Sonos Ray

Sonos is looking to reach out to the more cost conscious portion of the market and their latest, most affordable soundbar dubbed the Sonos Ray aims to provide their customary ease of setup, seamless integration with other Sonos gear and great sound at...

But, in the era of HDMI eARC, the Ray is held back by its lone optical input. Sonos has obviously calculated that the target market for the Ray won’t think twice about its lack of HDMI connectivity or immersive Dolby Atmos surround sound. Not everyone cares about having the absolute best, and plenty of people will be using this soundbar with a secondary TV.

buy it? I deliberately didn't compare the Sonos Ray with a Vizio V21 or another soundbar with a separate sub, because if I did it would sound positively anemic. That's not the point with speakers like the Ray, Beam or React All three are designed for...

The Sonos Ray is a major sound upgrade compared to the built-in speakers of just about any TV, and gets a massive recommendation on the front. We don't love the lack of HDMI, and movie lovers would do well to spend a little more… but for those who just want clearer speech and more thrilling soundtracks for little money, it's ideal.

You pay for that flexibility: though at $279 it's affordable by Sonos standards, Ray is undoubtedly more expensive than entry-level soundbars from other brands. They lack Sonos' slick software, its music talents, and the generally polished multi-zoom experience, of course.

After spending some time with it, I’d have no problem recommending the Ray to anyone who wants an easy way to upgrade their TV’s audio but doesn't care about having the best speaker that supports the most formats. For a lot of people, particularly those with smaller living rooms, the Ray will be just the right soundbar for their space.

The Ray is the smallest, most affordable soundbar that works with any Sonos multi-room system, but it's a bit too pricey for its bass-light performance and relative lack of features.

Simpler, cheaper and smaller than the other soundbars in the range, the Sonos Ray is built with one main job in mind: making poor-quality TVs sound better. This is a more straightforward soundbar than its stablemates, with optical input only, and no 3D sound formats. However, it supports 5.1 audio, cleanly delivering content from quiz shows to action movies, with a fair amount of bass and presence. Plus, it’s a fully featured multiroom audio speaker, performing well for music, too. For smaller rooms or secondary TVs, the Ray is a neat buy.