Sonos Beam Ultra launches with 7.1.2-channel audio

A press of a button on the new Sonos Ace Ultra is all it takes to switch playing music from a Sonos speaker to the headphones—or back to the speaker. Sonos is also bringing the Beam Ultra to IFA: starting September 29, it is set to enter living rooms for 699 euros with genuine Dolby Atmos height channels.

The soundbar achieves this with two upward-firing speakers. According to Sonos, the second-generation Beam still created the impression of height exclusively through software. The Beam Ultra adds four drivers in total, expanding the channel configuration to 7.1.2. A redesigned center speaker is intended to reproduce dialogue more clearly, while the soundbar’s size will barely increase, according to the company.

At 449 euros, the Ace Ultra costs the same as the first Ace, which will continue to be sold. In addition to TV audio transfer, the new feature is music handoff over Wi-Fi: The headphones can take over streams from speakers in the Arc, Beam, Era, Play, Ray and Roam lines or hand them back. The feature also supports the Sonos Amp and the older Five, but is initially labeled “Early Access” and therefore identified as a potentially error-prone prerelease.

The main beneficiaries are people who switch between music and home theater within an existing Sonos system: The headphones make the transition from speaker to personal listening, while the Beam Ultra brings physical height channels to the midrange soundbar class. Play and Move 2 can also serve as rear speakers in a home theater in the future. The new devices launch on September 29, with the additional software features arriving from September 8.

The limitations are also clear. Sonos puts the Ace Ultra’s noise cancellation at twice that of the Ace; this is a manufacturer claim. The new generative voice assistant Sonos 27 Voice and the existing Sonos Voice Assistant currently do not speak German. The Sonos 27 MCP interface can connect ChatGPT and other AI agents, among others, but these features will also initially be offered as Early Access.