WEBVTT

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sometimes i can tell i'm dealing with a great product because i can't wait to

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make a video about it other times it's because i find making the video darn

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near impossible because every time i sit down to use it i end up playing with it

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instead of working and that's not really what i expected from a sound

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bar like who even cares about sound bars if you wanted a clean setup you'd just

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use your built-in audio and if you wanted decent sound quality you'd buy

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real speakers and yet here we are

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many attempts to write this video that turned into movie watching sessions

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later and i'm finally ready to tell you about my time with the sonos arc

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a sound bar that doesn't suck today's video is

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use offer code Linus 10 to get 10 off your order at the link below

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the last time i formally reviewed a sonos product back in 2014 i loved both

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the style and the seamless software experience but i was let down by the

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price and the sound quality which is sort of a bummer for a speaker fast

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forward to today and immediately upon opening the box the style was as good or

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better than last time the arc features a clean and modern industrial design

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that's outstanding for its ability to

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not stand out and blend in perfectly with its environment leaving my full

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attention for my tv and then things quickly fell apart when i got to the

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software as a user of some of sonos's older home speakers and amplifiers i was

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immediately prompted during my arc setup to update to the new s2 version of their

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app and then i was warned that i actually might have to split my older

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devices and newer ones according to compatibility that's not great for a

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whole home unified ecosystem experience

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making me even more hesitant was the atrocious rating of the s2 app on the

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google play store so i actually ended up not even listening to the arc for the

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first couple of days while i researched what the impact was going to be the

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thing is updates on devices like this have a nasty habit of being irreversible

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and it didn't work at all without going

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through the setup process making matters worse my enthusiasm for it took another

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hit when i realized that the ark has no built-in HDMI switch that's right it

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doesn't even have a single HDMI input to replace the e-arc one that it occupies

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in your tv that takes me down from five total inputs with my previous lg

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soundbar to just three fortunately on

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the software side my legacy sonos bridge was the only problematic device and it's

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no longer required anyway so i was able to just take it out and migrate

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everything to the s2 app which lets you fine-tune tonality and audio sync along

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with allowing you to turn off the light for better immersion disable the onboard

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touch controls if you have a curious toddler and toggle the ir repeater

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function depending on whether the arc blocks your tv remote's receiver or not

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i felt like the app could use some knobs for

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dsp adjustments like you know how big the room should sound and stuff like

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that but overall i appreciated the less is more simplicity of it as for the lack

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of HDMI ports well that's just

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less is less and i'm still pretty unhappy about it my logitech harmony

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universal remote did sync up with the arc flawlessly so i guess it's just a

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matter of adding an HDMI switch to my setup or something but i do still think

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that that's a big deficiency in a product at this price when i can buy a

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well-rated one on amazon for literally half the price that allows me to connect

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more devices includes surround speakers and also includes a subwoofer yes my

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friends at a thousand us dollars with the only real extras being dolby atmos

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support with upward firing speakers and of course sonos's whole home audio

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synchronization through their app or apple airplay 2 the arc had a lot to

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live up for me when i turned it on for the first time shockingly despite my

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press x to doubt initial reaction to the marketing materials that include the

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usual nonsense about oscar-winning sound engineers blessing it with their plus

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five wand of acoustic brilliance or whatever i mean it's still a sound bar

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right no no actually it made a really

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good first impression right out of the gate the ark impressed me with its

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outstanding dialogue clarity men women children groups of men women

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and children talking over each other all of them were noticeably better than

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my previous sound bar to the point where i can't even find any complaints

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compared to my old 3.1 setup with a dedicated av receiver that's a really

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big deal remember guys a lot of people start shopping for a sound bar in the

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first place because they're having trouble understanding what people are

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saying on their moving picture box and it only got better from there the lg

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setup that i replaced was more expensive

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and came with a subwoofer but frankly speaking outside of scenes with

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very low engine rumbles or large explosions

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i couldn't see the benefit of my old two-piece setup against the ark all by

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its lonesome but then again my previous sound bar also felt good enough until i

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sat down and watched one of the more musical episodes of my little pony with

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my kids only to realize that the background music

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anytime there was lyrics was an absolute

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mess i mean it was so bad that i was at the point where i was considering

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tearing out the new media console to make room to put my speakers back in

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until i hooked up the ark it was an absolute breath of fresh air i mean

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don't kid yourself it's not a full-fledged diy grade home theater

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setup with a receiver and i'm sure there's better bang for the buck out

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there but in such a compact and attractive package i have no complaints

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with respect to performance none everything from clarity to soundstage to

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rumble vastly exceeded my expectations and if you're the kind of person who

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wants good enough performance without a mess of wires you can stop watching now

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and buy it at the link in the video description seal of approval at least

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for news and tv if you intend to make the ark the center of your movie

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watching experience and you want even better performance sonos also allows you

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to add a subwoofer so i asked if they could send one over they dug out a

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loaner unit of their generation 2 sub and i went through the 5 minute process

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of adding it to my home setup and assigning it to the same room as the ark

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the only thing here that i found a little unintuitive was the calibration

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process where the sub plays a loud low

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note and then asks you to dial it back if it's overwhelming i found it very

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overwhelming and i set it to -3 but then i found that when i actually loaded up

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any content i needed to crank it way back up to default though thankfully

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that was easy enough to do from within the app as for how much the sub helps

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well if you like the channel then we really do appreciate if you do it hey

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get it no anyway sorry as for how much the

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subwoofer helps if i was spending this kind of money i would go for it it even

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manages to look good in my living room but the difference in experience wasn't

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nearly as night and day as i was expecting based on my experiences with

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other sub-less sound bar setups and i

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don't mean that as a criticism of the gen 2 sub you know should have got the

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gen 3. it's reasonably punchy it's not overdone i just mean that the arc does a

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pretty good job of handling the low end on its own and anyone who's living in a

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townhouse or a condo should just save their money and buy a stealth hoodie on

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lttstore.com instead the biggest difference for me was that allowing the

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sub to take some of that low end burden off of the arc really lets the arc put

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forward its best clarity dialogue background effects and music were all

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well separated and a little easier to enjoy without any of them distracting

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from each other with the arc plus sub combo so in conclusion sonos it might

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not save your company from your other big problems like simply not being able

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to build enough products to meet customer demand as of the time of

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writing there's a three week wait for the arc but you guys have clearly come a long

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way in terms of bringing your performance up to the same level as your

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software and

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i'm getting a call right now but i'm like three words away from the end

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i'm pleasantly surprised who is this hi

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oh he just wanted me to tell you about our sponsor drop.com featuring the pc38x

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and velour buy yours today at the link down below

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if you guys enjoyed this video maybe check out the one where i took my living room from xero to

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what you're looking at right now courtesy of lg ooh or maybe the one

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where i built that sick vr gaming rig down there

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it's water cooled