Peter Cao
It’s nearly impossible to buy a gadget nowadays that doesn’t have a microphone, this includes home entertainment gear. Well, Sonos is releasing a mic-free version of its Arc soundbar. It’s exclusive to Costco, unfortunately, but you do save $50 if you decide to buy this model.
The bar shares the “SL” branding that Sonos uses with all of its other mic-free products. The Costco model of the Arc comes in a special “shadow edition” color, which translates to a dark gray. The regular version with microphones comes in black. Your soundbar will be super stealthy and blend in with your home theater setup either way.
Otherwise, everything else seems to be the same, including sound quality. Of course, being a “smart” soundbar, Sonos has been continuously updating the firmware of its system, recently adding support for multichannel LPCM surround sound over HDMI eARC.
The exclusivity to Costco does have a benefit: a $50 savings. So, you’re looking at $749 versus the usual $799 price at most other retailers. The SL model is perfect for those who’d rather not have an always-on microphone built-in to their home entertainment system. And if you ever decide you want an always-on microphone, you can always link up your Sonos equipment to an Amazon Echo or Google Assistant speaker.
via The Verge
