Ears-on with the entry-level, HDMI-less Sonos Ray soundbar

For its latest soundbar, Sonos stripped away these large-finish options as Dolby Atmos and aspect-firing motorists, and it even dropped HDMI. But Sonos still guarantees best-notch audio from the entry-degree Ray soundbar, which I acquired to see–and hear–at an occasion in New York on Tuesday.

All through the function, Sonos also shared news about its lengthy-awaited Hey Sonos voice assistant, and it also showed off new colours for the moveable Sonos Roam.

Slated to go on sale June 7 for $279, the Sonos Ray costs $170 a lot less than the Sonos Beam, Sonos’s now mid-assortment Dolby Atmos soundbar, and it’s a whole $620 a lot less than the flagship Sonos Arc.

Sonos Ray in front of TV — The Sonos Ray is smaller and fewer pricey than Sonos’s other two soundbars, the Beam and the Arc.

Ben Patterson/Foundry

To strike that price tag place, Sonos pared down the number of powered drivers in the 3.-channel Ray compared to the Beam and the Arc, which pack 5 and 11 motorists respectively.

The Ray arrives with a overall of 4 motorists, which include two “high-performing” tweeters with break up waveguides that “project seem from wall to wall,” together with two total-vary midwoofers every single of the four drivers receives its individual Course-D amplifier. A bass reflex system with a small-velocity port design provides the small frequencies.

Also lacking is support for Dolby Atmos, which implies the Ray won’t be ready to provide height consequences instead, you can hope typical Dolby and DTS audio.

At last, the Ray lacks an HDMI connector, a standard function for even cut price-basement soundbars these days. As an alternative, the Ray will make do with an optical (Toslink) input, which can produce multichannel Dolby, DTS, and PCM audio, but not Dolby TrueHD, DTS-High definition Grasp Audio, or any of the item-dependent audio formats.

Sonos Ray inputs — The Sonos Ray has an optical input and a quick ethernet port, but no HDMI. Also pictured is the ability cord connector and a button for wirelessly connecting the Ray to other Sonos speakers.

Ben Patterson/Foundry

I spoke with record producer Giles Martin, who also serves as Head of Seem Working experience at Sonos, at the New York function, and he argued that the Ray’s one optical enter is a “quick and stylish solution” for the entry-level, non-Atmos soundbar.

But though Sonos has shaved HDMI, Atmos sound, and added speaker drivers from the Ray, it still left many signature Sonos functions intact, particularly Sonos multi-room audio, AirPlay 2, and Trueplay, the Sonos space-correction attribute that lets the speaker evaluate the acoustics of a room with assist from an iPhone’s microphone.

Even superior, you can improve the Ray’s audio with additional speakers, just as you can with the Beam and the Arc. For example, you could incorporate a Sonos Sub and a pair of Sonos One speakers to the Ray, which would bring the soundbar up to a 5.1-channel configuration.

Measuring 22 x 3.74 x 2.79 inches and weighing in at 4.29 kilos, the Ray comes with a flat front grille and is noticeably more compact and lighter than the Beam and (particularly) the hefty Arc, generating it a excellent candidate for a studio condominium or a second home.

Sonos also claims that it intended the Ray’s acoustic offer to be ahead-going through, meaning you can slide it into a Television cabinet with no worrying about blocking the seem. Of course, you could also just position it in entrance of your Television set, or mount the Ray on a wall underneath your Television set employing an optional mounting bracket.

Sonos Ray in TV cabinet — The Sonos Ray’s drivers are all forward-dealing with, indicating you can slide it into a Tv set cabinet with out blocking its sound.

Ben Patterson/Foundry

The soundbar’s optical enter sits in a rear compartment together with a fast (10/100 Mbps) ethernet port. On prime of the soundbar are the acquainted Sonos touch controls, which permit you participate in and pause tunes as perfectly as swipe to skip tracks.

To exhibit the Ray in motion, Giles and other Sonos execs teed up scenes from Ford v Ferrari, Spider-Person: No Way House, and Venom. At first blush, the compact soundbar sounded pretty spectacular, with crisp, captivating seem, a good sum of bass, and clear, apparent dialog.

Of training course, I was only ready to listen to the Ray for a handful of minutes though sitting down at a single aspect of a compact, crowded home with a concrete floor–hardly the perfect venue for kicking the tires of a soundbar. While I liked the very little that I read, I’ll reserve my final judgment until eventually I have used quality time with the speaker.

Facts of the Sonos Ray ended up leaked nicely in progress of this week’s official kickoff function, but 1 of the juciest rumors–that the Ray could be positioned vertically for use as a encompass speaker for the Beam or Arc–didn’t pan out, or at minimum not but. When I asked Giles about the rumored element, he chuckled and denied that it had at any time been thought of.

Moreover the Ray, Sonos also unveiled the Hey Sonos voice assistant you can browse more about Hey Sonos ideal here.

Last but not least, Sonos introduced that the portable Sonos Roam is now available in a few new shades: Olive, Wave, and Sunset.