Sonos Beam (Gen 1) review: Finally! A soundbar that looks as good as it sounds

The Beam is an excellent to-go soundbar for these with smaller rooms, because of its compact dimension. Measuring simply 25.63-inches (651 mm) throughout, the Sonos Beam will look sensible underneath all televisions.

That is not the case with the likes of the Sonos Arc and Bowers & Wilkins Panorama 3, that are designed to create a encompass sound-like expertise from a single speaker and, in consequence, measure virtually twice the size of the Beam. For many who personal a bigger telly, this could be an choice …however for everybody else, Sonos Beam is your best option.

Alexa and Google Assistant are each included within the first-generation Sonos Beam too, so you can request songs, playlists, albums, podcasts, audiobooks and stay radio stations along with your voice. With each chatty AI assistants included out-of-the-box, Beam (Gen 1) will work with any model of video doorbells, Wi-Fi enabled thermostats, and different good dwelling devices.

And naturally, if you happen to already personal different Sonos audio system (or any audio tools with Apple AirPlay 2) it is possible for you to to make use of the Beam (Gen 1) to synchronise playback of songs throughout a number of audio system or in a number of rooms. The sensible Sonos app (out there on each iOS and Android) brings collectively dozens of music streaming platforms, audiobooks, and radio stations.

Connecting to a telly is straightforward, because of the inclusion of each Optical and HDMI Arc. The latter gives a significantly better expertise, permitting you to manage quantity immediately with none laborious pairing processes. Nevertheless, since there is no passthrough HDMI port on the Sonos Beam (Gen 1) ..one thing that is not fastened with its successor, you may lose a port in the back of your telly for the privilege of the boosted sound.

Whereas the Sonos Beam (Gen 2) is future-proofed with its Dolby Atmos help and extra sturdy design, there’s nonetheless loads to like concerning the first-generation Sonos Beam. It boasts nice sound with loads of bass (particularly for such a compact speaker), a smooth minimalist look in black or white, and an extremely cheap worth.