If you need a refresher, the midrange Sonos Beam is a 26-inch soundbar that’s great for those who want to dip their toes into the Sonos ecosystem. It’ll upgrade the audio on your TV exceptionally well for its size, with support for Dolby Atmos and eARC. Yet it can also function as a standalone smart speaker, one that’s compatible with Apple’s AirPlay 2, Amazon Alexa, and Google Assistant. It’s even compatible with the new Sonos Ace headphones thanks to a recent update, which lets you listen to audio from the Beam via a new feature called TV Audio Swap.
However, if you have the money to splurge, the larger Sonos Arc will beef up your TV’s audio far more impressively. It features a pair of upward-firing speakers that allow it to make the most of Dolby Atmos, along with eight woofers and three tweeters. Combined with eARC support, the premium soundbar offers powerful, immersive sound — more so if you pair it with a large 4K TV that supports Atmos over HDMI ARC. With its built-in mics, you can also use the Arc as a smart speaker, as it supports all the same smart home platforms as the Beam, in addition to the aforementioned Sonos Ace headphones.
