SONOS RAY VS BEAM: Which Soundbar Is Best & Why?

Sonos Ray vs Beam
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Sonos is a well-known brand when it comes to transforming your home audio experience. With their focus on producing immersive sound quality, Sonos provides a choice of excellent soundbars that may boost your entertainment setup. In this blog post, we’ll go into the world of Sonos and compare two popular models: the Sonos Ray vs. Sonos Beam vs. Arc, we’ll study their specs, features, and performance to help you make an informed decision. So, let the sound showdown commence!

Unveiling the Sonos Beam

The Sonos Beam has acquired a reputation for its compact design and outstanding sound delivery. With its streamlined appearance, the Beam easily integrates with any home decor. Equipped with four full-range woofers and a tweeter, the Beam produces clean highs and powerful bass, immersing you in a cinema-like audio experience. Its active voice enhancement delivers crisp and comprehensible dialogues, making it excellent for movie evenings or binge-watching your favorite shows.

In terms of connectivity, the Sonos Beam offers several possibilities. It supports HDMI ARC (Audio Return Channel) for a simplified setup, allowing you to control the soundbar with your TV’s remote. Additionally, it boasts built-in voice control with Amazon Alexa or Google Assistant, offering hands-free operation and simple access to your favorite music streaming services.

Exploring the Sonos Ray

Introducing the Sonos Ray, a newcomer to the Sonos family that seeks to transform your audio experience. Boasting a compact profile and elegant design, the Ray is meant to compliment current aesthetics while offering great sound quality. Equipped with six high-excursion woofers and three tweeters, the Ray provides room-filling sound with exceptional clarity and depth.

The Sonos Ray elevates connectivity to new heights. It includes HDMI eARC (Enhanced Audio Return Channel), which enables lossless audio transmission and compatibility with the most recent high-end TVs. The Ray’s auto-calibration technology adjusts its sound output based on the acoustics of your room. It also supports Apple AirPlay 2, allowing you to wirelessly stream audio from your Apple devices.

Sonos Ravs.vs Beam Specs

When comparing the Sonos Ray vs. Sonos Beam, it’s crucial to look at each soundbar’s specs to grasp the differences and similarities. Let’s take a deeper look at how these two models compare to one another.

#1. Sound Performance:

The Sonos Beam features four full-range woofers and one tweeter for a well-balanced sound experience. Its active voice enhancement feature assures clear and distinct conversation, making it ideal for movie evenings and TV show marathons. The Beam’s sound performance is intended for tiny places, delivering powerful audio in a small package.

The Sonos Ray, on the other hand, pushes sound performance to the next level. It provides increased room-filling sound with six high-excursion woofers and three tweeters. The extra drivers and tweeters create a more immersive audio experience with remarkable clarity and depth. The Sonos Ray is an appealing option if you’re searching for a soundbar that can fill larger spaces with great sound.

#2. Connectivity:

The Sonos Beam vs. Sonos Ray both have many connectivity options to enable smooth integration into your home entertainment setup.

The Sonos Beam supports HDMI ARC (Audio Return Channel), which allows for a simpler setup with just one HDMI wire connected to your TV. It also has voice control built-in via Amazon Alexa or Google Assistant, allowing for hands-free operation and quick access to music streaming services. Because the Beam supports HDMI ARC, you may operate it with your TV’s remote, simplifying the user experience.

The Sonos Ray, on the other hand, goes above and above with HDMI eARC (Enhanced Audio Return Channel) capability. This allows for lossless audio transmission and compatibility with the most recent high-end televisions. Superior audio quality and compatibility with advanced audio formats are ensured by the improved connectivity. The Ray also has auto-calibration technology, which optimizes the sound output based on the acoustics of your room. This guarantees that you receive the greatest audio performance possible, tailored to your surroundings.

#3. Design:

The design of a soundbar can influence your decision, especially if you have certain aesthetic tastes or limited space.

The Sonos Beam has a compact and streamlined appearance that complements any room decor. Its small shape makes it ideal for mounting on a wall or placing in front of a TV. Because of its focus on minimalism and versatility, the Beam is a perfect solution for compact rooms.

On the other hand, the Sonos Ray offers a thin profile and a minimalist design that aligns with modern aesthetics. The Ray’s elegant design lets it blend into your home surroundings without calling undue attention to itself. The Sonos Ray is a gorgeous alternative if you want a soundbar that complements your modern decor.

When comparing the Sonos Ray vs. the Sonos Beam, it’s clear that both soundbars provide excellent sound quality and a variety of capabilities. Because of its tiny size, active voice augmentation, and built-in voice control, the Sonos Beam is an excellent solution for smaller settings. The Sonos Ray, on the other hand, stands out for its increased room-filling sound, HDMI eARC connectivity, and auto-calibration technology, making it ideal for individuals who value audio immersion and sophisticated connectivity options.

Sonos Ravs.vs Beavs.vs Arc

The rivalry among Sonos soundbars is fierce, and with the advent of the Sonos Arc, the battle for sonic dominance reaches new heights. Let’s examine how the Sonos Ray vs. Sonos Beam vs. Sonos Arc stack up against each other, and which soundbar comes out on top.

#1. Sound Performance:

The Sonos Beam impresses with its tremendous sound output and balanced audio experience. It provides clean highs and forceful bass with four full-range woofers and one tweeter, delivering an immersive soundstage. The addition of active voice enhancement improves conversation even more, making it an ideal choice for TV and movie fans.

While the Sonos Beam provides an engaging audio experience, the Sonos Ray takes it to the next level. The Ray produces a room-filling sound that immerses you in your favorite entertainment, thanks to six high-excursion woofers and three tweeters. The additional drivers result in enhanced clarity, depth, and an expansive soundstage. The Sonos Ray is intended for individuals looking for a more immersive audio experience that brings movies, music, and games to life.

The Sonos Arc is the top offering in the Sonos soundbar family. The Arc delivers an immersive 3D sound experience thanks to its eleven high-performance drivers, including upward-firing drivers for Dolby Atmos support. It produces a multidimensional audio environment that immerses you in the action, making it ideal for movie buffs and audiophiles seeking the pinnacle of audio brilliance.

#2. Connectivity:

The Sonos Beam supports HDMI ARC (Audio Return Channel), enabling a more convenient connection to your TV with a single HDMI cable. It also includes built-in voice control via Amazon Alexa or Google Assistant, making it simple to control your soundbar and access music streaming services with your voice.

With HDMI eARC (Enhanced Audio Return Channel) capability, the Sonos Ray takes connectivity to the next level. This improved version of ARC allows for lossless audio transmission and compatibility with the most recent high-end televisions. Furthermore, the Ray includes auto-calibration technology, which optimizes sound output according to the acoustics of your area, delivering an audio experience personalized to your surroundings.

The Sonos Arc also supports HDMI eARC and Dolby Atmos, a cutting-edge audio codec that adds height and dimension to the soundstage. This enables the Arc to provide an immersive audio experience through object-based sound placement, resulting in a genuinely fascinating ambiance.

#3. Design:

When selecting a soundbar that will mix in with your living space, design aesthetics might be a deciding element.
The Sonos Beam has a tiny and streamlined appearance that makes it ideal for smaller areas. Its small form enables for simple positioning in front of your TV or wall mounting. The Beam’s basic design guarantees that it complements a wide range of decor styles.

With its small form and simplistic aesthetics, the Sonos Ray adheres to a similar design philosophy. Its streamlined design is in line with current decor trends, making it an appealing addition to any area.

The Sonos Arc, as the flagship model, has a larger form factor than the Beam and Ray. Its high build quality and attention to detail make it the focal point of any home cinema setup. The Arc’s design exudes elegance and sophistication, making it a statement piece that elevates your living space.

The battle of the soundbars between the Sonos Ray vs. Sonos Beam vs. Sonos Arc provides options to suit a variety of tastes and budgets. The Sonos Beam is an ideal solution for tiny spaces because of its powerful sound and compact design. With increased room-filling sound and advanced networking options, the Sonos Ray elevates audio performance to the next level. And the Sonos Arc is unrivaled in terms of immersive Dolby Atmos capabilities and excellent build quality.

Is there a better soundbar than Sonos Beam?

The Sonos Beam is a high-quality soundbar with exceptional sound performance and a variety of functions. Individual preferences, specialized requirements, and price limits all play a role in evaluating whether there is a “better” soundbar than the Sonos Beam.

There are several soundbars on the market that compete with the Sonos Beam in terms of audio quality and features. Some notable alternatives to consider include:

  • Bose Soundbar 700
  • Sony HT-Z9F
  • Samsung HW-Q70T
  • LG SN11RG

Is Sonos Ray better than TV speakers?

Yes, the Sonos Ray is intended to give a substantially better audio experience than the built-in speakers included in most televisions. Due to their small size and placement constraints within the TV chassis, TV speakers are frequently constrained in terms of sound quality and audio performance.

Is Sonos Ray a good speaker?

The Sonos Ray soundbar is adequate for listening to dialogue-heavy TV episodes and podcasts. Voices reproduce clearly and with depth thanks to the balanced, neutral mids, there’s a dialogue enhancement mode and a night mode feature to balance out the volume level when watching TV at night.

Is JBL soundbar better than Sonos?

The Sonos is better made and offers superior height performance and additional sound-enhancing capabilities. However, the JBL performs better in the middle channel. It also includes extra physical inputs and wireless playback capabilities.

Why is Sonos so much better?

All Sonos speakers are high-quality and produce a consistent, pleasing sound. It’s easy to argue that Sonos hardware is too expensive, but it’s difficult to fault the sound. Although not every Sonos speaker is the same, they have an elegant synergy and quality that no other speaker system appears to offer.

Does Sonos Ray need a subwoofer?

Unlike many other low-cost soundbars, the Sonos Ray lacks a subwoofer. However, there is some good news as well as some negative news. Sonos is a highly customizable system. You may upgrade from stereo to surround audio by adding a set of additional Sonos speakers.

Why is Sonos Beam so quiet?

The Sonos Beam soundbar is intended to deliver a well-balanced and immersive audio experience. However, if you discover that your Sonos Beam is quieter than planned, there could be several reasons. Here are a few possible reasons:

  • Volume settings
  • Audio output settings
  • Room acoustics
  • EQ settings
  • Connectivity issues

Is Sonos Beam good for movies?

The Sonos Beam soundbar is adequate for watching movies. The bar supports surround sound formats such as Dolby Digital and DTS, but it must downmix it to play it. It doesn’t sound as immersive as setups with discrete satellites, but if you watch a lot of movies, you can add on additional satellites from Sonos.

Does Sonos Ray work with TV?

The Sonos Ray has a limited selection of physical inputs. You can connect it to your TV using the Optical cable, but there’s no HDMI support. 

Are Sonos speakers better than Samsung?

Samsung soundbars often offer more options and higher power output, whereas Sonos focuses on ease of use and multi-room capability.

Can you use a Sonos Beam as a speaker?

Yes, you can use the Sonos Beam as a standalone speaker to play music or other audio content. In addition to its TV soundbar capability, the Sonos Beam is intended to serve as a multipurpose speaker capable of streaming music from a variety of sources.

Conclusion

Both soundbars in the Sonos Ray vs. Beam battle offer great audio performance and unique features. Because of its tiny size, active voice enhancement, and built-in voice control, the Sonos Beam is a fantastic solution for smaller settings. The Sonos Ray, on the other hand, distinguishes out because of its optimized room-filling sound, HDMI eARC connectivity, and auto-calibration technology, which caters to consumers who value audio immersion and advanced connectivity possibilities.

Finally, your choice should be dependent on your personal needs, room size, desired sound quality, and connectivity preferences. Whether you go with the Sonos Ray or the Sonos Beam, you’ll be bringing top-tier audio performance and the acclaimed Sonos quality into your home.

So, evaluate your needs, compare the specifications, and make an informed decision to bring the power of Sonos into your entertainment setup. With either the Sonos Ray vs. the Sonos Beam, you’re in for an audio treat that will elevate your listening experience to new heights.

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