The new $ 279 Sonos Ray is the company’s most affordable soundbar to date and has two basic purposes. The first step, like any entry-level sound bar, is to get rid of the awful built-in speakers on your TV. But the Ray is also designed to be an attractive gateway to Sonos’ multi-room audio platform. For less than $ 300, Sonos removed many of the more advanced features of its more expensive Beam and Arc sound bars. Ray does not support Dolby Atmos and does not have full HDMI connectivity. Instead, connect it to your TV using an optical audio cable.
I spent a few days testing the Ray and it offers awesome sound for such a compact soundbar. There’s a lot to like about its performance, both in terms of TV audio and music playback. Its front-facing speakers allow you to place it in a tight media cabinet and its sound will remain constant. But Sonos’ decision to rely on an older-style optical input has caused inconveniences and frustrations that do not exist with HDMI-enabled Beam or Arc.
Good material
- Fantastic clarity of dialogue
- Balanced and crisp sound that surpasses many cheap sound bars
- Spotify Connect and AirPlay 2 compatibility
Bad things
- No HDMI connectivity
- It may not work with the TV remote control
- Stereo audio lacks immersion
The main problem is how to control the soundbar. Unlike Beam and Arc, which accept volume commands from many different remote controls via HDMI-CEC, the Ray will only work with infrared (IR) controls. And as I learned, even so, owning one is still beyond the reach of the average person. I’ve tried many times the Ray works with the remote control for TCL’s Google TV Series 6. I’m sure it’s an IR remote: the obstacles between the remote and the TV can block the signal, but for whatever reason, Ray never recognized it. Your experience may be better, especially if you have a universal remote control. However, if your remote control communicates with the radio frequency (RF) or Bluetooth TV, you’re stuck. (Sonos has a help page for setting up certain LG, Apple, and Samsung remote controls.)
Ray only supports optical input from TVs and does not include HDMI connectivity.
In my case, I ended up having to use the Sonos app on my phone (or the touch controls at the top of the soundbar) to adjust the volume, which was annoying. Ease of use has been objectively affected as a result of the lack of HDMI. This is an area where the company’s new voice control service might be useful if you also have one of Sonos’ smart speakers, but that won’t solve the remote problem.
I tried it many, many times, and Ray didn’t take control of my TV.
The Ray follows the Arc and Beam in its design, with a perforated front grille and a sharp body leaning outwards at the front. This soundbar is small and light enough to be easily carried with one hand. And its dimensions would lend itself well to using the Ray as a desktop speaker. But here again, limited input options diminish that potential a bit. Unless your computer has an optical output, making cable audio work can be tricky, but you always have Spotify Connect, Apple’s AirPlay 2, and Sonos’s extensive list of compatible music services at your fingertips. A 3.5mm auxiliary input would have been fine. Under a TV, the Ray looks like a home combined with a set of 55 inches or smaller and quite small if you put it next to a 65 inch TV. The more powerful Beam and Arc make more sense for larger screens.
The Ray has the same capacitive touch controls as other Sonos sound bars.
Considering it only has four controllers: two centered midwoofers and two tweeters that broadcast the sound on the sides with the help of physical waveguides, Ray’s acoustics are impressive and better than my old Vizio soundbar. basic or something like the Roku Streambar. In standalone settings, you only get stereo sound. But you can extend it to a surround system by adding matching pairs of other Sonos or Ikea Symfonisk and Sonos Sub speakers.
I suspect most people will use the Ray on their own, and even alone, I had no trouble filling my bedroom with sound. But I could imagine it struggling and sounding tighter in the big, open living rooms. There is very little sense of immersion or directional audio, as the Ray lacks the stunning sound virtualization surrounding the second-generation Sonos Beam or the many additional Arc drivers. Part of that comes down to optical input again. Ray only supports PCM, Dolby Digital, and DTS stereo audio; forget about Atmos, and even Dolby Digital Plus is impossible.
The Sonos Ray looks a little lower when paired with a 65-inch TV.
When you listen to music, Ray is not that far away from the Sonos One smart speaker. It has a well-balanced and complete sound with bass that I would describe as … competent. But it would greatly benefit from a dedicated subwoofer; the rumored Sub Mini can’t arrive soon enough. Ray handles games pretty well. I didn’t find any noticeable audio sync issues while using my PS5 for several hours, so the optical connection isn’t without its benefits. As with the Beam and Arc, iPhone and iPad owners can turn on Trueplay and use the microphone on these devices to optimize the Ray’s sound for the specific room where it is located. This feature is missing on Android.
Where the Sonos Ray shines brightest is the clarity of the dialogue. Voices come out of this soundbar with excellent separation, and are still easy to hear no matter how much action is on the screen. It’s a difference between night and day compared to built-in TV speakers, where the audio is often muddy and the dialogue can be difficult to follow. The Beam and Arc are technically superior to Ray in this department, as they both have dedicated center channels, but I was completely pleased with the sharp voice playback on the latest Sonos soundbar. It is also a remarkable strength when it comes to listening to music.
The Ray fits perfectly into Sonos’ entire home speaker ecosystem and allows you to enjoy wireless audio from all major music playback services. I love how it feels enveloping when I have the same music playing on different sides of my room in Play: 5 and Ray. Another good thing is the ability to play TV audio on other Sonos speakers in the house, so you won’t have to miss listening to the news or the great moments of sports games while having a meal at the kitchen.
The design follows the Arc and Beam.
Sonos is competing hard for (and well below) the $ 279 Ray price. Most budget sound bars don’t offer the same Wi-Fi music playback capabilities, but at least many include Bluetooth, not Ray, and companies like Vizio usually include a subwoofer to accompany the affordable soundbar. This makes Ray a tricky proposition. If you’re committed to immersing yourself in the Sonos ecosystem, it’s a very capable initial soundbar and will be compatible with software updates for many years to come. And it maintains the company’s reputation for sound quality, with superior performance to most incoming sound bars. This is especially true when we listen to music.
But in the age of HDMI eARC, Ray is slowed down by its unique optical input. Obviously, Sonos has calculated that the target market of Ray will not think twice about its lack of HDMI connectivity or immersive Dolby Atmos surround sound. Not everyone cares about having the best, and many people will use this soundbar with a secondary TV.
However, you should not overlook other compensations. Ray may not work with your TV remote, and some people will inevitably reject the idea of paying nearly $ 300 for a stereo soundbar in 2022. An eventual Sub Mini seems like a much-needed piece for this puzzle. But by virtue of its own merits, Ray won’t disappoint as long as they sell you everything they can and you don’t care about the concessions Sonos made to build it.
Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge