![]() The new Beam’s soundstage is significantly wider, and when playing Atmos content, you do get a small but noticeable height effect. To try to get a sense of the difference between the first- and second-gen models, I stacked them vertically and played a variety of content, switching the HDMI cable back and forth between them. Sonos Beam Gen 2 (top, white) and Beam Gen 1. However, Sonos has managed to extract a surprising amount of additional immersion from what is, under that perforated grille, the exact same driver setup as the first-gen Beam. In general, this kind of virtualized Atmos sound simply can’t compete with what you’ll get from dedicated speakers, and the new Beam is no exception. How well that virtualization works depends on a whole host of factors including the size of the soundbar, the number of drivers it can leverage to create that simulated sound, the size and shape of your room, and even whether you’ve set the soundbar on a tabletop or wall-mounted it. ![]() With the addition of virtualized surround sound, it’s an even more formidable addition to your TV. But here’s the thing with Dolby Atmos: It can actually be delivered through as few as two channels thanks to sound virtualization, which uses some very clever brain-tricking techniques to simulate the presence of up-firing or ceiling-based height channels. With built-in up-firing drivers that bounce sound off the ceiling and down to our ears, the best Atmos soundbars deliver a highly convincing substitute for those installed ceiling speakers. That’s not realistic for most of us, which is why Dolby Atmos soundbars have become so popular. In an ideal world, we’d all buy dedicated 5.1.2 or better home theater systems with at least two ceiling speakers to give us all of the juicy hemisphere-of-sound effects that Atmos is known for. Simon Cohen / Digital Trendsĭolby Atmos can be tricky technology to understand. Is it Atmos? Sonos Beam Gen 2 (at top, in white) and Sonos Beam Gen 1. ![]() Once that HDMI cable is plugged in, the Beam automatically identifies your TV and figures out which commands it will need to control it, which will come in especially handy if you opt to use Alexa’s TV control skills. I have to give mad props to Sonos - the company just keeps making it easier to work with its products.Įven the connection to my TV was a breeze. Saying yes, it asked me to hold the phone next to the speaker while the speaker played a coded audio tone. Cleverly, the app saw that I was having trouble and asked if I wanted to switch to an audio-based setup. This would have been as easy as tapping my iPhone against the top surface of the Beam, but my phone case is ludicrously thick (it’s designed to mount the phone to a motorcycle), so that part didn’t work. As soon as I plugged the Beam into the wall and fired up the Sonos S2 app, the app recognized the Beam and prompted me to finish the setup. The new Beam is, unbelievably, even easier to set up thanks to Sonos’ use of near-field communication (NFC). Plug it in, open the Sonos app, tap a few settings, and press a button or two on the speaker. Setting up Sonos products has always been remarkably easy. It’s way easier to clean and doesn’t attract as much dust in the first place. ![]() I don’t know if this was the thinking at Sonos when it decided to replace the first-gen Beam’s fabric grille with a perforated plastic version, but I’m a fan. But as the owner of two cats, I can attest to the fact that fabric grilles tend to be dust and fur magnets that require pretty constant cleaning. I like the traditional look of fabric grilles on a speaker. Great grille Simon Cohen / Digital Trends Inside the box, you’ll find the Beam, color-matched power and HDMI cables, that adapter I mentioned, and some printed material for warranties, etc. If Sonos can find a way to delete these bags, it will have one of the most sustainable packages in the industry. The new Beam comes in a plainly printed, fully recyclable box, and the only plastic you’ll find are the two small poly bags that protect the included HDMI cable and optical-to-HDMI adapter. Sonos always has been the king of simplicity, and that extends from its setup and software to its packaging. What’s in the box? Simon Cohen / Digital Trends It’s worth noting, however, that even though I’ll be discussing the changes Sonos has made to the Beam, this isn’t an attempt to determine which one is better, because barring any remaining Gen 1 inventory, the second-gen Beam is now the only one you can buy. The biggest change is to the sound, which I’ll cover in a moment. Some of these changes are relatively minor, like the decision to replace the fabric speaker grille with one that is made from rigid plastic.
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