Stuff

    Subscribe to our newsletter

    What's Hot
    Canon EOS R7 R10

    Canon’s mirrorless EOS R7 and R10 are inbound for budding amateur photographers

    May 24, 2022
    Priority

    Priority delivery on Uber Eats ensures you get your food first… for a fee

    May 24, 2022
    Toyota Starlet Main

    The 2022 Toyota Starlet hatchback lands in South Africa starting at R226,200

    May 24, 2022
    Facebook Twitter Instagram YouTube SoundCloud
    Trending
    • Canon’s mirrorless EOS R7 and R10 are inbound for budding amateur photographers
    • Priority delivery on Uber Eats ensures you get your food first… for a fee
    • The 2022 Toyota Starlet hatchback lands in South Africa starting at R226,200
    • The SABC is bringing big changes to the way TV licences in South Africa are paid
    • Millions in Savings: Get incredible deals on home entertainment, thanks to the LG Life’s Good Celebration Sale
    • Nissan unveiled its latest EV in the metaverse and it was as crazy as it sounds
    • Asus will bring the very first 500Hz gaming monitor to market
    • Two 100MW solar projects approved for SA, should go into operation from September 2023
    Facebook Twitter Instagram YouTube
    Stuff Stuff
    • News
      • App News
      • Business News
      • Camera News
      • Gaming News
      • Headphone News
      • Industry News
      • Internet News
      • Laptops News
      • Motoring News
      • Other Tech News
      • Phone News
      • Tablet News
      • Technology News
      • TV News
      • Wearables News
    • Reviews
      • Camera Reviews
      • Featured Reviews
      • Game Reviews
      • Headphone Reviews
      • Laptop Reviews
      • Other Tech Reviews
      • Phone Reviews
      • Tablet Reviews
      • Wearables Reviews
    • Columns
    • Stuff Guides
    • Podcasts & Videos
      • Videos
      • Stuffed
      • Stuffing Around
      • Tech Byte
      • T2S2
    • Win
    • Subscribe
      • Print
      • Digital
        • Google Play
        • iTunes
        • Download
        • Zinio
    • Stuff Shop
      • Shop Now
      • My Account
      • Downloads
    • Contact Us
      • Get In Touch
      • Advertise
    0 Shopping Cart
    Stuff
    Home » Brands » Sonos » Launched virtually, the new Sonos Arc is a delight on the ear and eye
    Brands

    Launched virtually, the new Sonos Arc is a delight on the ear and eye

    Toby ShapshakBy Toby ShapshakJune 26, 2020Updated:October 1, 2021No Comments3 Mins Read
    Share
    Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Pinterest Email

    While many tech manufacturers have paused their big product announcement, not everybody has. Sonos – makers of some of the finest audio equipment I have ever heard – thankfully haven’t. They announced their very fine Arc under-TV speaker, and two others. But a little background is necessary to understand the relevance. Sonos makes excellent streaming audio speakers, which use your WiFi instead of cables. They aren’t cheap but they are good, really good.

    And they work seamlessly. Plug a Sonos One in the first room, another in the second and a bigger setup in the TV room and they all play the same music. Or different music in every room. Long before streaming music services like Spotify emerged, Sonos was already doing the actual delivery.

    A few years ago, Sonos dipped its toe into a new category of speakers, the so-called soundbars that are mounted below your flatscreen TV and augment its sound. Sonos called the first product, aptly, Soundbar, and then two years ago introduced the Beam – a more compact model. It was so good that Stuff named it both our audio and overall gadget of the year in 2018.

    The moment I plugged it in to test –- I never unplugged it, I simply bought it off the distributors –- I saw the rationale immediately. Despite having a high-end LG wonder-OLED TV, the laws of physics are simply against TV manufacturers. For speakers to give a rich and deep sound, they need a space to produce it. A literal space. The flatter the TV, the less space there is for that important resonance. TV manufacturers themselves noticed this and have been selling their own soundbars.

    But Sonos only does one thing. It makes audio equipment. And it’s in a league of its own for consumers who want simplicity but good sound. Its latest product demonstrates the two things that Sonos does particularly well. And why I chose to write about this instead of the ongoing madness of the lockdown regulations.

    The Arc solves a problem that I’ve had for years, and which is getting worse. All movies and TV shows seem to be sound edited by two different people, or a schizophrenic. The dialogue tends to be barely audible, forcing you to jack up the volume to hear what the characters are mumbling to each other.

    But, as soon as there is an advert or the theme song plays, or there’s a chase or fight or driving-with-music or music-playing-while-character-walking scene, the volume leaps to death metal concert levels. I’m endlessly dialling the volume down, then back up – or pressing mute, then missing the key line because I don’t know when to unmute and having to rewind. It’s a minor problem in the age of coronavirus, but a problem, nonetheless. The Arc has fixed it.

    The second thing Sonos does, is play nicely with other Sonos speakers. It’s great for having multiple speakers in different rooms, but especially good when you want to add some extra base. Sonos have also launched a new version of their excellent stand-alone bass speaker, the  Sub (Gen 3). If you have either model in your TV room, the Arc will offload the frequencies for bass sounds to the other speaker, thereby freeing up the Arc’s processing power to focus on the other frequencies. Sharing really is caring.

    This article first appeared in Financial Mail

    Arc audio kit featured home entertainment Sonos sound soundbar speaker TV
    Share. Facebook Twitter Pinterest LinkedIn WhatsApp Reddit Tumblr Email
    Toby Shapshak

      Toby Shapshak is editor-in-chief and publisher of Stuff, a Forbes contributor and a Financial Mail columnist. He has been writing about technology and the internet for 20 years and his TED Global talk on innovation in Africa has over 1,5-million views.He has written about Africa's tech and start-up ecosystem for Forbes, CNN and The Guardian in London. He was named in GQ's top 30 men in media and the Mail & Guardian newspaper's influential young South Africans. He has been featured in the New York Times. GQ said he "has become the most high-profile technology journalist in the country" while the M&G wrote: "Toby Shapshak is all things tech... he reigns supreme as the major talking head for everything and anything tech."

      Related Posts

      Galaxy Buds

      Samsung’s Galaxy Buds 2 can now be purchased in a Pokéball – if you’re in South Korea

      May 20, 2022
      Elon Musk twitter

      Musk’s Twitter bid on hold

      May 19, 2022

      Sonos leaks suggest a new subwoofer is on the way

      May 17, 2022

      Leave A Reply Cancel Reply

      In The Mag
      Stuff April-May 2022 Latest Issue

      In This Issue – The Smart Home (April-May 2022) Issue

      By Brett VenterApril 4, 20220

      It’s time for a brand-new issue of your favourite tech publication. The April-May- 2022 edition…

      2021 Wish List
      wish list Stuff Wish List 2021

      Stuff Wish List: for the tech impaired

      By Duncan PikeDecember 22, 20210

      Are you from the time before being glued to a smartphone was considered normal? Here’s…

      Wishlist DIY Stuff tech

      Stuff Wish List: for the DIY Diehard

      December 21, 2021
      Wish List Gearhead

      Stuff Wish List: For the petrol-soaked gearhead

      December 20, 2021
      outsiders

      Stuff Wish List: for the Outsiders

      December 17, 2021

      Latest Video

      Sonos

      SONOS Roam SL unboxing by Toby Shapshak

      March 30, 2022
      Mini Cooper

      The Mini Cooper SE Electric with Toby Shapshak

      March 18, 2022
      MSI Crosshair 15 Rainbox Six Extraction Edition unboxing

      MSI Crosshair 15 Rainbox Six Extraction Edition unboxing

      March 16, 2022
      Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra Unboxing

      Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra unboxing with Toby Shapshak

      March 16, 2022
      Contact

      South Africa's Consumer Tech News Hub

      General: [email protected]
      Subscriptions: [email protected] or 087 353 1291
      Editorial: 072 735 2614
      Sales: 083 375 2418

      Facebook Twitter Instagram YouTube SoundCloud

      Subscribe to Updates

      • Terms and Conditions
      • Privacy & POPI
      • My account
      © 2022 Stuff Group. Designed by Chronon.

      Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.