The Sonos Beam Ultra is a Beam speaker in name only. It may look like the company's previous mid-range speakers, but it sounds more like the high-end Arc, and it has a much higher $699 price to boot. The Beam Ultra justifies that increase with the addition of two upward-firing Dolby Atmos speakers, which can bounce overhead surround sound off of your ceiling, as well as provide more hardware for richer sound and deeper bass. It's a soundbar that even a home theater enthusiast could enjoy, whereas the second-gen Beam (now $499) felt merely like a good effort with its simulated Atmos sound.

The price is the hardest thing to stomach about the Beam Ultra. It's close to the original $799 cost of the Arc, which was replaced by the Arc Ultra two years ago. That's an Ultra speaker that launched at $999 and now sells for $1,099. Even before the AI-driven RAMaggedon and storage crunch, Sonos was already feeling the burn of market pricing pressure. Not that the company was ever truly price conscious — its connected speakers have always been significantly more expensive than the competition.

The first thing you'll notice about the Beam Ultra is that it looks like a more serious speaker than previous Beams, simply because it's a bit wider. It features five tweeters to emphasize mid-range dynamics (including two upward-firing tweeters for Atmos), four woofers for low-end power and nine amplifiers. Given its size, the Beam Ultra is best suited for TV's 55-inches and up. Atmos soundbars and speakers bounce sound off of your ceiling to work, a technique that requires a clear view of a flat ceiling.