Sonos Ray

The Sonos Ray soundbar is decent for dialogue-heavy TV shows and podcasts. Its balanced, neutral mids mean that voices reproduce clearly and with detail, and there's a dialogue enhancement mode and a night mode feature to balance out the volume level when you watch TV at night. However, since it's a 2.0 setup, there isn't a discrete center channel to help provide a more clear and real representation of dialogue in the soundstage like you get with more premium models.

The Sonos Ray is an impressive affordable soundbar, with an attractive and compact design along with an audio profile that excels in clarity and scape. It’s only held back by the lack of HDMI Arc – and with it Dolby Atmos – and microphones for voice controls.

The Ray is the smallest, most affordable soundbar that works with any Sonos multi-room system, but it's a bit too pricey for its bass-light performance and relative lack of features.

At $279, the Sonos Ray is the most affordable soundbar from the company yet. It offers crisp, clear audio and integrates with Sonos’ multiroom audio platform. But there are tradeoffs that come with the lower price.

The Sonos Ray is a major sound upgrade compared to the built-in speakers of just about any TV, and gets a massive recommendation on the front. We don't love the lack of HDMI, and movie lovers would do well to spend a little more… but for those who just want clearer speech and more thrilling soundtracks for little money, it's ideal.

There’s lots to like about the Sonos Ray, though its price is more ambitious than the scale of its sound

Simpler, cheaper and smaller than the other soundbars in the range, the Sonos Ray is built with one main job in mind: making poor-quality TVs sound better. This is a more straightforward soundbar than its stablemates, with optical input only, and no 3D sound formats. However, it supports 5.1 audio, cleanly delivering content from quiz shows to action movies, with a fair amount of bass and presence. Plus, it’s a fully featured multiroom audio speaker, performing well for music, too. For smaller rooms or secondary TVs, the Ray is a neat buy.

The Sonos Ray offers a lovely design, great sound quality for its size and a range of excellent features for its affordable price.

The Sony HT-A7000 delivers an unrivalled and fully immersive sound from a simple all-in-one soundbar.

The Sonos Ray offers a lovely design, great sound quality for its size and a range of excellent features for its affordable price.

The Sony HT-A7000 delivers an unrivalled and fully immersive sound from a simple all-in-one soundbar.

The Sony HT-A7000 delivers an unrivalled and fully immersive sound from a simple all-in-one soundbar.

The Sony HT-A7000 delivers an unrivalled and fully immersive sound from a simple all-in-one soundbar.

The Sony HT-A7000 delivers an unrivalled and fully immersive sound from a simple all-in-one soundbar.

The Sony HT-A7000 delivers an unrivalled and fully immersive sound from a simple all-in-one soundbar.

The Sonos Ray offers a lovely design, great sound quality for its size and a range of excellent features for its affordable price.

The Sonos Ray offers a lovely design, great sound quality for its size and a range of excellent features for its affordable price.