Get Them Here:

Sony Bar 9: https://amzn.to/40Orw9C

Sony Bravia 8: https://amzn.to/3Obdvvh

Sonos Arc Ultra: https://amzn.to/3YSeYLX

Bose SB Ultra: https://amzn.to/4fGmdh2

So the Sonos Arc Ultra has been completely redesigned on the inside and it now offers better openess and immersion than its predecessor. But Sony’s new soundbar, the Sony Bravia Bar 9 has also been completely redesigned from its predecessor and it also offers much better openess and immersion. And then theres the Bose Smart soundbar ultra which isn’t all that different from its predecessor… expect it has AI now. But nonetheless, today we’re going to see what these large premium soundbars are all about and we’re going to see which one is right for you.

Now all of these soundbars are self contained systems, as in they dont have an external subwoofer cause they produce their own bass. Now obviously having an external subwoofer is better cause you’re going to have a lot more bass and you’re going to get a more movie theater like experience. However, everyone might not have the space for an external subwoofer, or you live in an apartment and you dont want to be that neighbor. So in this video we’re only going to be testing these soundbars themselves.

However, with all of these soundbars you can always build them out by adding an external subwoofer and or you can rear satellite speakers. But in this video we’re only going to be testing these soundbars by themselves. However the Sony Bravia Bar 9 is a first part sound bar. As in if you were to use it with a sony tv, like with the Sony Bravia 8 that I have here… first off youre going to be able to very quickly and easily adjust your sound settings directly from the tv itself, which is super useful cause everything has different mixing now… but more importantly, if you use a sony soundbar with your sony tv, then you’re going to be able to use Acoustic center sync where your TV’s built in speakers will work in conjunction with your sound bar. So you’re going to get more volume and you’re going to get a stronger center channel.

Where as since both the Bose and Sonos are third party soundbars, you’re not going to be able to use your TV’s built in speakers to help your soundbar. And this isn’t exclusively the case with Sony, if you have a Samsung TV you’re better off getting a Samsung soundbar or if you have an LG tv you’re better off getting an LG soundbar cause they’ll also use your TV’s built in speakers to help your soundbar. So the Sony Bar 9 is here to help show you what its like going first party versus third party, and we’re using the Sony Bravia 8 cause I feel that if you’re looking at a premium soundbar, you already have a premium tv.

Nonetheless if you want to pick any of these products up they’ll be linked down below or you can always press on the YouTube shopping. And if you want to further support the channel, pick up some merch.

So first theres the design of these soundbars. Now all of these soundbars are pretty big cause they are packing a lot of speakers in them. The Sony Brava Bar 9 is the largest here coming in with a length of 51 and a quarter inches, the Sonos Arc ultra has a length of 46 and a half inches and the Bose Smart Soundbar Ultra has a length of 41 and one eight inches. But surprisingly, the Bar 9 is the lightest soundbar here weighing in at 12.1 pounds and it comes included with a wall mounting kit. Where as the Bose Ultra weighs in at 12.7 pounds and the Sonos Arc Ultra weighs in at 13 pounds, and their wall mounting kits are sold separately.

So if you plan on wall mounting your soundbar then you’ll might want to go with the Sony, and the good thing here is, all of these soundbars plug in via an AC port and there is no external power brick that you have to worry about. And I do have to point out that I really like the included power cable and HDMI cable that comes with the Sonos Arc Ultra cause they feel very premium, they are very long and they are super flexible.

But from a design standpoint, the Sony Bar 9 is my favorite soundbar here cause it does the best job here of simply disappearing. It has a very low profile design and thanks to its mostly fabric wrapped body it doesn’t cause any reflections. Where as with the Bose Ultra, yes this soundbar is smaller and its also low profile, but I dont like its glass top cause it can cause reflections in certain set ups which can be distracting when you’re watching movies. And then theres the Arc Ultra which is a lot more eye catching cause of its floating design aspect, which is something that you’ll might or might not want depending in your set up.

But then there are the ports on these soundbars. Now the Sonos Arc Ultra and Bose Smart Soundbar Ultra both have an ethernet port where as the Sony doesn’t… so you can hard wire your soundbar into your network… but I think that its point less cause I would rather just hardwire my tv into my network and whatever soundbar that is connected to my tv is still going to enjoy the benefits. But more importantly, the Sony Bar 9 is the only soundbar here that has an HDMI in port, so you can plug in your Blu-ray player or your playstation through your soundbar. So this might be super important to you if you plan on connecting a lot of things to your tv.

Now with both the Bose and Sonos soundbars you can also use them as smart speakers if you want. But personally I dont like using my soundbar as a smart speaker cause I dont want my content to be interrupted if someone says Alexa, hey google or hey Sonos. Maybe they do it on purpose, maybe they do it by accident. And I dont like I from a privacy standpoint. If im going to use a voice assistant, ill use it on my phone. But the thing that I really like about the Sonos Arc ultra is that it has a physical button on it so that you can physically disconnect the mic on this sound bar.

But then there are the apps on these soundbars. Now with all of these apps you can go in adjust the sound of these soundbars. And bose has perhaps the simplest and cleanest app here. Everything is very well laid out and its super easy to find. Where as with Sonos, I feel this app is a mess. Its super busy and all of the different settings that you need to get into are in different pages. And then theres the Bravia Connect app for sony. Now if you’re going to use this soundbar with a none sony tv, then you’re going to get a clean set up thats easy to use, just like bose. Everything is laid out in one page and its super easy to find. Or if you use this soundbar with a sony TV… then your tv settings and soundbar setting are all combined, and everything is still super easy to find. But also, if you use your Sony soundbar with a sony TV, then you’ll might not even need to have to use the app cause you’ll be able to adjust your sound settings directly from your tv. And like I mentioned earlier, I love this cause everything has different mixing now, so being able to adjust your sound directly from the tv is just super easy. Where as with both the Sonos And Bose, since these are third party sound bars, your going to have to reach for your phone all of the time, which just isn’t as seamless like with going with the first party option.

But also, since we’re talking about the Apps and audio configurations… I do want to point out that both Sonos And Sony make it very easy to calibrate your sound system for your room and your seating position cause their calibration process uses your Phone’s microphone. Where as with the Bose Smart Sound Bar Ultra, now with AI… bose doesn’t use your phone’s mic. Instead you have to use their included wired mic that you put on your head. Bose, how are you going to say that you’re using AI when you’re still doing this?

But overall, both bose and Sony have very clean an easy to use apps and with the Sony Bar 9, if you use it with a sony tv then you’ll might not even have to open the app all that often cause all of your settings are going to be on the tv… where as I dread having to open the Sonos App to adjust my sound settings cause this app is just so cluttered.

But with all of that out of the way lets talk about sound. Regarding speaker set up, these soundbars are very different. Now I feel the Bose Smart Soundbar is the most basic soundbar here. We’ve got a total of six speakers, 4 of which shoot out the front and they are clustered in the middle. And we have two that shoot upwards at the ends of this soundbar. Surprisingly there is a single frontward firing tweeter and there are dual bass chamber. Pretty basic if you ask me. Where as with the Sonos Arc Ultra, this soundbar has a total of 6 frontward firing speakers, 7 tweeters, three of which shoot out the front, two shoot out the sides and 2 shoot upwards and it has a built in subwoofer for your bass. And then theres the Sony Bravia Bar 9 which has a total of 8 speakers. 4 that shoot out the front, 2 shoot out the sides, and two shoot upwards. There are also 3 frontward firing tweeters that shoot out the front, and there are dual beam forming tweeters that shoot out the sides, and the bar 9 has dual passive radiators for the bass.

So from a hardware standpoint, yeah the Sony Bar 9 has a lot going for it. But in this video we’re going to be using the Sony Bar 9 with the Sony Bravia 8 TV and we’re going to be using acoustic center sync. So your tv’s built in speaker will be working in conjunction with the soundbar so you’re going to get a higher max volume and you’re going to get a stronger center channel. And this is to help you see the difference between going first party and third party with your soundbar if your tv brand sells soundbars. But now we’re going to jump into the sound test, all of these soundbars are playing at 75% volume with my preferred EQ settings and we’re going to be using the Sony Bravia 8’s built in speakers by themselves, but those are running are max volume.

Sound Test

So like you may have just heard, since the Bravia 8 is a more premium tv, it has better sound. It uses its screen as a speaker, plus it has two built in tweeters and theres a built in sub as well. So as a result, the Bravia 8 gets very loud, voices are very well pronounced and this TV has a decent amount of bass that doesn’t bottom out thanks to its built in subwoofer. Where as if you were to go with a more entry level tv, then you’re most likely going to have a pair of downward firing speakers that bounce sound off of the table, they dont get all that loud and at higher volumes the bass bottoms out. But like I have said multiple times already, I think its more likely that if you’re looking at a premium Soundbar, you’re going to have a more premium TV… but even if you have a more premium TV with better sound, you’re still going to be better off upgrading to a soundbar.

But when it comes to comparing these three soundbars… I feel the Bose Smart Soundbar Ultra is the least impressive sounding soundbar here cause it sounds the most narrow and it can sound a little hollow compared to these other two soundbars. I cant help help but feel that the Bose sounds the most narrow and hollow here cause of its lack of tweeters. Like I mentioned when we broke down the speaker sets up here, the Bose only has a single frontward firing tweeter, so as a result the highs aren’t as crisp or as detailed, and since there isn’t as much seperation between the mids and the highs, this soundbar doesn’t sound as immersive as these other two. Now dont get me wrong, the Bose Smart Soundbar ultra sounds good, it gets the job done, it has a lot of physicality in its bass and it gets loud… but it doesn’t sound as open.

But then theres the Sonos Arc Ultra, and thanks to its additional tweeters, this soundbar sound a lot more open than the bose. And vocals are also very well pronounced on this sound bar. But my critique about this sound bar is that it is very vocals forward, so it can sound a little too bright and a little ear piercing at times cause it puts so much emphasis on the highs… and I also feel that this sound bar has the least amount of bass here. Now you can still feel whats happening on the screen, but both the Bose and Sony do a better job of rattling the walls in the house. But the good news here is, you can always make the Sonos Arc Ultra sound less bright by lowering the treble, and by lowering the speech enhancement on this soundbar… but I still cant help but feel that its a little too vocals forward.

But then theres the Sony Bravia Bar 9 and Sony Bravia 8 combo here and I feel that this is the most balanced and most open sounding system here. Now since the Bar 9 is working with the built in speakers on the Bravia 8, the center channel is very strong, meaning that vocals and dialog are very well pronounced. But unlike the vocals on the Sonos Arc Ultra, the Bar 9 doesn’t get ear piercing. But also, the Bar 9 sounds the most open here not just because we have the most hardware going here… but also the beam forming tweeters on this soundbar really gives you the illusion of having rear satellite speakers. Cause yes, the Sonos Arc ultra also has a pair speakers that shoot out the sides, but the bar 9 has a pair of speakers and tweeters that shoot out the sides. And with the Arc Ultra, even though it sounds wide and expansive, you dont get the sense that there’s sound coming from behind you like you do with the Bar 9.

But then theres also the bass, the Bar 9 has the most amount of wall shaking bass here thanks to the dual passive radiators. So the bass on this soundbar hits harder than the bass on the Arc Ultra, and unlink the bass on the Bose, it doesn’t make this system sound shallow or hollow.

So with all of that being said, if you’re in the market for a soundbar, personally I would first look at your first party options if your tv brand makes soundbars cause this way your TV’s built in speakers will work in conjunction with your soundbar to give you a stronger center channel. And also you’re going to be able to more easily adjust your sound setting directly from your tv, which is super nice. So if you have a sony tv, consider a sony sound bar, if you have a Samsung tv consider a Samsung soundbar or if you have an lg tv consider an LG sound bar. But if you do have a Bravia 7, 8, or 9, and you’re looking for a soundbar, I would go with the Bar 9 here cause this soundbar sounds the most open, dialog is super pronounced without sounding ear piercing, and it has a decent amount of bass.

But if you’re trying to choose between the Sonos Arc Ultra and Bose Smart Soundbar Ultra… personally I feel the Sonos Arc Ultra easily out performs the Bose. Even though the Arc Ultra has a little less bass, it has the better instrument separation, which I feel is more important for when you’re watching movies, and dialog is a lot more pronounced which is a must these days. I really feel that the Bose Smart Soundbar ultra lacking here cause of its fairly basic speaker set up. We need more tweeters and we need speakers that shoot out the sides to help open the sound up here. However, if you do decided to go with the Sonos Arc Ultra here, just be prepared to put up with its super cluttered app. Yeah, the Sonos Arc Ultra sounds better, but the Bose is easier to use.