Sonos Beam 2
Due to the many lockdowns, a lot has changed in the living room. We are more often at home and movies that were intended for the cinema go straight to online streaming services. As a result, people need better audio for their television and Sonos is responding to this with an improved Sonos Beam. According to the manufacturer, the Sonos Beam is the best-selling TV speaker in its price range. The addition of Dolby Atmos will therefore appeal to many people. Previously, you had to purchase the much more expensive Sonos Arc. With this updated Sonos Beam (Gen 2) you have better sound and new Hi-Fi streaming options from Amazon Music (Dolby Atmos Music and Ultra HD). In addition, there is support for DTS Digital Surround Sound. The new soundbar will be available to order from Sonos from September 14 and will be available worldwide from October 5.
In appearance, everything seems the same at first glance, but still there are a few changes to be seen. For example, the front made of textile has now been replaced by a perforated grille made of polycarbonate, just like with the Sonos Arc. This looks a little tighter. Commissioning is also slightly easier thanks to the addition of NFC. All you need to do is hold your iPhone up to the Beam while you have the Sonos app open.
The compact size and the possibilities to include it in a home cinema system have remained the same. Potential buyers will be less enthusiastic about one thing: the price will increase by 50 euros to 499 euros. The statement that Sonos’ Ryan Ryan Moore, Principal Product Manager All-in-one at Sonos, said that it contains new and improved components, including the aforementioned NFC and additional processing power. He hinted that there may be more functions that have to do with NFC, but did not want to go into detail.
The Sonos Beam 2 is not only meant for watching TV, but also for listening to music and gaming. In addition, you get an improved and more intense sound experience with more depth and clarity, according to the manufacturer. That's just in time for the many releases coming this fall. You get 3D sound with Dolby Atmos, which makes airplanes seem to fly above your head and you hear and feel the film music all around you. The arrangement of the speakers has been adjusted, allowing the Beam to play sounds in specific places in the room.
In terms of connections, there is HDMI eARC, for support of newer audio formats. You can adjust the sound of the Beam to the room with Trueplay and, just like before, you can choose from more than 100 music services.
You can place or mount the Beam in front of the TV with the Sonos wall mount for Beam. You can operate it via the Sonos app, the TV remote control, a voice assistant, Apple AirPlay 2, music apps such as Spotify and the like.
New features for existing speakers
Even if you don't need a new speaker, you can expect new functions with Sonos. Support for DTS Digital Surround Sound decoding via the S2 platform will be added later this year. This applies to:
- Playbar
- Playbase
- Amp
- Beam Gen 1 and 2
- Arc
In addition, Sonos plans to support Amazon Music's Ultra HD music service, which will be available later this year. This allows you to listen lossless on 24 bit/48 kHz (this Amazon music service is not yet available in the Netherlands and Belgium). This will work with the: Roam, Arc, Beam, Five, Sub (Gen 3), Move, One, One SL, Port, Amp, SYMFONISK Bookshelf, SYMFONISK Table Lamp, Play:5 (Gen 2), Connect (Gen 2 ) and Connect:Amp (Gen 2).
Another development is that Sonos wants to offer support for Dolby Atmos Music, an audio format for even more detail and where you get the feeling that you are in the middle of the studio. This only applies to the Sonos Arc and Beam (Gen 2).