Sonos Beam 1 vs Beam 2: soundbars in comparison

With the Beam soundbar, Sonos offers a fantastic, compact soundbar for the home theater. The first Sonos Beam (Gen 1) was launched in 2018, followed three years later in 2021 by its successor: the Sonos Beam (Gen 2). But what has changed?

Is it worth buying the new generation of Beam or is the older Beam 1, which is currently available very cheaply refurbished, sufficient?

I bought both devices and compare the soundbars in this article. I can tell you in advance: The differences are small.

The US manufacturer Sonos not only has portable Bluetooth speakers and hi-fi devices in its range, but now also great soundbars for home cinemas.

These include the Sonos Arc for larger rooms, the Sonos Ray with basic features and the Sonos Beam for the middle ground.

The latter are already available in two generations, with small but subtle differences.

Beam 1 with fabric, Beam 2 with grille

Let’s start with the exterior: The new generation of Beam definitely has the nicer packaging: in contrast to the dark, shiny packaging of the “Gen 1”, the new box looks more contemporary. More natural materials made from recycled material and less obtrusive.

But the contents are much more interesting. After unpacking, you immediately notice: They look exactly the same: Same dimensions, same black and same buttons.

Only the front cover of the speakers has been changed. While the Beam 1 was still covered with fabric at the front, the Beam 2 now has a plastic grille and has thus been adapted to its big sister – the Sonos Arc.

Whether the new speaker cover looks better or worse is a matter of taste. There will be no audible difference in the sound.

Dolby Atmos as a new function

Behind the front cover, it looks identical for the time being: Both Beam generations have a tweeter in the middle, a mid-woofer to the right and left of it and two more on the sides, which ensure a spatial sound.

In addition, both models feature three passive diaphragms that resonate and support the lower tones.

There is a small but subtle difference behind the loudspeakers: the built-in processor has been updated.

The Beam 2 now uses an A-53 Quad Core processor with 1.4 GHz, which is said to be around 40% faster than its predecessor.

This means that the new Dolby Atmos sound format is now also possible with the Sonos Beam (Gen 2).

Dolby Atmos is particularly interesting for home cinema applications: the sound should not only come from the front, sides and back, but also from above.

While the large Sonos Arc soundbar actually has two upward-facing speakers, the Beam 2 only creates this effect by cleverly controlling and delaying individual speakers. And this works surprisingly well.

However, you should consider how important this Dolby Atmos effect is to you – and whether all devices in your home theater can handle this sound.

It’s not just the TV that needs to be prepared for this, but also playback devices such as AppleTV, the streaming provider and the film material.

Identical connections for Sonos Beam

As few connections as possible: this has apparently always been Sonos’ motto. The first generation of the Beam therefore only had one HDMI and one LAN connection in addition to the power connection.

The latter should definitely be connected to the router if no other Sonos speaker in the house is connected by cable. This will establish a separate WLAN and make the connection more stable.

This motto does not seem to have changed with the Beam 2: The connections on the back have remained the same: power cable, connection button, LAN connection and HDMI port.

Incidentally, the HDMI connection on both generations of the Beam is an eARC connection.

If the TV has an optical Toslink output, the enclosed adapter can be used.

Beam 1 or 2: Which soundbar is better?

Apart from the above-mentioned innovations with Dolby Atmos, the old and new Sonos Beam hardly differ.

As you can see in the table, the functions and features are otherwise identical: both soundbars can receive material via Apple AirPlay 2 and are equipped with voice assistants from Sonos, Alexa and Google.

They can be adapted to the room via TruePlay, have touch buttons on the surface and exactly the same dimensions.