Review: Sonos Beam Ultra power in a small package, taken to the next level thanks to Sonos 27 operating system

There are many soundbars on the market, and choosing one can be difficult because no big-name brand will release a soundbar with poor sound quality.  Each has its own features and technology that set it apart, but in the end, they are all pretty much the same.

Sonos also has its own audio technology but it sets itself apart with its entire ecosystem and how all the devices work together not only in the app but locally with each other.  This has also gone to another level with the introduction of the new Sonos 27 audio operating system.

While we are ultimately reviewing the Sonos Beam Ultra, we’re also checking out the entire ecosystem and Sonos 27. Sonos is greater than the sum of its parts. Together, all of the Sonos parts create an enmeshed system, offering a variety of ways to listen to your media thanks to the new connectivity options introduced in Sonos 27. Sonos 27 offers new ways to move the sound around your house, and after using it at a basic level for the last week or so, I can say that it is a game changer.

Specifications

The Sonos Beam Ultra sits in Sonos’ middle of the pack when it comes to pricing and quality, apparently (I haven’t tested all of the other so I can’t comment definitively on its siblings), but still packs a punch when it comes to sound quality.  

The Beam Ultra is more compact than its more expensive sibling, the Arc Ultra, measuring 750mm wide, 105mm deep, and 65mm high, and weighing 2.88kg.  The finish is a solid, metallic matte finish, unlike my older Sonos Playbar, which was cloth.

Its specs include:

• 9 Class-D digital amplifiers tuned to the soundbar’s acoustic architecture
• 5 tweeters faithfully reproduce high and mid-range frequencies. The forward-firing mid tweeter provides a smooth centre image. 2 side-firing horn-loaded mid tweeters create stereo separation. 2 upward-firing tweeters loaded into a directional horn support spatial audio with Dolby Atmos.
• 4 low-profile woofers deliver powerful bass.
• The far-field microphone array uses beamforming and multichannel echo cancellation for voice control, Trueplay tuning, and connecting Sonos Play or Move 2 surrounds. You can toggle off the mic switch to disconnect.

The 9 different drivers are arranged in a 7.1.2-channel configuration offering Dolby Atmos support by firing two speakers up at the ceiling.

Sound quality

TruePlay in the setup is used to tune the soundbar to your room and it does a great job. You can use it in two ways: Quick and Advanced.  I chose the Quick Tuning option and was impressed by how fast and effective it was.

Surprisingly, Sonos has managed to make the Beam Ultra sound bigger than you would expect from something so compact.  Watching a variety of movies, especially the loud action movies, it had good bass – good enough that I’m not sure the Sonos Sub added much value when I added it to the mix.

I have always used a separate sub in my surround sound setups but for this sub, if you don’t want or need overly powerful bass, the bass from the Beam Ultra was excellent.  For me, though, I use my system to listen to music a lot, and I love my bass, so I could definitely tell the difference between the two and much preferred adding a separate subwoofer.

At the same time, the tweeters were working overtime, but the illusion of surround sound was pretty good – better than I expected, to be honest.  It’s been a while since I have used a more advanced soundbar like this one, but the sound dispersion was good, with various movements and sounds well located based on the movie’s audio – rear and side sounds were easily distinguished.  Smaller, more specific sounds were also well demarcated which is really what you need for more detailed viewing. 

While the surround sound was not as good as when I added my Sonos One speakers into the mix, the surround effect was pretty damn good for such a compact soundbar.  Sure, the Sonos One speakers are starting to show their age but they really added even more to the audio experience.  

Overall, by itself the Beam Ultra from Sonos sounds amazing and you will be surprised with how good it sounds and how loud it can get, and then, when you add in a couple of surrounds and a subwoofer, the sound is next level.  

All soundbars on the market can do this so it should not be a surprise but what is great about the Sonos Beam Ultra and its ecosystem is how easy it is to set up and use.

The app and Sonos 27

The Sonos app has recently been redesigned alongside the launch of the Beam Ultra, the Ace Ultra headphones, and the Sonos 27 audio operating system.  Adding a speaker from scratch is super easy with the app detecting it automatically.  You can also add surrounds and subs to your soundbar easily in the app.

The app shows your entire system and, separately, your rooms. You can delve into each room to add or remove speakers and you can easily switch the audio from one room to another if they support Sonos 27.  Unfortunately, my old Sonos Playbar does not support Sonos 27 but I was able to test the audio switching using the review Ace Ultra headphones – this was extremely handy when cooking, as I couldn’t hear the TV although I could see it.     

The new Sonos app and Sonos 27 operating system offer a great way to network your media, whether it’s music, movies, or podcasts.

Sonos 27 looks exceptional on paper with all the new advanced features it brings to your home audio experience. It does need you to invest in the ecosystem extensively but the more you use it, the better it gets, and the more pieces you add to it the more valuable the system gets.

Sonos 27 brings together your music system (Spotify, Apple Music, TIDAL, Bluetooth, AirPlay, your voice, and an AI assistant) with the new operating system featuring Sonos 27voice, a way to ask Sonos for what you want in natural voice conversation. It also features Claude or Gemini support (ChatGPT or Google AI) to help you play music in your house and interact with your Sonos system. Eventually, the new operating system will allow users to create their own AI agents, although that sounds too complicated for me.

The Sonos speakers are now grouped together using Sonos Fabric, a new system capability that allows each speaker to find one another and work together based on their locations to how they fit together best — eg. stereo pairs, home theatre, room groups and more. Sonos Fabric is the smart mesh network capability except for audio speakers.

Sonos speakers measure the space and optimize for the very best sound. Hard floors, low ceilings – it all sounds just right.

I have limited Sonos products that support Sonos 27 but I can see myself getting more in the future as this system becomes more and more enmeshed in my life. Imagine watching a game on the TV in the lounge room, then going outside to sit and eat a BBQ, where you can see the TV but the sound is then transported to a couple of Sonos portable speakers outside. Perfect for the upcoming summer.

Sonos 27 really is a game changer but it does require you to invest in the Sonos ecosystem, which is not a cheap option.

Connectivity

I hooked up the Sonos Beam Ultra using the HDMI-eARC connection, with the other option on the back of the soundbar being USB-C.  If you want to use an optical fibre cable, you will need to buy an optical adapter sold separately.  Then all I had to do was connect the speaker to my Wi-Fi using the Sonos app and I was good to go.

There is no support for passthrough, which is disappointing, but Sonos don’t do this, so it shouldn’t be surprising.  I prefer a passthrough option usually, as my TV upstairs is mounted on the wall and I only have two cables running through the wall to it – I could run another, but an HDMI passthrough option would make it a lot easier.  The downstairs main TV doesn’t need it, since it has the Samsung box that connects to the TV using a proprietary optical connection sitting in the cabinetry below.

The Beam Ultra also supports Bluetooth 5.3 for connectivity – nice for when I just want to quickly stream music to it from my phone.

Final thoughts

I’m in, actually, I’m all in. In the past couple of weeks, I’ve been so impressed with not just the Sonos products I’ve tested but also the new Sonos 27 audio operating system from Sonos. The way they all interact together offers a way to enjoy your music, at its finest, anywhere throughout your home. Now, that will require me to invest in a few more speakers, but you don’t have to buy them all at once right?

As for this review, the Sonos Beam Ultra sits right in the middle of its soundbar range but that doesn’t mean that the Beam Ultra isn’t top-notch. It delivers an extremely loud sound in a relatively small package, and stays accurate across the entire soundstage, covering everything I threw at it in both music and movies.

By itself, it performs admirably, but pair it with a couple of surround speakers and a sub, and you get an immersive sound that offers a great home theatre audio system. Sure, you can get better, but for a vast number of people, even the soundbar by itself is enough, let alone the satellite additions.

The Sonos Beam Ultra is available now for RRP AU

,099 at Sonos.com and all good home theatre stores.