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

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

Not the last word in bass output;

Incredibly versatile; Impressive sound for its size; Direct support for Amazon Alexa and (coming soon) Google Assistant;

Small size means it can't fill larger rooms with sound; No support for DTS or any form of immersive audio (e.g. Dolby Atmos, DTS:X); No support for high-resolution audio codecs;

This is Sonos Beam, a compact soundbar that's designed to bring cinematic sound to your living room without taking up boat loads of space.

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

With their Playbar and Playbase, Sonos' took their audio expertise to new fronts. They attempted to cement themselves as an upstart alternative, not just to the established audio brands out there, but also to those residing in the home theatre space.

Great price-point; Easy setup; Comprehensive compatibility

Not as big impact as the Playbar or Playbase; No Google Assistant (yet

If you've been tempted to get into Sonos, but weren't sure where to start, the Beam is for you. Not only is it a relatively affordable, solid speaker in its own right, it is a capable soundbar and Alexa assistant rolled into one.

Sonos' vision of entertainment has always been more open house than invite-only, and with Amazon Alexa, Apple AirPlay 2, and the Google Assistant on the horizon, the new Sonos Beam epitomizes that ethos more than ever.

Sounds great in a small to mid-sized room; Assistant-agnostic approach is admirable; Affordable; Does a good job of handling multiple services

Very expensive in a 5.1 surround configuration; Takes up an HDMI port; Not every assistant works in the same way

The Beam is a home theater sound bar for the smart home era -- at a price that won't break the bank.

Great sound; Elegant; simple design; Reasonably priced; TV voice control with Alexa on-board; AirPlay 2; Google Assistant coming

Still no HDMI pass-through; No Dolby Atmos support

The feature-packed Sonos Beam delivers very good sound for a small soundbar, and comes with Alexa voice controls.

Easy set up; Alexa inside; Wide soundstage

Bass lacks detail; No Bluetooth audio

The launch of the Sonos Beam comes at a time when things are changing at a rapid pace for the smart speaker company. In the not-too-distant past, Sonos was happy with its slightly shallow product pool.

Great compact design; HDMI ARC compatible; Superb sound

Sonos app not home theater friendly; No Dolby Atmos; Don't have HDMI ARC Then setup gets tricky