The original Arc was the first time Sonos waded into the Dolby Atmos waters and the Arc Ultra sequel improves upon the first soundbar with a clearer and cleaner delivery of dialogue, while the Sound Motion transducers give more depth and precision to the bass.

We found that the Arc Ultra made it sound as if effects were actually coming from above our seating position or from far-away, and with music it handles all flavours of genre well.

If you’re interested in a surround system, then you can add the Sub 4 for more bass (although it depends on the size of your room) along with the Era 300 or Era 100 speakers as rear speakers.

The Arc Ultra has an HDMI eARC port, which means your TV also needs an eARC port for the highest quality performance. AirPlay 2 is joined by Bluetooth for streaming to the soundbar, and in the Sonos app the Arc Ultra can be placed within a multi-room system alongside other Sonos speakers that you see on this list.

After a false start when Sonos relaunch the app in 2024, it’s gradually improved over the last several months, and accessing the app unlocks features such as the long list of music streaming services in Spotify, Tidal, Deezer, Qobuz as well as the Sonos Radio.

Those with iPhones can take advantage of the Trueplay feature that optimises audio performance of the soundbar for any room that it is in. Android users benefit from the QuickTune function that sets the bar up in seconds.

The lack of proper DTS support across all Sonos products is still annoying, which makes this a soundbar better suited for those who stream than those who have physical media collections.

Even with that in mind, the Arc Ultra is a big step up from the original Arc.

The Era 300 is Sonos’ first non-soundbar speaker that supports Dolby Atmos. The Era 300 is much bigger in size than the Era 100, and as a result it’s able to produce a bigger sound courtesy of Atmos spatial audio.

The driver set-up allows the Era 300 to fire audio in front of the speaker, above it and out to the sides. Whereas the Era 100 sounds more on the bassy side, the Era 300 delivers a crisper, clearer and defter sound.

It does take a rather safety first approach to brightness where high frequencies are concerned but its treble performance is crisp and clear.

With Dolby Atmos audio it sounds expansive, producing a soundstage that’s wider, deeper and taller than the speaker’s dimensions, however this depends on how the track was mixed. You can also edit the height of the performance in the Sonos app if you want a more expansive performance.

Like the Era 100 it doesn’t support Google Assistant but does have the Quick Tune version of Trueplay so it’s a more accessible speaker for Android users. There’s a USB-C port on the rear along with a button that enables Bluetooth pairing and you can turn the microphones completely off if you don’t want voice assistants listening all the time.

The Era 300 supports stereo pairing with another Era 300 or used as a rear Atmos speaker within a Sonos surround sound set-up. And like the Era 100 it can be connected to other external devices or broadband router through an adapter, although disappointingly these are sold separately.

Of all the Atmos wireless speakers, the Era 300 ranks as one of the best. It leaves intrigued as to where the Era series could go next.

The Move 2 is Sonos’ biggest portable speaker, although – as with the original – calling it portable is a stretch in light of its size. We’d describe it as an outdoor speaker best suited for the garden with large groups of people.

Its IP rating isn’t as strong as the Roam 2 at IP56, but that level of build quality is tough enough to repel water, dust and liquids; though it won’t survive being submerged in water. It’s also what Sonos describes as ‘drop resistant’ so if it falls from a low height it should survive unscathed.

Having (wincingly) dropped it a few times on a concrete surface, the Move survived with just a few marks that were able to be brushed off.

It comes in a choice of Shadow Black and Lunar White finishes, both of which protect the speaker from overheating when outside. And just like the Roam, it can switch between Bluetooth and Wi-Fi with the press of a button.

On a Wi-Fi connection there’s support for Alexa, Google Assistant and Sonos Voice Control, and you can connect to any other Sonos speaker on the same network to create a multi-room audio set-up.

Auto Trueplay uses the onboard mics to constantly tweak the audio performance with regards to where it is, and since the launch of the Move, Sonos has made sure that it works on both a Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connection.

The effect of Auto Trueplay is one we found to be subtle at first, but once it’s up to speed we could hear a slight difference in tone.

Battery is a whopping 24 hours, nearly double what we got on the previous model.

The step Beam Gen 2 is only a fraction bigger the Sonos’ cheapest soundbar but manages to fit in support for Dolby Atmos.

It doesn’t feature upfiring speakers to create the Atmos effect, doing so instead with virtual processing. It’s compact size makes it a partner for TVs up to 55-inches and for use in smaller rooms.

Unlike the Ray, it has an HDMI eARC input and if your TV has the corresponding eARC input then the Beam can playback Atmos in its highest quality.

You also get Trueplay, voice control and HDMI CEC, which enables the Beam to be operated by the TV’s remote inputs such as volume.

Through the Sonos app you can also connect to other Sonos speakers in the home to create a multi-room set-up, or you can add rear speakers and a subwoofer (preferaly the Sub Mini) to create a home cinema surround sound system.

You can stream from a wide variety of music apps such as Spotify, Tidal, and Qobuz; while for voice assistances, the Beam Gen 2 supports Alexa, Google Assistant, and Sonos’ Voice Control.

In terms of the audio performance, the Gen 2 Beam offers excellent balance and range, with enough bass to provide excitement and presence than a TV could, plus a wide soundstage with the soundbar able to push sound effects towards the viewer.

With music it’s a capable performer. It can subtlety as well as handle bass heavy tracks without causing distortion.

The Era 100 replaces the Sonos One, and sports a taller, slimmer looking design than the One, with a new speaker set-up in the form of two angled tweeters to disperse high frequencies into a room, plus a woofer that  provides more bass than the One or One SL.

We didn’t feel it sounded as clear or as detailed in the midrange and upper frequencies, with the weightiness of the bass affecting the tonal balance across the frequency range.

The Era 100 provides more power and oomph, though we prefer the One models for their clarity and detail. Bluetooth performance is fine, but the volume does need to be turned up high to get a similar level of quality over a Bluetooth connection.

Other changes from the One models include dropping the Ethernet connection for a USB-C port on the rear, adding Bluetooth playback, and you can choose to turn off the microphones inside the Era 100 via a switch on the back, though this does mean you won’t benefit from either Trueplay tuning or voice assistance.

Amazon Alexa and Sonos Voice Control are supported but Google Assistant is left out. The Era 100 supports a new version of Trueplay that only requires a tap in the Sonos app to begin the process, using the speaker’s built-in microphones to measure its surroundings and optimise the audio output. The Quick Tune version of Trueplay also allows for Android users to be able to use Trueplay.

Finally, the Era 100 has come down in price to £199 / $199 which we find to be a much more aggreeable asking price. If you want a desktop speaker, the Era 100 is a really solid buy.

The Roam series acts as the most affordable entry into the world of Sonos’ speakers.

The sequel to the original Roam is essentialy the same in look and dimensions. All that’s changed is the addition of a dedicated Bluetooth button to avoid the confusion that plague the previous model whenever you tried to activate Bluetooth.

The Roam 2 remains a portable speaker shaped like a Toblerone bar that supports both Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity, so it can be used indoors on Wi-Fi and connected to other Sonos speakers, or outdoors with its Bluetooth connection.

Another option for a portable speaker is the Sonos Move 2, which has the same features though its size doesn’t make it as portable.

Used indoors it functions like a smart speaker with access to Amazon Alexa and Sonos’ own Voice Control; plus there’s the Sonos app that brings access to a wide range of music streaming services.

Neither voice assistance nor the Sonos app can be accessed over a Bluetooth connection, and if you’re not interested in voice control, that’s where the Roam SL comes into play.

Battery life is 10 hours on a single charge, and with an IP67 rating, it’s both dust and water resistant for outdoor usage. Auto Trueplay serves to optimise its audio performance wherever it is and in whichever orientation the speaker is placed in (it can stand vertically or lie down horizontally).

We rated audio quality as good for a portable speaker of its size but nothing has really changed from the original.

It goes for a balanced, neutral performance; with vocals clearly relayed and the midrange clear and natural in tone. Treble is clear and detailed, and there’s decentlevels of dynamism, but low frequencies lack depth.

The Sub Mini is a subwoofer designed to partner small soundbars such as the Ray and Beam Gen 2, as well as perform best in small rooms.

This subwoofer improves the dynamic range of any Sonos system it’s built into, making the speakers sound better without any of the booming bass you could get if you chose the Sonos Sub. With music it lends a nice warmth to the music that we played, providing more impact and sounding cleaner than a single speaker could do on its own.

Like every other Sonos speaker on this list, you can connect to any other speaker, bar the portable models such as the Roam and Move 2. The crossover in terms of which speaker handles the bass frequencies can be fine-tuned in the app to provide a better sense of bass integration for the room you’re in. You can also choose to apply the Trueplay correction if you want to automatically optimise the subwoofer.

From a design perspective, this is a cylindrical unit that stands upright, which means you can’t lay it horizontally and slide underneath your sofa if you want to keep it out the way. It’s a small unit but a hefty one at 6.35kg, and while it looks great, you’ll have to concede that it’ll take up a little bit of space in your room.