Sonos has just announced its latest soundbar, the Arc Ultra. Built as a “complete reinvention” of the 4.5-star Arc, how does it compare to the four-star Bose Smart Ultra alternative which launched last year?
To help you decide which soundbar might be better suited to you, we’ve compared the specs of the two and noted the main differences between them here.
Price
The recently launched Sonos Arc Ultra is slightly more expensive than the Bose Smart Ultra, with an RRP of £999/€999/$999. It is also available in two colours: Black or White.
Launched in 2023, the Bose Smart Ultra has an RRP of £899.95/€999.95/$899. As it’s a slightly older mode however, it’s worth noting that you’re more likely to see deals for this now.
Sonos vs Bose ecosystem
One of the deciding factors between the Sonos Arc Ultra and Bose Smart Ultra might be determined by which ecosystem you already belong to, as both soundbars have features that are exclusive to their respective brands.
Bose has the SimpleSync tool which allows you to connect the Smart Ultra with different Bose headphones such as the QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds, QuietComfort Ultra Headphones and QuietComfort Headphones, plus selected Bose Bluetooth speakers too, for a personal listening experience.
On the other hand, Sonos allows you to seamlessly swap TV audio from the Arc Ultra to the Sonos Ace. It’s also worth noting that swapping with the Sonos offers private surround sound and spatial audio with dynamic head tracking too.
The Sonos Arc Ultra is bigger
Although both sport a similar long and thin design, the Arc Ultra is slightly taller and wider than the Smart Ultra and measures 7.5cm – 117.8cm x 11.06cm.
The Smart Ultra, on the other hand, measures 5.8cm x 104.5cm x 10.7cm. Having said that, the Sonos Arc Ultra is only slightly heavier at 5.9kg compared to the Smart Ultra’s 5.8kg.
The Sonos Arc Ultra has Sound Motion technology
The Arc Ultra sports a newly designed Sound Motion woofer, which Sonos explains marks a “revolutionary leap forward for home cinema sound.” Essentially the woofer uses Sound Motion technology for a “bigger and more balanced sound experience” across the full audio spectrum.
Although the Smart Ultra doesn’t include Sound Motion, it is still fitted with various Bose-exclusive technologies for better sound clarity. There’s PhaseGuide which is a sound manipulation technique that creates a spatial audio experience and QuietPort which delivers bass without any interference or distortion.
It’s worth noting that in our review, we found that although there’s “not much depth” from the bass performance of the Smart Ultra, there’s still a “firmness to low frequencies”.
The Bose Smart Ultra has an AI Dialogue Mode
To enhance dialogue within movies and shows, the Smart Ultra features AI Dialogue Mode. This technology uses machine learning to listen to millions of content clips and automatically adjusts the Smart Ultra’s tonal balance, which means spoken words are easier to hear without losing any impact of immersive sound effects.
We found that even without AI Dialogue enabled, Bose managed to “skate through with excellent reproduction of dialogue”.
The Arc Ultra has a similar tool with Speech Enhancement which boosts audio frequencies associated with the human voice. Although this isn’t a new tool, it now comes with multiple levels of control so you can tailor it to best suit how you listen.
The Sonos Arc Ultra works with your TV remote
Sonos offers a more streamlined approach to controlling the Arc Ultra, as it allows you to simply use your existing TV remote rather than rely on an extra control.
This is especially noteworthy as we were concerned with the Smart Ultra’s dedicated remote control as it’s small and could easily get lost. We also found it felt “out of place with the premium stylings of the soundbar. In terms of handling it and feedback from buttons, it’s rather plain.”
Early verdict
The Sonos Arc Ultra is packed with features that Sonos promise will make the soundbar a new standard for home cinema sound. On the other hand, the Bose Smart Ultra still promises to be an excellent soundbar for households, thanks to its sleek design and Bose-exclusive technologies.
We’ll avoid giving a definitive verdict until we’ve conclusively reviewed the Sonos Arc soundbar.
