It’s more minimalist and we dig the overall darker gradient design. You still have five tabs at the bottom: favorites (aka MySonos), music, now playing, search and settings. You can, however, have an Arc paired to Alexa and a One paired to Google Assistant. You can only use one voice assistant at a time per speaker, though. It works just like any other smart speaker and you get a solid amount of control over it. Or you can ask the Google Assistant to turn off bedroom lights and play a specific playlist from Spotify. This means you can ask Alexa to play E Street Radio from Sirius XM or “Domino” by Jessie J. You can choose to have Amazon’s Alexa or the Google Assistant power the experience. For starters, it has a four array microphone center on the top that can pick up your wake word even at full volume. It’s quickly noticeable with any episode of “Planet Earth,” as you hear sounds of nature all around, from the crunch of leaves in the distance to a cricket chirping.Īll in all, for $799, the Sonos Arc sounds like a thousand dollar system. You really get that room-filing experience, which goes back to TruePlay and how the Arc knows the room. In this case, it was mixed quite well and delivered a clear playback experience, notably with the ability to hear more than 12 instruments on the stage, properly distribute the echo effect and still pack a ton of power with bass.Īnd for TV, it’s as enjoyable to watch a newscast as it is to watch an action movie on the Arc, especially with support for Dolby Atmos. It’s a testament to the soundstage, but you can hear voices from all around and feel as if you’re actually at the concert.Īnd granted, live recordings can mix things up with instruments operating on the same track. Thanks to the wide soundstage, it feels like the music is coming from all directions.Ī live track, such as “Twist and Shout” performed by Bruce Springsteen, showcases how the Arc handles reverb (echo from within the stadium) and crowd noises. Standing dead on at about 6 feet from the Arc, we were able to clearly place the instruments: drums straight ahead, vocals all around and a scorching guitar from the right side of the mix. “Desire” by U2 opens with a roaring guitar riff that quickly turns into a fast-paced jaunt. The Arc doesn’t aim to increase the mid or high tones to oversaturate a mix, but rather deliver something that lets the music stand on its own. As the instruments and vocals follow suit, it’s a clear mix that handles Springsteen’s higher tone voice well. Immediately you’re hit with the long drum roll in a crisp and complete fashion. We started a playlist that kicked off with Springsteen’s “Ain’t Good Enough for You,” and in a similar fashion to “Born to Run,” it’s a wall of sound with a march of drums from the get go. Once plugged in, we connected several streaming services - Apple Music, Spotify, Sirius XM, Sonos Radio, TuneIn and iHeartRadio, among others - to the Arc. In comparison to the Beam (the entry-level $399 soundbar from Sonos), the Arc is much, much, much louder. If you’re watching “Star Wars: The Rise Of Skywalker” or listening to “American Land” by Bruce Springsteen and want deep bass, you can turn it all the way up - something we didn’t have to do too often. Within the Sonos app, you do have the ability to make your own custom mix and leave it on there. This will create the mix for the Arc in your space since it reads the room, and in real time, figures out the best combination of sound. You still need an iOS device to run this. Essentially, the Arc plays an array of tones that bounce around the room and your phone (running the Sonos app) uses the audio it picks up to map the space. Your CNN account Log in to your CNN accountĪs with any Sonos speaker, TruePlay is on board.
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