Confirming earlier rumors, Sonos on Wednesday announced a new soundbar aimed at budget-conscious buyers, as well as a new voice control feature for its existing speakers.
Sonos Ray Sonos Beam (Gen 2) for $449 Sonos Arc for $899
However, paying less means you’ll sacrifice some features. Unlike Beam and Arc, Sonos Ray does not support Dolby Atmos virtual surround sound. It also omits an HDMI port, instead opting for a lower bandwidth optical audio port and an Ethernet jack as your only connection options, with no additional HDMI adapters in the box. The lack of an HDMI ARC port can make the cable situation a bit confusing for those with more sophisticated home theater setups, though Sonos says the Ray can still work in parallel with a TV remote through its IR receiver.
It also lacks any microphones, which means there’s no built-in support for voice assistants like Amazon Alexa or Google Assistant. Privacy-conscious shoppers might see this as a plus, though the lack of microphones also means there’s no support for Sonos’ “Automatic Trueplay “feature, which allows certain Sonos speakers to adjust their sound to suit their placement in a given location. room (assuming you have an iOS device). Ray still supports Trueplay, but you’ll have to manually set it up. Like most Sonos speakers, there’s also no Bluetooth audio support.
In general, Ray is a simpler piece of hardware than Beam or Arc. This is a 3.0-channel soundbar, with all speakers channeled out of the front perforated hard plastic grille. Inside there are four amplifiers, two tweeters and two mid-range drivers; The Beam, meanwhile, includes five amplifiers, a tweeter, four midrange drivers and three passive bass drivers. Sonos is now touting the latter as its “high-res”compact soundbar for comparison.
Elsewhere, there are still three touch-sensitive playback controls on top of a typically minimalist design, which will be available in black or white. It can also be installed, albeit through a proprietary mount.