Sonos announces “groundbreaking” Arc Ultra soundbar and Sub 4

Apparently Sonos believes its mobile app has reached a good enough level to resume product launches: today the company announced the Arc Ultra and Sub 4. The $999 Arc Ultra is a more powerful variant of the original Arc and the first Sonos product to feature unique converter technology from Mayht, a startup that Sonos acquired in 2022. Sonos calls this “Sound Motion” and says it allows the Arc Ultra to produce richer, even more intense sound than the original.

The company calls Sound Motion “one of the most significant breakthroughs in audio technology in nearly 100 years” and says it “enables greater clarity, depth and balance than ever before in such an elegant soundbar.”

The Arc Ultra has a total of fourteen drivers – three more than the Arc – and includes seven tweeters, six midrange drivers and the integrated Sound Motion woofer. With this set of speakers, Sonos says the new soundbar is capable of delivering 9.1.4 output on its own. Thanks to an “advanced version of speech enhancement,” the Arc Ultra is also said to deliver clearer dialogue. It supports Trueplay EQ tuning – including for Android users – and also offers Bluetooth audio playback, something the original Arc lacks.

Like other Sonos soundbars, the Arc Ultra can be paired with the company's Sonos Ace headphones to privately hear audio from any input device connected to the Ultra. Along with the new soundbar, Sonos is introducing its latest full-size subwoofer, the Sub 4, which now features a matte finish.

Just a few months ago, Sonos CEO Patrick Spence said the company was delaying two products as it focused all efforts on improving the performance of its revamped app for Android and iOS. Earlier this month, Sonos announced a multi-point plan to regain customer trust and ensure that a disaster like the untimely released app never happens again.

“We have achieved a level of quality that gives us the confidence to bring our exceptional new products to market,” Spence said in today’s press release. According to Sonos, another app update timed to coincide with the Arc Ultra's release will reportedly help the software “exceed the previous app's performance on key metrics.” According to the company, 90 percent of the previous app's features will be restored with the upcoming update.