If space and budget are limited in your hunt for one of the best soundbars on the market, there’s one Dolby Atmos soundbar we’d like to recommend — and right now, it’s down to a great price.
The Sonos Beam (Gen 2) can be yours for just £349 at Amazon, a lovely £100 saving on both the Black and White models.
It’s not the cheapest we’ve seen, coming down to just £329 in January, but it’s the best deal we’ve seen in a while.
The Sonos Beam (Gen 2) may be considered a classic choice, launched in October 2021, but it’s still one we’d highly recommend.
It takes everything the original Beam had to offer, but convincingly adds Dolby Atmos without changing the overall design or adding dedicated high-firing drivers.
And it’s all done with intelligent processing using psychoacoustic HRTF (head-related transfer function) technology to deliver a sense of volume using two of the unit’s five front-facing drivers.
In the years since its launch, the Gen 2 remains the best Dolby Atmos soundbar in its size and price categories, holding pride of place among the best soundbars we’ve ever tested.
While Sonos has released the Sonos Ray and Sonos Arc Ultra since then, the Ray doesn’t support Dolby Atmos, meaning the Gen 2 is still your entry-level option if you’re looking for a Sonos with immersive 3D sound that won’t cost you much.
And it’s Dolby Atmos that’s really the headline feature here, handling the format better than any similarly priced soundbar, producing spacious sound with good audio tracking.
This is a Sonos product, and you get the ability to build a wireless multi-room system. You’ll need the (free) Sonos S2 app to get the most out of your purchase, and this comes with access to Trueplay room leveling technology and dual-band EQ.
In addition, there is Wi-Fi, which means you can also stream to Gen 2 from a handheld device using Apple AirPlay 2, and Spotify Connect is built in. It even now supports hi-res 24-bit/48kHz ‘Ultra HD’ tracks from Amazon Music.
For audio formats, Beam Gen 2 supports stereo PCM, Dolby Digital, Dolby Digital Plus, Dolby TrueHD, Dolby Atmos (both Digital+ and TrueHD versions), multi-PCM and Dolby Multichannel PCM.
DTS digital surround decoding has now been added to this and other Sonos products, but unfortunately this does not extend to DTS:X.
Regarding the sound, during the test, we paired the Beam Gen 2 with TVs ranging from 43 inches to 65 inches, and confirmed that it “improves the scale of the cinema and the viewing experience”, we urge you not to lower this small sound bar if you have a large TV.
And our expert testers say: “Beam Gen 2 not only lives up to the high bar set by its predecessor but exceeds it by a margin that more than justifies its new feature set and higher cost.”
Ultimately, the Sonos Beam Gen 2 is the bar for you if you’re looking for a small, affordable soundbar that can deliver convincing Dolby Atmos. And right now, it’s cheap, down to just £349 on Amazon for a limited time.
MORE:
Read our full Sonos Beam Gen 2 review
And check out the best budget soundbars
Along with our list of The best soundbars for Dolby Atmos