Sonos Ray Soundbar: Proof That Great Sound Does Not Have to Cost a Fortune
There is a conversation that happens in homes all the time, and it usually goes something like this. Someone is watching a film or a television show and the built-in TV speakers are making a perfectly good scene sound thin, flat, and just a little bit disappointing. They think to themselves, “I really should get a soundbar.” And then they look at the options, see that the good ones are expensive, and put the whole idea back in a drawer for another six months.
The Sonos Ray exists specifically to end that conversation. Permanently.
This is Sonos’s most affordable soundbar. Their entry point into the world of genuinely good television audio. And the thing that makes it so interesting is that it does not feel like an entry-level product when you actually use it. It feels like a properly good soundbar that happens to be priced in a way that makes it accessible to people who are not ready to spend on a Beam Gen 2 or Arc just yet.
Almost three years since its launch, the Sonos Ray remains one of the best budget soundbars available, particularly if crisp and clear dialogue is your priority. That is not a small achievement. The budget soundbar market is one of the most crowded spaces in consumer audio, and holding that position for years while new competitors emerge constantly says something real about what this product actually delivers.
Let us talk about it properly.
The First Thing You Notice: It Is Tiny
Seriously. Pick up a Sonos Ray for the first time and you will almost certainly think someone has made a mistake. This is a full soundbar from one of the most respected audio brands in the world and it is genuinely compact.
It measures 22 inches wide, 3.5 inches deep, and 2.8 inches tall, and weighs just 4.3 pounds. It is 100mm shorter than the Beam Gen 2, and as a result of that smaller width, you could get away with using it with a 32-inch TV and above. For anyone with a television in a bedroom, a guest room, a home office, a study, or any secondary space where a full-sized soundbar would look absurd, the Ray fits perfectly and proportionally.
The design is simple and hard to resist. Available in black or white, it has a flat front with a hard grille that is easy to dust, in a lozenge shape with tapered sides. It features touch-sensitive controls on the top instead of physical buttons, which gives it a streamlined look and feel. The build quality is excellent for the price. It does not feel cheap or plasticky. It feels like a Sonos product, which means it feels like something that was designed carefully and built to last.
The polycarbonate chassis with its precision-perforated grille is consistent with the Sonos family look. Whether you put it next to a Beam Gen 2 or an Arc, the Ray clearly belongs to the same design language. Clean, unobtrusive, confident in its own simplicity. It sits below your television and simply gets on with its job without demanding any visual attention.
What Is Inside: Four Drivers Doing the Work of Many
Here is where Ray’s engineering story gets interesting.
Two tweeters create a crisp high-frequency response. Two high-efficiency midwoofers ensure faithful playback of mid-range frequencies and solid bass. A proprietary low-velocity port design minimizes distortion and rounds out the low-end frequencies. All four Class-D digital amplifiers have been fine-tuned to the soundbar’s unique acoustic architecture.
Four individually amplified drivers in something this small is a meaningful engineering achievement. The tweeters feature an innovative acoustic lens which divides the sound from them, angling some towards the sides and some towards the front, to add width. This is important because it means the Ray does not just fire sound straight at you in a narrow beam. It spreads the sound horizontally, creating a sense of width and space that is noticeably more immersive than what your television’s built-in speakers can ever achieve.
The whole speaker design is built to focus sound forwards, so that the Ray can be put inside a TV cabinet. Many modern soundbars have speakers strongly angled left, right, and upwards, and enclosing them in a cabinet is a bad idea. The Sonos Ray is fine with it. That is a genuinely practical design consideration that many people with television furniture will immediately appreciate. You are not forced to leave the Ray sitting out in the open to get the most out of it. It works happily in an enclosed space without sacrificing the audio quality you bought it for.
The Sound: What Actually Comes Out of It
Let us get to what matters most. Because specs and design language are one thing. How does the Sonos Ray actually sound?
The honest answer is: better than it has any right to at this size and price point.
Perhaps most immediately impressive is the unity of tonality and presentation the Ray creates. At the bottom of the frequency range it has plenty of presence without getting even slightly in-your-face, while at the opposite end it carries a polite level of bite and attack. Other similarly sized and specified soundbars may reach a little higher up the frequency range than the Ray, but none have superior control or levels of detail.
That is high praise from an experienced audio reviewer who tests dozens of products a year. And it aligns with what you actually experience when you sit down with Ray for the first time. The sound is balanced, controlled, and musical. It does not hype any particular frequency range to impress you in the first thirty seconds and then fatigue you over time. It just sounds right in a way that you end up appreciating more the longer you listen.
It is in the midrange that Sonos does its best work. Voices are direct, detailed, and unambiguous. There is discernible character, attitude, and emotion to speech, and consequently the Ray communicates in spades.
That midrange quality is what defines the Ray experience more than anything else. Conversations in films sound real and present. Singers sound like singers rather than like someone singing through a wall. News presenters, podcast voices, documentary narration everything that involves a human voice sounds natural, clear, and easy to follow without straining.
Dialogue Clarity: The Reason Most People Buy This Soundbar
If you ask people who own a Sonos Ray what they tell their friends about it, the answer is almost always the same. They can hear every word now. Every single word.
I have reviewed many soundbars, and the Ray is one of the best for vocal clarity. That review was written by an audio professional who tests products for a living, and it mirrors the experience of thousands of real-world owners who discovered that the thing they thought was a problem with their television was actually just a problem with its speakers.
Fine-tuned with help from award-winning Hollywood sound engineers, the Ray ensures you can always follow the story. That is not a marketing line. You can actually hear the difference when you switch from television speakers to the Ray on anything with nuanced dialogue. The quiet conversation in the middle of an action film. The whispered plot revelation. The emotionally weighted exchange between two characters in a drama. It all comes through clearly, naturally, and without strain.
And when you want even more clarity, Speech Enhancement in the Sonos app pushes voice frequencies forward further still. It is a simple toggle that makes a noticeable difference and is particularly useful for anyone with mild hearing sensitivity or for watching content late at night at lower volume.
Bass: Honest Assessment, No Surprises
Let us be upfront about this because it is the one area where setting honest expectations matters.
The Ray produces solid, controlled bass for its size. The two bass reflex ports help it reach further into the low frequencies than you might expect from something this compact, and the result is bass that adds real weight and impact to music and film soundtracks without becoming loose or distorted.
We were not blown away by the bass, but it was more than adequate and matched what you would expect from the speaker from looking at its design. That is a fair and honest assessment. If you are coming from television speakers, the bass improvement will feel significant. If you are coming from a soundbar with a dedicated subwoofer, you will notice the difference.
The good news is that the Ray is designed from the ground up to be expandable. If you want more bass later, you can add a Sonos Sub Mini wirelessly and it pairs immediately through the Sonos app. You get the clean, balanced Ray sound today, and you add the physical low-frequency impact whenever you are ready. No rewiring, no new setup process, just a seamless extension of what you already have.
Trueplay Calibration: Your Room Matters and the Ray Knows It
One of the things that makes the Ray genuinely stand out in its price range is the inclusion of Trueplay room calibration, a feature you typically only find on significantly more expensive audio equipment.
Trueplay calibration tailors the sound for your living room. This uses your phone’s microphone to detect how sound travels throughout your room and adjusts the levels of the speakers accordingly. It is a useful feature and a real bonus that Sonos has brought it to the Ray.
Trueplay tuning technology adapts the sound for the unique acoustics of your space so content always sounds just the way it should. Run the calibration once after setup, spend three minutes walking around your room while the Ray plays test tones, and the Sonos app optimizes the entire EQ for your specific space. The difference before and after is consistently audible, and it makes the Ray sound like a more expensive soundbar that was professionally configured for your home.
The one limitation worth knowing upfront is that Trueplay currently requires an iOS device to run. If you only have an Android phone, you will need to borrow an iPhone from someone to complete the calibration. It is a minor inconvenience, but Trueplay is worth the small effort of tracking down an iOS device if you do not own one.
Connectivity: Simple, Reliable, and Honest About What It Is
The Sonos Ray connects to your television via an optical digital cable, which is included in the box. This is an important distinction from the Beam Gen 2 and Arc, which use HDMI eARC. The optical connection means the Ray does not support Dolby Atmos, and it handles audio formats including Stereo PCM, Dolby Digital 5.1, and DTS Digital Surround.
Being a Sonos product, the Ray does still include network support and AirPlay for wireless multiroom playback. It is fairly unusual to find Wi-Fi connectivity in an entry-level soundbar. That is genuinely true and genuinely valuable. Most soundbars in this price range are Bluetooth-only or have no wireless streaming at all. The Ray connects to your home Wi-Fi and gives you full Sonos ecosystem integration, AirPlay 2 support, and Spotify Connect, which is a level of wireless capability that you simply do not find at this price point anywhere else.
The back panel has a receptacle for its power cord, an Ethernet port, and an optical digital input. It also has an infrared receiver built in, which means your existing television remote automatically controls the Ray’s volume without any additional setup, remote programming, or separate controller to keep track of.
No Bluetooth is supported directly on the Ray itself, but since it connects over Wi-Fi, you get better streaming stability and multiroom capability than Bluetooth would provide anyway. Stream your favorites from your favorite services over Wi-Fi using the Sonos app, Apple AirPlay 2, Spotify Connect, and more.
Gaming: A Surprisingly Strong Case
Something that does not get enough attention in conversations about the Ray is how well it works as a gaming soundbar.
It is clear from its promotional photography that Sonos is keen to present the Ray as an option for those looking to enhance their gaming audio, and it delivers a punchy, snappy, and lively delivery that is well suited to gameplay, with just enough low-end to add grunt to engine noises and a clear distinction between different vehicle sounds.
The same would also apply to PC gamers who can just plug the Ray into their PC’s optical output and save space. It would go directly under the screen instead of being on either side of a monitor. For anyone with a gaming setup in a bedroom or a compact space, the Ray is a genuinely compelling audio upgrade that improves both the immersion of gameplay and the clarity of in-game communication and audio cues. At its price point, nothing else in the soundbar category competes with it on this combination of audio quality, compact footprint, and wireless streaming capability.
Night Sound Mode: Late Nights Are Different Now
The Night Sound mode in the Sonos app is one of those features that seems like a small thing until the first time you actually need it, and then it becomes something you use constantly.
Turn Night Sound on in the Sonos app to reduce the intensity of loud sounds and increase the level of quieter sounds. This compresses the dynamic range of whatever you are watching, which means explosions do not wake up the rest of the house and quiet whispered dialogue remains audible at low volume. For anyone who watches television late at night, lives in an apartment with thin walls, or has children or a partner sleeping nearby, Night Sound transforms the late-evening television experience from a compromise into something genuinely satisfying.
Combined with Speech Enhancement, Night Sound means you can watch almost anything comfortably at low volume without missing a word or being startled by a sudden loud scene. Together these two features address the most common real-world frustrations with television audio in a practical and immediately useful way.
Music: An Underrated Strength
Most people buy the Ray primarily for television. What surprises many of them is how much they end up using it just for music.
If music listening is a priority, the Sonos is probably the best soundbar in its price range for this purpose. Other similarly priced soundbars may be competitive for movie playback alone, but the Ray has a big edge when music streaming matters.
Maggie Rogers’ New Song was immediately impressive with the clarity of the acoustic guitar and vocals, especially on a system in this price range. That immediate impression of musical clarity and engagement is consistent across genres. Jazz sounds warm and detailed. Pop sounds energetic and present. Classical sounds spacious. Electronic music sounds punchy and dynamic. The Ray does not have a particular sound signature that suits one genre and fights against another. It just plays music accurately and engagingly across the board.
When the television is off, the Ray is a full wireless smart speaker with access to over 100 streaming services through the Sonos app. You can group it with other Sonos speakers throughout your home for whole-house audio, play it independently in its room, or use it as part of a wider multiroom setup. The multiroom capability that Sonos has built over two decades works exactly as well in the Ray as in any of their flagship products.
Setting It Up: Easier Than Making Toast
After connecting the Ray, you open the Sonos app and log in with or create your Sonos account. You are prompted to enter your home network’s Wi-Fi password or connect via Ethernet. Once done, turn off your TV’s internal speakers and adjust the volume on your main remote. If all is working, you should see the status LED in the centre of the soundbar flash and hear sound coming out of the speakers.
From opening the box to having music or television audio playing through the Ray typically takes under ten minutes. The Sonos app is consistently rated as one of the best in the consumer audio industry, and the setup process reflects that. Clear instructions, sensible steps, and no moment where you look at the screen and wonder what you are supposed to do next.
The optical cable is included in the box. Your television remote works immediately once the connection is made. Touch controls on the top of the Ray handle basic volume and playback when your phone is not nearby. And the Sonos app gives you complete control over EQ, streaming services, and all the features including Speech Enhancement, Night Sound, Trueplay, and multiroom grouping.
Who Is the Sonos Ray Actually Built For?
This is where being honest is more useful than being promotional, and the honest answer is that the Ray is not the right soundbar for everyone. It is, however, exactly the right soundbar for a surprisingly large group of people.
It is built for anyone with a small to medium room who wants a genuine and meaningful upgrade from television speakers without spending on a Beam Gen 2 or Arc. It is perfect for secondary rooms in the home such as a bedroom, guest room, kitchen, or home office where a compact, capable soundbar makes far more sense than a full home theater setup.
It is also a wonderful fit for secondary spaces such as a guest room or office where a small form factor is essential.
It is excellent for anyone who listens to as much music as they watch television, since the Ray genuinely competes with dedicated wireless smart speakers in this price range for music quality. It is a strong choice for gamers who want better audio without a subwoofer and a full speaker arrangement around their gaming space. And it is the obvious entry point for anyone who wants to start building a Sonos multiroom audio system gradually, beginning with the most affordable and unintimidating product in the lineup.
If you are the kind of person who just wants to upgrade your TV audio with clearer and more detailed vocals plus get a great speaker for music that fits into a wider system, then the Ray might be the budget soundbar for you.
What the Ray is not is a substitute for the Beam Gen 2 in a large main room where Dolby Atmos performance, HDMI eARC, and built-in voice assistants are priorities. It does not have those features and it does not pretend to. But for the spaces and use cases it is designed for, it is genuinely outstanding at what it does.
The Bottom Line
The Sonos Ray is a genuinely excellent soundbar that is honest about what it is and exceptional at everything it sets out to do. The sound quality is balanced, controlled, and musical. The dialogue clarity is among the best of any soundbar at any price. The build quality is premium for its category. The Sonos app and multiroom ecosystem connectivity are unmatched at this price point. Night Sound and Speech Enhancement are genuinely useful features you will use all the time.
Sophisticated, small, and affordable soundbars may as well be unicorns, so unlikely are you to come across one. The Sonos Ray is that unicorn. It is the rare product that delivers on all three of those attributes simultaneously without making you feel like you settled for something.
If you have been putting off upgrading your television’s audio because the right option seemed out of reach, this is where you start. Pick one up, set it up, and enjoy the sound your television has been capable of all along.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS (FAQ)
Q1. How many drivers does the Sonos Ray have? The Sonos Ray has four individually amplified drivers inside its compact chassis. These include two tweeters with acoustic lens technology for crisp high frequencies and wide horizontal dispersion, and two high-efficiency midwoofers for faithful midrange and bass reproduction. Two bass reflex ports on the front further enhance low-end output and help the Ray produce more bass than its size alone would suggest.
Q2. Does the Sonos Ray support Dolby Atmos? The Sonos Ray does not support Dolby Atmos. It connects via optical digital input rather than HDMI eARC and supports Stereo PCM, Dolby Digital 5.1, and DTS Digital Surround. If Dolby Atmos is a priority for you, the Sonos Beam Gen 2 or Sonos Arc are the appropriate choices in the Sonos lineup.
Q3. How does the Sonos Ray connect to a TV? The Ray connects to your television via an optical digital cable, which is included in the box. It also has an Ethernet port for a wired network connection as an alternative to Wi-Fi. An infrared receiver lets your existing TV remote automatically control the Ray’s volume without any additional setup.
Q4. What is Trueplay and does the Sonos Ray support it? Trueplay is Sonos’s room calibration technology that analyzes how sound behaves in your specific room and adjusts the soundbar’s EQ to compensate for your room’s acoustic characteristics. The Sonos Ray fully supports Trueplay. Note that running the calibration currently requires an iOS device as it uses the iPhone or iPad’s microphone for room measurement.
Q5. Does the Sonos Ray support Bluetooth? The Ray does not support Bluetooth directly. It connects to your home network over Wi-Fi or Ethernet and supports wireless streaming through the Sonos app, Apple AirPlay 2, and Spotify Connect. Wi-Fi streaming provides more stable performance and full multiroom capability compared to Bluetooth.
Q6. Can the Sonos Ray be used in a TV cabinet or enclosed space? Yes. The Ray is specifically designed to work in enclosed spaces. All drivers face forward, and unlike many soundbars with side or upward-angled speakers, the Ray sounds exactly as intended whether it is on an open stand or inside a closed TV cabinet.
Q7. What is Speech Enhancement mode and when should I use it? Speech Enhancement is a setting in the Sonos app that boosts voice frequencies to make dialogue even clearer and easier to follow. It is useful for content with quiet or mumbled dialogue, late-night viewing at lower volume, or for anyone with mild hearing sensitivity who wants voices pushed forward in the mix.
Q8. What is Night Sound mode? Night Sound mode compresses the dynamic range of your audio, reducing the intensity of loud sounds and raising quieter passages. It is ideal for watching television late at night, in apartments with thin walls, or whenever you need to keep the volume manageable without missing quiet dialogue during loud scenes.
Q9. Can I add a subwoofer to the Sonos Ray later? Yes. The Sonos Ray pairs wirelessly with the Sonos Sub Mini for significantly enhanced bass performance. The Sub Mini connects through the Sonos app without any additional wiring between units. You can also add Sonos speakers as rear surrounds to build a wider surround sound system around the Ray over time.
Q10. Is the Sonos Ray good for gaming? Yes, the Ray works very well for gaming. Its forward-firing driver design and punchy midrange delivery make it well suited to gaming audio, providing clear positional cues, engine and environmental sounds with good distinction, and a compact footprint that fits naturally below a gaming monitor or television. It also connects directly to PC gaming setups via the optical input.
Q11. What streaming services does the Sonos Ray support? Through the Sonos app, the Ray gives you access to over 100 streaming services including Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music, Tidal, TuneIn, SiriusXM, iHeartRadio, and many more. Apple AirPlay 2 and Spotify Connect are also supported for direct streaming from Apple devices and Spotify without going through the Sonos app.