This month, Sonos announced the new Sonos Ray soundbar, a more affordable entry-level option coming from the company that is both sleek and powerful. Only 22-inches in length, it can easily be tucked away under TVs, within entertainment centers, or on a shelf. Blending in with everything else until you turn it on.
It will support general PCM, Dolby Digital, and DTS signals coming from your TV or other devices (no Atmos this round). The Sonos app displays what it is currently decoding within the “Now Playing” screen.
Inside the speaker are two tweeters and two midwoofers covering all of your highs and mids, while offering a bass reflex system to try to handle some of those lows with. You also have the ability to break out into additional Sonos speakers for rear effects and sub (although this would move far beyond the budget this soundbar falls into).
It offers support for Wi-Fi or wired connectivity to your network so that you can enjoy use of the Sonos app and music streamed over the internet from sources like Spotify and Amazon Music. You can control it via your voice using a Sonos One, Amazon Echo, or Google Nest Home device.
The only catch is that it doesn’t offer any HDMI to make use of Arc, which means you are limited to using optical for sound. That’s it. Outside of the Ethernet port, there is no other connectivity on the back. So this really is an entry-level option. At $279, this is an expensive entry-level option since it is coming from Sonos, but at least you know it should sound really good compared to some of the other entry-level options out there.
We haven’t heard it for ourselves yet, so we can’t say much more about how good it sounds. However, you can make sure you are one of the first to find out for yourself. The soundbar is currently available for pre-order and will begin shipping on June 7th. Links/buttons are available below for where you can get your hands on one of these pre-orders.
