The new Sonos soundbar is compact but delivers expansive performance. From what we've heard, this small soundbar is a winner. Just a shame there's no Dolby Atmos support.

Compact size is ideal; Sounds great for both music and TV/movies; Multiple voice-assistants supported

No Dolby Atmos support; Not great at lower volumes; Expensive when adding additional speakers

A Sonos soundbar is too expensive for many but the new Beam makes it affordable, plus brings new features. Here's our full Sonos Beam review.

Sonos’ compact, Alexa-enabled soundbar offers impressive performance for the price. All in all, a smart value.

Affordable price; Alexa voice control; Links with other Sonos speakers

More optimized for TV sound than music; Requires HDMI ARC for voice control of TV

Arguably worth the price even if it was just a soundbar, Sonos Beam adds so many useful additional features that it becomes almost a no-brainer to at least consider a purchase. One day, all wireless home cinema speakers will be this versatile, this good…

For the size and price; is a great-sounding soundbar; Easy setup; Can be expanded to support Sonos multi-room and/or 5.1 surround sound; And there's AirPlay 2; AND bloody Alexa's onboard too!

Sonos doesn’t do Dolby Atmos; Alexa still has numerous ‘quirks’; You will spin rapidly down the expensiveness rabbit hole if you want to move up to the full 5.1/multi-room Sonos works

One of the best performance-per-pound products Sonos has produced, the Beam is a blinding little soundbar

Impressively enveloping sound; Deep; weighty bass; Compact and stylish; Superb streaming capabilities

Can be pushed to harshness; More HDMI inputs would be nice

The best compact soundbar you can buy

Excellent sound; Integrated Alexa works like a charm; Controls TV; Lovely design

Not the last word in bass output

With great sound and amazing features, Beam is Sonos’ smartest and best value speaker yet

Looks good and sounds great; Alexa and AirPlay 2 integration; HDMI ARC support; Cheaper than Playbar and Playbase

Not as punchy as Playbar; Only one ethernet port; Not all Alexa skills work

Despite being £300 cheaper than Sonos’s other TV audio solutions, the Beam is expensive for just a soundbar. The thing is, it isn’t just a soundbar. It’s one of the most compact and aesthetically pleasing soundbars that still has full-range sound without needing a sub.

compact and attractive; great; room-filling sound whether TV or music; easy set up; Alexa; easy to add to with more speakers

relatively expensive; no room-shaking bass; takes up a port on your TV; no HDMI pass-through; no support for Dolby Atmos

This is the Sonos soundbar we've been waiting for. The Sonos Beam is small enough to attach itself to the majority of TVs, and comes coupled with enough innovation and sound performance to impress. There are a few issues worth pointing out but, at this price, they soon fade away.

Great compact design; HDMI ARC compatible; Superb sound

App isn't home theater friendly; No Dolby Atmos; Setup on non-HDMI ARC TVs is tricky

Sonos recently announced a new soundbar they call the Sonos Beam . I’ve had some time to test it and simply to use it, and the Beam might be the most impressive speaker I’ve tested from Sonos yet, especially considering its US$399 price tag .

Easy setup; great, full sound; lower cost-of-entry than other Sonos home theater speakers; better sound and more flexible than Apple’s HomePod.

Only works with other Sonos speakers for surround sound and subwoofer; With a $699 Sonos SUB as the only subwoofer option, that’s a pricey step.