Sonos Beam Gen 2 brings Dolby Atmos and improved sound for $449

It's been over three years since Sonos debuted its first modern soundbar aimed at small-to-medium sized rooms, and the industry has changed considerably since then. The Sonos Beam outperformed many competitors twice its size thanks to top-notch componentry and ample amplification, but it lacked the nascent Dolby Atmos support that has since become standard when connecting speakers to a television.

Now Sonos is correcting that with the Beam Gen 2, a modest upgrade that brings, in addition to Dolby Atmos (and therefore eARC compatibility), a faster processor, a slightly updated exterior, and a price bump to $449 USD over the original's $399. Last week, Sonos announced price hikes for all of its products as a result of the ongoing chip shortage.

In a conversation with Android Central, Sonos said that though the speaker array inside the enclosure is unchanged — there are still four mid-woofers, a center tweeter, and three passive radiators — the design has been updated to promote the two height channels that Dolby Atmos enables. The mesh enclosure that covers the original Beam, and collected a not-insignificant amount of dust, has also been swapped for a plastic one that should withstand long-term wear and tear a little more gracefully.

The actual dimensions of the second-gen Beam, which is still available in white and black, are basically identical to the original, and should accommodate most small televisions or wall-mounting situations (the company sells a separate mounting plate that's also been updated for the newer model).

While the Beam has since been supplanted by the Arc as Sonos's flagship soundbar, the second-gen model is picking up a couple of the Arc's other features, including NFC support for fast pairing, and a slightly updated design. eARC support brings true Dolby Atmos and TrueHD support through the port's wider bandwidth channel (Atmos is supported through ARC but does so by downsampling the signal, which diminishes quality).

The second-gen Beam also shares the same beamforming microphone setup as its predecessor, which means you can use Google Assistant or Alexa to play tracks from one of the many, many supported services.

As part of the Beam Gen 2's debut, Sonos is also announcing support for Amazon Music's Ultra HD Lossless tier, which offers streaming content at up to 24-bit/48Hz, and for the Arc and newest Beam (since they support eARC), support for Amazon's Atmos-powered spatial audio mixes. All products that support Sonos's S2 platform will offer Amazon Ultra HD support when it debuts later this year.

The Beam Gen 2 is coming October 5 for $449 USD / $559 CAD / £449 GBP/ €499 EUR/ $699 AUD.

Atmost

Sonos Beam (Gen 2)

$449 at Sonos

After three years, Sonos is updating its Beam soundbar with Dolby Atmos, eARC support, and a faster processor to tie it all together.

Source: androidcentral

The hidden cost of food delivery

Noah Lichtenstein Contributor Share on Twitter Noah Lichtenstein is the founder and managing partner of Crossover , a diversified private technology fund backed by institutional investors, technology execs and professional athletes and entertainers. More posts by this contributor What Studying Students Teaches Us About Great Apps I’ll admit it: When it comes to food, I’m lazy. There are dozens of great dining options within a few blocks of my home, yet I still end up ordering food through delivery apps four or five times per week. With the growing coronavirus pandemic closing restaurants and consumers self-isolating, it is likely we will see a spike in food delivery much like the 20% jump China reported during the peak of its crisis. With the food delivery sector rocketing toward a projected $365 billion by the end of the decade, I’m clearly not the only one turning to delivery apps even before the pandemic hit. Thanks to technology (and VC funding) we can get a ri

Cyber Monday Canada: Last-minute deals for everyone on your list

Best Cyber Monday Canada deals: Smart Home Audio Phones, Tablets & Accessories Wearables Laptops & PC Components Amazon products Gaming Televisions Cameras Lifestyle & Kitchen Toys & Kids Cyber Monday Canada is here, and retailers are rolling out the red carpet for customers who want to shop for everything from tech to kitchenware to games and everything in between. Unlike years past, Cyber Monday Canada deals look a bit different than normal. Instead of retailers trying to pack their stores with as many shoppers as possible, we're seeing tons of online deals that you can take advantage of from the comfort of your home. We've rounded up our favorites below, so feel free to browse through the best of what Canada Cyber Monday has to offer! This list is being updated with new Cyber Monday deals all the time, so check back often. Spotlight deals It's a Switch Nintendo Switch Fortnite Edition bundle $399.95 at Amazon It's a Switch.

iPhone 13 Pro vs. iPhone 15 Pro Buyer's Guide: 50+ Differences Compared

The iPhone 15 Pro brings over 50 new features and improvements to Apple's high-end smartphones compared to the iPhone 13 Pro, which was released two years prior. This buyer's guide breaks down every major difference you should be aware of between the two generations and helps you to decide whether it's worth upgrading. The ‌iPhone 13‌ Pro debuted in 2021, introducing a brighter display with ProMotion technology for refresh rates up to 120Hz, the A15 Bionic chip, a telephoto camera with 3x optical zoom, Macro photography and photographic styles, Cinematic mode for recording videos with shallow depth of field, ProRes video recording, a 1TB storage option, and five hours of additional battery life. The ‌iPhone 13‌ Pro was discontinued upon the announcement of the iPhone 14 Pro in 2022, but it is still possible to get hold of it second-hand. Our guide helps to answer the question of how to decide which of these two iPhone models is best for you and serves as a way to c

Slack’s new integration deal with AWS could also be about tweaking Microsoft

Slack and Amazon announced a big integration late yesterday afternoon. As part of the deal, Slack will use Amazon Chime for its call feature, while reiterating its commitment to use AWS as its preferred cloud provider to run its infrastructure. At the same time, AWS has agreed to use Slack for internal communications. Make no mistake, this is a big deal as the SaaS communications tool increases its ties with AWS, but this agreement could also be about slighting Microsoft and its rival Teams product by making a deal with a cloud rival. In the past Slack CEO Stewart Butterfield has had choice words for Microsoft saying the Redmond technology giant sees his company as an “existential threat.” Whether that’s true or not — Teams is but one piece of a huge technology company — it’s impossible not to look at the deal in this context. Aligning more deeply with AWS sends a message to Microsoft, whose Azure infrastructure services compete with AWS. Butterfield didn’t say that of course

Tech Talk

Search This Blog