At Gizmodo, we select and write independently about things we like, and we think you’ll like them too. We have affiliate and advertising partnerships, which means we may charge a portion of the sales or other compensation for the links on this page. By the way: the prices are accurate and the items are in stock at the time of publication.
I have some pretty bad news. Over the next 1,500 words or so, I won’t give you any reason not to buy the Sonos Ray soundbar.
Sonos Ray is cheap. Sounds great. And it is perfect for those who want to increase the sound of a cheap TV.
The Sonos Ray soundbar
Sonos announced Ray just a few weeks ago. While Sonos makes some very interesting sound systems, Ray is not for fans of sound bars. Rather, it’s for those of you who want a better sound playback experience, but don’t want to spend more than your TV is worth on a sound bar. It is for those of us who live in apartments with small living rooms. Or those of us who have a shitty TV with acceptable picture quality that sits on top of a drawer in our bedroom.
It was inevitable that Sonos would continue with a budget offer. Its speakers have been praised for more than a decade for its relative sound that fills the room. We had an idea of the arrival of the Sonos Ray soundbar, thanks to leaks last month that promoted this thing as the entry-level device alongside the $ 699 Sonos Beam 2 and the $ 1,499 Arc . The Sonos Ray is a little over half the price of the Beam 2, at $ 399.
When Sonos introduced this little thing, I was able to experience the sound in an information session. But now I’ve been in Ray for a week in the TV corner of my Sydney apartment and I really can’t criticize him.
Configure
The Ray has two cables: one is optical that runs from the TV to the soundbar, and the other is the power cord. Once connected, you need to download the Sonos app to set up the soundbar. If you don’t want or can’t set the soundbar over Wi-Fi, there’s an Ethernet port.
Image: Asha Barbaschow / Gizmodo Australia
I didn’t exactly have the smoothest experience, as the Ray was half set up on a different network, on a different TV. Resetting Ray to the factory fixed my issue (though I had to search Google for how to do it). The app makes setting up easy, but the process from opening the box to hearing Jughead’s soothing voice in Riverdale through Ray took 31 minutes. This included installing an update. You must also have a Sonos account, which is also taken into account over time.
Screenshot: Sonos / Gizmodo Australia
Trueplay
One feature I would definitely recommend you set up is Trueplay, although walking around the living room allowing the app to listen to the space resulted in a massive trial of my cat. Trueplay measures how sound is reflected on the walls, furniture, and other surfaces of a room, and then tunes in the Sonos speaker to make sure it sounds great.
Screenshot: Sonos / Gizmodo Australia
You need the Sonos app
The sound did not come through Ray, but when I opened the app and played “LG TV” the sound was radiant. You can turn on sound enhancement (by increasing the audio frequencies associated with the human voice) as well as night sound. The night sound reduces the intensity of loud sounds while increasing the level of quieter ones, making the dialogue clearer without having to turn up the volume. This would be very useful in a home with more than one person, where someone is trying to sleep while watching Avengers: Endgame for the 82nd time. You barely notice the change in night sound when you’re sitting in front of the TV.
While reviewing the Sonos Ray, I received a new TV from LG to review it (watch out for this one), but replacing the soundbar with a new TV did not require me to do anything other than enter the app and tap the new TV. .
Size, appearance and feel
It’s a smol boi. This TV is not massive, only 55 inches, but the Sonos Ray is small.
Image: Asha Barbaschow / Gizmodo Australia
As you can see, Ray is small. It’s light, but it doesn’t look cheap. Comes in black and white. Although it feels good, it was spotted like crazy just to set it up. I’ll save you from a photo of my rude fingers on the soundbar.
But how does the Sonos Ray sound?
I thought you would never ask.
People who love Sonos really love Sonos. If you have a beam or a bow and you are reading this to see if it is worth replacing any of them, the answer is no. The sound doesn’t compare. Sonos knows how to make things sound great, but it won’t be reduced to exactly selling a half-price version of a very successful soundbar. With this lens, I have to say that the Sonos Ray sounds great, for its price.
It’s compact and deliberately smaller than the other sound bars Sonos offers (because it has to fit in a room or apartment living room, for example). But this means that audio should be approached differently than it is in Arc or Beam 2.
Ray has all the acoustic elements inside, they are all forward-facing (instead of side-shooting or even up-shooting controllers, as is the case with Arc). This means that you can comfortably seat the sound bar inside a TV unit or TV corner and it will not adversely affect the sound quality. There are two built-in tweeters in Ray, both powered by custom split waveguards (a way to get a balanced wall-to-wall sound from a smaller device). TL; DR: Small form factor, surprisingly large sound.
Watching TV or a movie
With this TV I’m reviewing, you can choose the sound of the TV, the soundbar, or the TV plus soundbar. There’s almost no need to have both when you’re watching a show, unless of course it’s something like Obi-Wan Kenobi, where using the sound bar and TV speakers gives you the excitement. of a more surround sound, given the direction of each of the speakers. send the noise. Watching a TV show, even something like reality (in my case, LEGO Masters), increases the sound of the show and makes it as simple as watching people build an epic LEGO sound.
He puts on a movie, though, and the Sonos Ray slaps him. Please note that this is being reviewed in an apartment with a dedicated TV corner. The living room is also just two meters from the TV cabinet. Watching No Time To Die, I heard the engine of the motorcycle growl, I heard the loose rock under the wheels bounce off the spokes and fly to the sides of the bridge; all the noises were clearly heard. Even before a single shot was fired. With the Sonos Ray sitting at about 45 percent, I could hear whispers and background crashes, the timing of a gun, and of course the action was epic. At full volume, aside from annoying my neighbors, the sound is a little too loud. It doesn’t come off, rather it’s too loud for my little space.
Listening to music
It’s also worth noting that the Ray is set differently for TV audio and music. When you listen to the TV, you get a clearer dialogue thanks to the voice enhancement feature of the sound bar. For music, the levels change and the Ray offers sharp treble as well as well-balanced means. Again, bass doesn’t change your life, but don’t expect it to come with a speaker setup of this size.
When playing music, there is a constant bass and clarity in all genres. The Sonos Ray handled everything well, though it wouldn’t actually use a sound bar for a music speaker, Ray could change his mind. In a song with heavy bass, Ray did not tremble, avoiding that horrible resonant vibration that so many speakers get with a song like this. The sound is clear on all levels. There are no splashes of tones and each instrument or rhythm can be heard without dominating the other. The whole volume was crazy: the sound was clear, clear and at full volume, it was not distorted. The Sonos app lets you play music on your radio, which is nice but limited.
Can you add a subordinate to Sonos Ray?
Yes and no. Ray is compatible with all generations of subwoofers, as long as they are from the Sonos brand. The soundbar will not work with a third-party subwoofer. The only subwoofer Sonos currently sells is the $ 1,099 Sonos Sub Gen 3. Considering the cost of the Ray, you have a total of $ 1,500. But the good news is that thanks to a report verified by The Verge, we believe that a cheap Sonos diver could hit the market soon. You can also add Sonos speakers to make a more immersive sound.
I wonder how much Sonos Sub would add to the Ray experience, the same goes for the surround sound.
However, the packaging scores a 3/10 on the box classification system as it is too small to “sit”. Image: Asha Barbaschow / Gizmodo Australia
The verdict
Having to control the sound using the Sonos app is annoying. As is the fact that the only Sonos sub currently available is more than double the cost of the soundbar. But other than that, I can’t criticize the Sonos Ray. It’s cheap, reliable, easy to use and sounds great. If you’re big on soundtracks, this isn’t for you. But if you have a small space and still want to experience some sound while you’re in a hole, it’s hard to look beyond the Sonos Ray. I am totally impressed.
Where to buy the Sonos Ray soundbar?
The Sonos Ray soundbar will be available for purchase starting June 7th.
You can book it from Sonos ($ 399) or JB Hi-Fi ($ 399).