{"id":2125801,"date":"2026-09-02T21:30:59","date_gmt":"2026-09-02T18:30:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2125801"},"modified":"2026-09-02T21:30:59","modified_gmt":"2026-09-02T18:30:59","slug":"the-sonos-beam-ultra-actually-has-me-excited-over-a-soundbar","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2125801","title":{"rendered":"The Sonos Beam Ultra Actually Has Me Excited Over a Soundbar"},"content":{"rendered":"

[analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/gizmodo.com\/app\/uploads\/2026\/09\/sonos-beam-ultra-1200×675.jpg”]<\/p>\n

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Sonos had quite a few surprises in store for fans this week: AI agents, new Wi-Fi features, and even a whole new vibe for its app, just to name a few. While those are all flashy firsts for the company, it\u2019s arguably the most banal category that has me excited: soundbars.<\/p>\n

I got a small amount of \u201chands-on\u201d time with Sonos\u2019s new Ace Ultra wireless ANC headphones and Beam Ultra soundbar, and believe me when I say the latter has some juice. Even in an open venue without any nearby walls to bounce sound off of, the Beam Ultra impressed me with some initial demos. I got a chance to listen to a bit of Apple\u2019s F1,\u00a0<\/em>the movie, and there was a clear sense of space with the Beam Ultra. Cars and helicopters panned across the soundbar appropriately with the action, giving the impression of surround sound.<\/p>\n

\"Sonos
\u00a9 James Pero \/ Gizmodo<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

With nine drivers, including some upfiring ones, Sonos says the Beam Ultra delivers true 7.1.2 sound, but you never really know until you hear it, and to my ears, there\u2019s a chance that Sonos may have the Bose Lifestyle Ultra Soundbar beat.<\/p>\n

One of the things I\u2019m most excited for is to test a new feature that lets you pair two Sonos Play portable speakers by just placing them in proximity. I also got a taste of this feature during Sonos\u2019 event, and it made the Beam Ultra\u2019s sound feel big\u2014like\u00a0very\u00a0<\/em>big. While I\u2019m anticipating some variability in how the feature works (having it trigger on proximity might be an issue), I\u2019m thrilled that Sonos is letting people use its existing speakers to double as rear surround. It\u2019s one more reason to really invest in the Sonos ecosystem.<\/p>\n

\"Sonos
\u00a9 James Pero \/ Gizmodo<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Another highlight of my brief hands-on was dialogue. Sonos gave a demo, showing a snippet of\u00a0Widows Bay\u00a0<\/em>on Apple TV, and I thought the words came across crisp and clear. There are several AI enhancement modes for speech clarity, so I\u2019m interested to try those out for myself and test how they compare to Bose\u2019s equivalent on the Lifestyle Ultra Soundbar. Bose\u2019s version works well, so the competition is going to be tough here.<\/p>\n

Maybe the most surprising positive impression that I got wasn\u2019t the sound or any of the new features; it was the general look and feel of the Beam Ultra. The soundbar is compact, and while it\u2019s slightly tall, it\u2019s still very short and minimalist. I can already see this soundbar fitting in perfectly for people in small apartments who still want to maximize sound. It may also be generally appealing to people who want big, premium sound but don\u2019t want to look at all the audio hardware that you need to deliver that.<\/p>\n

While $699 is not a small sum of money to spend on a soundbar, there\u2019s (at least in my initial read) a lot to be interested in, so if you\u2019re willing to pay the Sonos premium, the Beam Ultra is looking like a soundbar to have on your radar.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n

\n

Sonos had quite a few surprises in store for fans this week: AI agents, new Wi-Fi features, and even a whole new vibe for its app, just to name a few. While those are all flashy firsts for the company, it\u2019s arguably the most banal category that has me excited: soundbars.<\/p>\n

I got a small amount of \u201chands-on\u201d time with Sonos\u2019s new Ace Ultra wireless ANC headphones and Beam Ultra soundbar, and believe me when I say the latter has some juice. Even in an open venue without any nearby walls to bounce sound off of, the Beam Ultra impressed me with some initial demos. I got a chance to listen to a bit of Apple\u2019s F1,\u00a0<\/em>the movie, and there was a clear sense of space with the Beam Ultra. Cars and helicopters panned across the soundbar appropriately with the action, giving the impression of surround sound.<\/p>\n

\"Sonos
\u00a9 James Pero \/ Gizmodo<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

With nine drivers, including some upfiring ones, Sonos says the Beam Ultra delivers true 7.1.2 sound, but you never really know until you hear it, and to my ears, there\u2019s a chance that Sonos may have the Bose Lifestyle Ultra Soundbar beat.<\/p>\n

One of the things I\u2019m most excited for is to test a new feature that lets you pair two Sonos Play portable speakers by just placing them in proximity. I also got a taste of this feature during Sonos\u2019 event, and it made the Beam Ultra\u2019s sound feel big\u2014like\u00a0very\u00a0<\/em>big. While I\u2019m anticipating some variability in how the feature works (having it trigger on proximity might be an issue), I\u2019m thrilled that Sonos is letting people use its existing speakers to double as rear surround. It\u2019s one more reason to really invest in the Sonos ecosystem.<\/p>\n

\"Sonos
\u00a9 James Pero \/ Gizmodo<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Another highlight of my brief hands-on was dialogue. Sonos gave a demo, showing a snippet of\u00a0Widows Bay\u00a0<\/em>on Apple TV, and I thought the words came across crisp and clear. There are several AI enhancement modes for speech clarity, so I\u2019m interested to try those out for myself and test how they compare to Bose\u2019s equivalent on the Lifestyle Ultra Soundbar. Bose\u2019s version works well, so the competition is going to be tough here.<\/p>\n

Maybe the most surprising positive impression that I got wasn\u2019t the sound or any of the new features; it was the general look and feel of the Beam Ultra. The soundbar is compact, and while it\u2019s slightly tall, it\u2019s still very short and minimalist. I can already see this soundbar fitting in perfectly for people in small apartments who still want to maximize sound. It may also be generally appealing to people who want big, premium sound but don\u2019t want to look at all the audio hardware that you need to deliver that.<\/p>\n

While $699 is not a small sum of money to spend on a soundbar, there\u2019s (at least in my initial read) a lot to be interested in, so if you\u2019re willing to pay the Sonos premium, the Beam Ultra is looking like a soundbar to have on your radar.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

[analyse_source url=”https:\/\/gizmodo.com\/sonos-beam-ultra-soundbar-hands-on-2000806468″]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/gizmodo.com\/app\/uploads\/2026\/09\/sonos-beam-ultra-1200×675.jpg”] Sonos had quite a few surprises in store for fans this week: AI agents, new Wi-Fi features, and even a whole new vibe for its app, just to name a few. While those are all flashy firsts for the company, it\u2019s arguably the most banal category that has me excited: soundbars. I […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[226,53],"class_list":["post-2125801","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","tag-crawlmanager","tag-gizmodo-com"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2125801","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2125801"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2125801\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2125801"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2125801"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2125801"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}