Sonos

Plenty of soundbars support Atmos at this point, but Sonos is doing something interesting with how the Arc responds to different audio formats. For example: if you’re watching a movie that doesn’t support Atmos, the Arc will adapt and use the upwards-firing speakers to improve bass performance. Similarly, if you’re running the Arc with the Sonos Sub, it’ll adjust accordingly and use its speakers to focus more on the mids and highs. If you’re using a pair of Sonos One speakers as your dedicated rear surround channels, the Arc’s surround drivers will be reassigned, as well. 

This, of course, all happens without the user really knowing about it. Sonos built the Arc to optimize whatever input source you’re playing, regardless of what format it is in or how many speakers are in a particular set-up. Similarly, Sonos says that Arc doesn’t “throw out” extra audio information that it gets from a single. For example, it only has speakers for five-channel surround sound rather than seven — but the extra details in a seven-channel mix are mixed down to work in five channels rather than being left out completely. 

While Sonos says that it isn’t doing any virtualization, it’s clear the company is making major audio adjustments to fit whatever space the Arc is placed in. That’s not unusual, though — the company has offered its TruePlay tool for optimizing audio quality based on where a speaker is placed for years now, and the Arc works with TruePlay as well. Another example of the Arc’s smarts is that it recognizes when it’s mounted to the wall with its dedicated magnetic bracket and automatically compensates for increased bass reverberations.