Sonos Ray vs Beam 2: Which soundbar is better?

With the Sonos Ray soundbar, the manufacturer has recently launched its smallest and most affordable soundbar.

It should be perfect for TV, gaming and music and can also be integrated into smaller rooms. But how does the Ray compare to the Beam 2?

With a price of 299 euros, Sonos wants to create an affordable entry-level product with the newer Ray soundbar. Compared to the 200 euro more expensive Sonos Beam 2, three compromises have to be made: There is no HDMI but only an optical input, no voice control and no Dolby Atmos.

Sonos has launched many different soundbars on the market in recent years: The Sonos Playbar was launched in 2013, followed four years later by the smaller Playbase. Both models are now only available as refurbished models.

The first generation of the Sonos Beam was released in 2018 and was replaced three years later by the Beam 2. The top model is still the Sonos Arc, which is over a meter wide and costs just under 1000 euros.

Sonos Ray without microphones

Most recently, the lineup in the lower price segment was supplemented by the small Sonos Ray soundbar.

The manufacturer wants to appeal to people who either don’t value home cinema technologies such as Dolby Atmos or need a small soundbar for other rooms such as the bedroom or hobby room.

Advantages of the Sonos Beam

• The Sonos Beam 2 has integrated microphones and can therefore be used with voice assistants such as Alexa, Google or Sonos Voice Control.
• Sonos speakers traditionally have few connections, but this is taken to the extreme with the Ray: In addition to the power and LAN connection, there is only an optical input for the sound from the TV to the soundbar. The Beam soundbar, on the other hand, has an HDMI connection.
• Unlike the Sonos Ray, the Beam 2 features the latest home theater technology Dolby Atmos. This is intended to create the feeling that the sound is not only coming from the front or rear – but also from above.
• The sound of the Sonos Beam 2 is generally fuller and wider. Instead of two midrange drivers in the Ray, the Sonos Beam has four of them – and you can hear that.

Advantages of the Sonos Ray

• At 299 euros, the price is significantly lower than the other Sonos soundbars: The Beam 2 currently costs 499 euros, the Arc even 999 euros.
• The compact size of the Ray also has advantages in many cases: Many people want to store their soundbar on – or in – a sideboard. With a width of just under 56 centimeters, it can be easily integrated in most cases. The Sonos Beam should not be stored on shelves, as some of the integrated speakers also radiate to the side. With the Ray, all acoustic elements are directed towards the front.
• Speech intelligibility is particularly good with the Sonos Ray: the combination of two tweeters and two mid-range speakers as well as a newly designed bass reflex system ensures that voices are reproduced clearly.

Apart from the differences mentioned above, the Sonos Ray offers all the functions of the larger soundbars: Touch elements on the top, AirPlay2 for Apple devices and an infrared receiver for TV remote controls.

The Sonos Ray can also be used in combination with the Sonos Sub, Sub Mini subwoofer or optional rear speakers such as the Sonos One or Symfonisk speakers from IKEA.

For optimum positioning, the surround speakers should be placed on a stand.

Sonos Ray vs Beam: sound test

Immediately after the Sonos Ray was released, I was able to test and compare them extensively.

To be honest, I wasn’t expecting any big surprises and thought the sound would be very similar to the Sonos Beam. But I was proved wrong.

Good speech intelligibility

First the positive: the Sonos Ray has excellent speech intelligibility. This is also due to the newly designed arrangement of the speakers.

So if you consume a lot of voice content such as TV shows, documentaries or podcasts, you will be delighted with the device.

Beam with more bass

However, I was surprised by the relatively thin bass. In direct comparison with the Sonos Beam, there is a massive difference: both for music and movies.

I listened to the song “So weit wie noch nie” by Jürgen Paape with strong bass and vocals alternately on both soundbars and also played the classic “Gaia” by James Taylor up and down.

With both tracks, the Sonos Beam offered a significantly wider stage and a more pleasant tuning of the low tones.

Different membranes

If you look at the speaker diaphragms installed, this makes sense: the Sonos Ray has two tweeters and two mid-range drivers, which puts the focus on higher frequencies. The Beam has only one tweeter and four mid-range drivers.

Of course, the large Sonos Arc can do this much better, but it now costs almost a thousand euros.

Test conclusion

As always, it really depends on the application: Anyone looking for a soundbar for the bedroom or who simply watches the news on TV most of the time will be more than satisfied with the Ray.

Speech intelligibility is great and music also sounds good.

But if you’re looking for really good sound for louder music and stronger bass, you should definitely go for the Beam.

The difference is enormous. If you can do without Dolby Atmos, you can often even get the Beam 1 refurbished directly from Sonos – at the same price as the Sonos Ray.