on sale on Oct. 29th. The product’s main selling points is Sonos’s new “Sound Motion” technology, which “drastically reduces the size of the transducer while supercharging the bass."

According to Sonos, the Arc Ultra can deliver up to double the bass of its predecessor, the $899 Arc, which already received a positive review from us for its large sound field and strong bass capabilities.

With the new product, users can expect even more immersive audio and clearer dialogue over a “massive sound stage that precisely places every detail of sound in your room,” Sonos says. 

The Arc Ultra will also arrive alongside a software update for the redesigned Sonos app, which received such a harsh reception from consumers earlier this year that some demanded the company bring back the old one. 

Sonos says the software update promises to help the redesigned Sonos app “surpass the performance of the previous app across important metrics, including those essential to new purchasers.” 

“For current Sonos customers, the update will reintroduce 90 percent of the new app’s missing features, with further additions on the way as Sonos maintains its ongoing cadence of updates,” the company added. 

As for the Arc Ultra, the company worked with veteran movie producers and Hollywood sound engineers including Chris Jenkins and Onnalee Blank “to fine-tune Arc Ultra for Dolby Atmos content playback and assemble a studio-worthy experience that rivals professional sound systems,” Sonos said. The product also contains "15 Class-D digital amplifiers," compared to 11 in the $899 regular Arc.

The Arc Ultra.
(Sonos)

Still, the Arc Ultra isn’t that much smaller than its predecessor. The new product measures in at 2.95-inches in height and 4.35-inches in depth, compared to the regular Arc, which comes in at 3.43-inches in height and 4.57-inches in depth. That said, the Arc Ultra is a little longer at 46.4 inches, or 1.5-inches more. 

Stay tuned for our review. In the meantime, Interested customers can place pre-orders for the Arc Ultra starting today. The soundbar will be available in both black and white colors.

On the same day, Sonos also debuted the Sub 4, a premium wireless subwoofer product that’s also scheduled to launch on Oct 29th, but for $799. "Sub 4 is the next generation subwoofer producing bass you can feel, transforming your home theater experience to draw you closer to the content you love," the company said.

(Sonos)

About Our Expert

Michael Kan

Michael Kan

Principal Reporter

My Experience

I've been a journalist for over 15 years. I got my start as a schools and cities reporter in Kansas City and joined PCMag in 2017, where I cover satellite internet services, cybersecurity, PC hardware, and more. I'm currently based in San Francisco, but previously spent over five years in China, covering the country's technology sector.

Since 2020, I've covered the launch and explosive growth of SpaceX's Starlink satellite internet service, writing 600+ stories on availability and feature launches, but also the regulatory battles over the expansion of satellite constellations, fights with rival providers like AST SpaceMobile and Amazon, and the effort to expand into satellite-based mobile service. I've combed through FCC filings for the latest news and driven to remote corners of California to test Starlink's cellular service.

I also cover cyber threats, from ransomware gangs to the emergence of AI-based malware. In 2024 and 2025, the FTC forced Avast to pay consumers $16.5 million for secretly harvesting and selling their personal information to third-party clients, as revealed in my joint investigation with Motherboard.

I also cover the PC graphics card market. Pandemic-era shortages led me to camp out in front of a Best Buy to get an RTX 3000. I'm now following how the AI-driven memory shortage is impacting the entire consumer electronics market. I'm always eager to learn more, so please jump in the comments with feedback and send me tips.

The Best Tech I've Had:

  • My first video game console: a Nintendo Famicom
  • I loved my Sega Saturn despite PlayStation's popularity.
  • The iPod Video I received as a gift in college
  • Xbox 360 FTW
  • The Galaxy Nexus was the first smartphone I was proud to own.
  • The PC desktop I built in 2013, which still works to this day.

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