Sonos Arc Ultra Unboxing + Arc Side-by-Side Comparison

[@jhrome202]

I picked mine up today and just set it up. I have an original Arc with two era 100’s with a sub. I can tell you the sound out of the new Arc Ultra is clearer fuller and the speech dialogue is much much clearer than the original Arc. That was the one draw back from the original Arc it sounds great but the speech dialogue seemed to get lost while watching movies. Not the Arc Ultra very clear, definitely worth the upgrade!!!

[@motivatedtravel]

Awesome feedback, thank you so much for adding your experience to the mix.

[@davidleingang5591]

I have Arc + Sub Gen3 + One SLs for surround. I’ve never had an issue not hearing dialogue but I keep Speech Enhancement “On”. My issue is not hearing or sensing the Atmos sound even thought I have the Height Channel setting at +10. Frustrating for me.

[@nigelturner3251]

Thanks Chris for confirming the problem with feeding cables from above when wall mounting beneath the TV. Surely Sonos must be aware not everyone routes cables through a wall, especially if they are brick. Looks like a design error when surface mounting cables which will prevent me from upgrading in the future. Enjoy the camping trip and look forward to your full review.

[@motivatedtravel]

I'm wondering if you can space the mount off the wall (with washers or similar) and create a few mm for a cable to slide down without it being an eyesore? Someone else mentioned as well that the mount itself might have a cable feed through spot. Looking at this image, it could be possible - www.sonos.com/en-au/shop/arc-ultra-wall-mount

[@shemsureshot]

Came for the comparison, stayed for the dog.

[@motivatedtravel]

Lol, doesn't like being separated from us by glass.

[@shemsureshot]

@ Just like my one 😂

[@GOLFADDICT65]

thinking of getting the ARC ULTRA should i get the sub first or the ERA 100's first room is 12 x 14 looking forward to your reviews on this and the ARC ULTRA cheers from Vulcan Canada

[@motivatedtravel]

12 x 14m or feet? Guessing feet? The Era 300s are the go over the 100s - spatial audio speakers and they sound fantastic. If it's a nice square room that's walled in (not open plan) and carpet, you might get a pretty good surround sound effect from teh Ultra itself. My testing rooms for this is a 12x12 walled in room with carpet - so will let you know how it goes once I get some solid time with it. I've got the sub and the 300s, so planning to test all three setups. Will just take a bit of time.

[@steventarantino8660]

I had this same problem and I can guarantee you that you should get the sub before the eras. Do get the surround at some point though.

[@NandordeLaurentiis]

Is it the same power cord?

[@motivatedtravel]

Yeah, looks exactly the same.

[@scottniosi5595]

Just Ordered Ultra , being I get the 15% Off upgrade from Sonos. Looking forward to your Review.

[@motivatedtravel]

Awesome, hopefully it gets to you soon!

[@davidleingang5591]

I’m in the same boat get 15% off the Ultra being an existing Arc owner. I asked Sonos if their upgrade program allows me to return ship them my Arc for a credit toward the Ultra thinking they could simply sell my Arc as “pre-owned” or refurbished. But they don’t do that.

[@johnshepherd2666]

Chris ...turn it on 😊

[@charliezobel511]

Like everything in Australia is designed to kill you and the geezer's going camping 🫣 you Aussies are nuts! Thanks for the comparison to the OG, I'll most likely be upgrading to it but will wait for a few a reviews first just to seal the deal.

[@motivatedtravel]

Lol, well it's true, there's plenty here that can kill you. But by the same token, I won't put on shoes once the whole time - it's not a worry. Outside of a few things (sharks, crocs, tassie devils, the odd python) most things don't want to eat you.

[@charliezobel511]

@@motivatedtravel most things don’t want to eat ya 😂 that’s one of the best lines I’ve ever heard although at least two of the fellas you’ve mentioned definitely do: I hear crocs and sharks like their humans rare. As for pythons and snakes in general 😱 mate I’d be running quicker than Usain Bolt, them Tasmanian Devils look half cute so I assumed they’d not be that bad. Are you going to do an initial first impressions vid before you go off for a weekend of putting your life on the line or you not doing anything till the full review?

[@motivatedtravel]

@@charliezobel511 The Tassie Devils get you after the spiders and snakes. They eat your bones, lol. Hoping to get something up mate. Got a tonne of work to get done to get out the door, but going to try and do something quickly. I just don't want to half-ass it.

[@charliezobel511]

@motivatedtravel be good if you can as there's still not much out yet about this soundbar, well there weren't this morning but that may have changed over the course of the day. I know you have glorious weather down there but the trade-off is all those nasties that come with it 🫣 I'll take our pony British climate to be honest.

[@MrWozzafive]

G'dayChris. Thanks for your unboxing video, I'm looking forward to your review . I noticed that you have the older Arc. Could you please advise, I have an LG G4 tv. How do you control the volume on the soundbar? Kind regards Warren

[@keyoke]

Hdmi cec. Use tv remote to control the volume

[@motivatedtravel]

As mentioned below, you can just use your TV remote. However, on some brands, you lose the numbering of your audio. So it's just up and down, you can tell what level you're at. I asked them about this, and they said it's TV-side, so they can't control.

[@mvpKC]

Aww man, cord management is a deal breaker for me. How are we supposed to hide the cords with the back of the speaker being completely flush against the wall?

[@motivatedtravel]

I wonder if you can offset the wall-mount slightly so you can slip a cord down behind it. Like pad it out with a few washers or something?

[@nigelturner3251]

Completely agree a lazy design floor which means I am not upgrading.

Nice. Waiting for that review

[@motivatedtravel]

Cheers!

[@bingchangma9017]

Can the wall mount for Arc be used for the Arc Ultra？

[@motivatedtravel]

I haven't tried it, but I've read elsewhere that it is the same.

[@Mi-Gr]

@@motivatedtravel It should be similar but it's not the same. But the old one should work as well (at least that's what Sonos told me). Using the wall mount provides some space in the middle. Probably this is sufficient for the cables which goes to the TV.

[@motivatedtravel]

@@Mi-Gr That's good to hear, I was wondering if the wall-mount itself had space for cables or if you could pad it out from the wall a bit with washers even.

[@5cent27]

Look up Peter pee. He does a video on this subject.

[@tanchoonhuat8323]

Is it worth upgrade from arc?

[@keyoke]

Very. Totally a different league in sound. More pronounced dialogues, better low ends

[@tanchoonhuat8323]

Noted with thanks😊

[@hianyen]

Not much difference, i bought ulta + sub gen4. Slight upgrade from arc with gen3

[@motivatedtravel]

You can find out heaps about the specific upgrade benefits here - kzbin.info/www/bejne/kHitap-Br76klbs&t

[@JayA19176]

Bros just resting it on its grill like…. C’mon

[@motivatedtravel]

images.tennis.com/image/private/t_q-best/tenniscom-prd/hwkxujjxchlqudu1fkvl.jpg

[@mayday6880]

wenn need audio comparison (the old ARC, to the Ambeo plus....) not unboxing 🙂

[@motivatedtravel]

Honestly don't think a recording of the audio will give you much of a real-world approximation through KZbin.

[@mayday6880]

not recordings, convey hearing impressions from arc ultra owners.

[@Mi-Gr]

@@mayday6880 I've got mine today. I recommend to hear the LG Atmos demo in KZbin. It's really a great impression with the ARC Ultra comparing to the ARC (the 360 sound environment works really great even without the surround speakers).

[@joseinoa9456]

Sonos arc. So easy, a caveman could do it. jk lol

[@motivatedtravel]

My nickname for four years at Uni, lol.

[@rafars2246]

only one hdmi port lol

[@motivatedtravel]

Yeah, not cool.

[@davidleingang5591]

Help me here…why do you need more than one HDMI? You plug Arc into the TV eARC port and ready to go!

[@rafars2246]

@@davidleingang5591 you can't have lossless audio that way.

[@motivatedtravel]

@@davidleingang5591 You don't if you have a TV with four HDMI 2.1 ports. However, most TVs only have 2 x HDMI 2.1 ports (one of which is the eARC port). So if you have a single next-gen console and the Arc Ultra, no worries. They take up the two HDMI 2.1 ports. However, if you have two next-gen consoles (Xbox and PlayStation), then you only have two available HDMI 2.1 ports in your TV, which means one console can't be connected through the optimal connection. One way of countering this is to be able to plug your consoles in the soundbar, then pass them through to the TV through the eARC.