An assertive, punchy and petite soundbar with sparkling vocal clarity
Sonos has always had an aspirational cachet. Its elegantly crafted but expensive speakers are developed to be integrated to provide you with an expansive, seamless audio accompaniment in every part of your home, as well as immersive cinema sound in your living room.
The Ray is the company’s first budget soundbar and marks something of a departure for Sonos. It still maintains the company’s core identity of interoperability, allowing it to form part of a wireless multi-room system using Apple AirPlay 2, Spotify Connect, Tidal Connect and/or the Sonos S2 app; but it is clearly aimed at those new to the brand. Its ultra-compact dimensions, tapered build and forward-facing speakers mean it takes up little space and removes any need for a clear line of sight for upward- and side-firing drivers, making it a practical choice for small rooms or shared spaces.
Inside sit a quartet of class-D amplifiers powering the Ray’s array of four forward-facing drivers – two centrally positioned elliptical mid-woofers flanked by a pair of tweeters that fire into split waveguides. The waveguides separate and disperse high frequencies forwards and outwards for a sense of spaciousness. There is no dedicated centre-channel driver, all the drivers instead sharing dialogue duties.
Low frequencies are handled by proprietary low-velocity curved bass reflex ports that Sonos says deliver a weighty low end without distortion, thanks to a design that controls the airflow speed inside to reduce drag-induced turbulence.
There is no Dolby Atmos decoding here, but the Ray can handle Stereo PCM, as well as Dolby Digital 5.1 and DTS Digital Surround, and as there’s no Dolby Atmos, Sonos has decided to ditch the HDMI eARC connections of its pricier products in favour of a classic optical input, reasoning that since this speaker isn’t intended to handle high-bitrate immersive formats, it doesn’t then need the requisite port.
Given that even Sonos’s now discontinued Beam Gen 1 sported ARC, we are a bit disappointed that the Ray has been downgraded in this way; having HDMI on a non-Atmos product isn’t entirely a superfluous affectation, in part because it allows you to use your regular remote to control a soundbar’s functions. To overcome this, the Sonos Ray has an infra-red receiver that will allow the soundbar to sync with your TV remote.
It boasts all of the standard in-app functionality you woul
