Sonos - Ray Soundbar with Wi-Fi - Black

I bought to replace my 10 year old Samsung soundbar. This little soundbar packs a punch. Definitely worth the cost. I bought a Sonos Arc last year for a different room and now with the Ray, I'll definitely be sticking with Sonos.

This sound bar packs an incredible sound punch! Movies, games, and just plain music all sounds great on this Ray. I wish HDMI was included but alas, it still works great without it.

Very good sound and perfect for the price you pay for it.

I'm a huge fan of the Sonos multi-speaker ecosystem. I have eight Sonos speakers around my house, including the original Playbar soundbar on my main living room TV. Sonos speakers are known for their incredibly simple setup and ease-of-use, and the new Ray soundbar is no exception. It integrates perfectly with the rest of my Sonos speakers and sounds infinitely better than my bedroom TV's built-in speakers. However, the lack of an HDMI port on the Ray causes some frustrations that really should be a thing of the past in 2022. ===PROS=== - If you already own other Sonos products or have set up Sonos speakers in the past, then the Ray is incredibly easy to set up. The soundbar can only connect to your TV via an optical cable (included), so there's not much room for confusion. You may need to go into your TV's audio settings and change it to "optical out" like I did. After you've connected the Ray to your TV, you can add the Ray to the Sonos app and pair it with an existing Sonos system if you have one. - The Ray is the perfect size for bedrooms or smaller entertainment stands. It is just over 2.5 inches tall, so you will want to make sure that it won't block your TV screen. Compared to the Bose TV Speaker soundbar that I have in my other bedroom, the Sonos Ray doesn't feel quite as sleek or compact, though it still looks nice. - As expected, the audio quality of the Ray is lightyears ahead of my TV's built-in speakers. Dialogue is crisp and clear. Highs and bass are very rich. Nothing sounds overpowered or distorted. For smaller living rooms and bedrooms, the Sonos Ray delivers excellent sound for casual TV and movie watching. - There is minimal surround effect from this soundbar, but luckily you can pair it with two Sonos One speakers to achieve a true surround sound effect. - The Sonos ecosystem opens up the Ray to a vast library of music content from all major streaming providers. And music from the Ray sounds just as good (or maybe even better than) my smaller Sonos One speakers. The Ray also supports AirPlay 2 so you can easily beam music from your iPhone or iPad to the soundbar. ===CONS=== - The omission of an HDMI port is very disappointing, especially in this price range. I've seen soundbars that cost less than $100 with HDMI ports included. So the decision to not include one here is very perplexing and leads to some inconveniences as noted below. - The volume can only be controlled using infrared (IR) remote controls or via the Sonos app. If your TV or preferred remote control uses radio frequency (RF), it's not going to work with the Ray, and you'll be stuck using the app to control your soundbar's volume. - Sonos also markets the Ray as a "gaming speaker," but not many gaming monitors or computers have optical outputs that will work with the Ray. Most modern game consoles also do not have optical ports. - There is no apparent way to tell what volume level the soundbar is at. The light on the soundbar blinks when you adjust volume, but there's no way of knowing how many levels of adjustment there are or how far you are from max volume. - The status light is front and center above the Sonos logo, which can be distracting when watching TV in a dark room. Luckily, you can turn off the light via the Sonos app. ===OVERALL=== Despite the head-scratching decision to forego an HDMI port, the Sonos Ray is an excellent entry-level soundbar that will delight new and existing Sonos users alike. It has the signature sound quality and multi-room features that have become synonymous with the Sonos brand. The Ray soundbar in particular will open up the Sonos ecosystem to many more people who couldn't justify the pricier Beam and Arc soundbars. Recommended!

Alright, I am going to start by mentioning that I literally said WHOA when sound started coming out of this little sound bar. I started with a song by the rock band Tool. They're my favorite. Im very picky about sound quality of speakers and headphones. Right off the bat, I will say that I am very pleased with the sound quality of this soundbar for my music listening. The bass is perfect even though it doesn't come with a subwoofer. I wasn't expecting much bass because I can't see any holes for air to come out of for bass. I believe its called a bass reflex system. Anyway.. it still packs a punch. It thumps just enough to make music sound great. And for movies? The bass is there for all the explosions and sounds that require it without drowning out the actors voices. I only have two minor complaints about this soundbar. 1. I don't feel like it provides a proper surround sound effect. You'll need to add another speaker or subwoofer to the bar to get true surround sound. 2. The only way to "hard wire" this sound bar is with the included optical audio cable. It does not have a 3.5mm audio input. So be sure that your tv, projector or game console has an optical audio output because you will have no other way to connect it with a wire. Also, its worth noting that it does not come with a remote, and the touch controls on the top only have volume control and mute / pause function. They work, but I probably will never use them. You'll be using your smartphone to control the volume and everything else. You can tune the bass and treble with the smartphone app also. It is honestly a breeze to use, and I have no complaints about it. The app guides you every step of the way and you don't have to be a techy to figure it out. I do like the features in the app. It has a voice enhancer option which works really well for movies, it makes voices come through nice and clear without sacrificing volume on your movies and shows. It also has a "night mode" which will lower the volume of loud scenes and music in while your watching TV. Perfect for those late night movies just before bed. I would say this soundbar is perfect for anyone living in a small space, or even an apartment. You won't have your neighbors complaining about loud bass or noise while you watch your movies. The sound out of this speaker is so good, you won't have to put it very loud to get an amazing sound experience while watching your movies and listening to music. It sounds excellent and pretty loud even at 25-40% of the volume. I plan on hooking mine up to my projector in my entertainment room and setting it behind the couch for movies and gaming. ^_^ It will fit perfectly underneath my projector on its shelf. Would I recommend this soundbar? Most definitely! Especially if you are limited on space. It is small enough to place under even a gaming monitor on your desktop and packs a serious punch! The price is right for all the features and the sound quality is very impressive. I especially recommend this to gamers for their bedroom or game room. People who live in an apartment, and anyone who wants a great sounding compact soundbar without having to spend an arm and a leg. Pros: Excellent Sound Quality Easy to set up and control with Sonos App Very Compact, will fit just about anywhere you want to place it. Airplay support for music Cons: Only wired connection is Optical. (No 3.5mm aux input)

What I hear doesn’t match what I see. We expect Soundbars to create a movie theater experience and we imagine larger cabinets are required, Or maybe a subwoofer. This SONOS Soundbar breaks a lot of expectations. And I’m won over. The sound is gorgeous. I’m still a fairly novice user in the world of SONOS, so, it’s not just the sound quality that still surprises me. As I dived into the features, and the sound quality and watched the interplay of this new SONOS device with my music sources I was reminded why SONOS appeals to even non-techies. Everything is slickly accomplished and I won’t need to break a sweat to get great results. SETUP: New to SONOS? Download the App for your phone. Set up an account. Link to your Internet, either ethernet wired or Wi-Fi. and go back into the App. The App usually finds the nearby SONOS device without prompting, but if it’s not there you can select ADD DEVICE, and you’re on the way to adding your online music streaming services, naming the room this unit is in, attaching the TV via OPTICAL DIGITAL, only, and that’s pretty much it. Current user? I only had to open the SONOS App after plugging in the SONOS Ray, and the prompt was there in my existing App, asking if I wanted to add the Ray.. I was playing music within a few minutes. Absurdly easy. PERFORMANCE: It’s easy to forget that functional controls are also on top of the SONOS Ray device. Most of the time, if you’re using your TV - to - Soundbar connection, everything happens automatically using the TV controls. There is some effort required here. Be sure pull out your TV instructions or look them up online. You’ll want to turn off your TV speakers in favor of this SONOS. If your TV allows it, you may be able to use the TV remote to control the volume. If not, there is the SONOS App or those controls on top of the Ray. For music from your streaming devices (phone, Tablet, computer), you’ll be using the SONOS App. It all becomes second nature. The sound? Shockingly good. It pretty easy these days to get good bass from a speaker. Or maybe you can get that voice range well enough to hear voices clearly. Or perhaps you just want volume to fill your space. It is very rare to have such a reasonably priced speaker of this size get it ALL so right. I started with music and was impressed by how the speaker could rock out anything in my Apple Music library. With the SONOS App connected to Pandora, or Spotify or my computer’s music collection, it was easy to call up anything, and everything sounded great. Moving on to movies, I played some Netflix and HBOMAX series, and voices were perfect. Sound effects were realistic. What couldn’t the SONOS do? Surround effects flattened out to the front soundstage, but SONOS has a solution with they surround speakers which can be added to expand on this setup. They even have a subwoofer that can be attached. The SONOS Port allows you to add your own equipment to the SONOS sound ecosystem, but it’s not inexpensive. SUMMARY: SONOS is one of those fun companies that defies expectations and breaks rules. Ignore the size of the SONOS Ray. Its size will confuse you. It plays so much bigger. It sounds so much more natural and unstrained than you’d expect. I’m not suggesting this is appropriate for a large open space with high ceilings to provide party music or theater-level sound reproduction. But any reasonable living room, family, bedroom or home office is a perfect match. When you consider the comprehensive controls and connectivity features in the App, this is such an easy recommendation.

Sonos has a reputation for some of the best audio products available. They usually come at a high price point, but the Ray is reasonably priced for the audio quality that you get. Pros: - Excellent high-end packaging. The Ray is stored safely and securely and comes wrapped in a felt pouch. A digital optical cable is included. - Top-notch audio quality for ANY purpose (music, movies, TV). You get good bass even without the need for a separate sub-woofer. - Built-in WiFi. I appreciated this feature when streaming music through various apps. Not having to connect over Bluetooth was nice as you don't have to worry about wandering out of range of the speaker. - Having audio of such a high quality in a small sized speaker is fantastic for those with limited space in their entertainment center. Cons: - No remote. I'm old school and would love to have even a simple basic remote included, but thankfully I was able to program our cable remote to control the Ray. - I often pause programming on my television and leave the room. When I come back and un-pause, the speaker sometimes has put itself to sleep and needs a bit to wake-up. When this happens, volume needs to be raised back to prior levels. I'm still looking through settings in the app to see if there is something I can toggle for this. Overall, this speaker is a terrific option for those wanting to upgrade their home audio. It's not often you can get such high end audio at a reasonable price point like this.

Sonos builds an ecosystem of soundbars, speakers & audio equipment that expertly distributes multi-room audio. They have established a large following of enthusiastic users who support the Sonos system design & use the Sonos phone app. "Ray", this new soundbar designed by Sonos, will be a big hit to those customers who have already invested in the Sonos infrastructure. Measuring only 22 inches wide, Ray is designed to enhance the sound of televisions & gaming consoles in small listening rooms. The audio is crisp & clear. There is no wireless or internal sub, so Ray will not dazzle you with rocking bass performance. It does, however, produce a punchy mid bass & a clear voice for its modest size. Surprisingly, RAY does not sport an onboard HDMI jack that is commonplace on Soundbars costing much less. Audio from your TV is connected via an IR Optical input jack. This old method of conveying audio limits the clear sound to 2 channels: no Atmos, Dolby Digital plus, nor DTS-HD, is possible. No remote control is included & RAY does not display an array of LED's through the grill cloth, the most common means of seeing what volume level to which your soundbar is set. My TV remote was incompatible with RAY, so I had to install the Sonos iPhone App to control volume, equalization, etc. in addition to the TV remote, which did not control the optical signal to RAY. CONCLUSION: RAY is the lowest cost, entry level Sonos soundbar. It looks great, is well built & is a welcome addition to existing Sonos users. However, without HDMI, a remote, volume indicator or subwoofer, Ray may not offer the best value for those not using the Sonos infrastructure.