Small wonder from Sonos

MANY months ago, I reviewed one of the best soundbars in the game. To me, the Sony HT-ST5000 remains one of the best-sounding speaker systems I've ever tested to date. Amid that backdrop, it would be unfair to make a direct comparison between the Sonos Beam on review here and the Sony - they're priced vastly differently, and look worlds apart.

So let's put on our non-judgmental glasses (imagine the instant world peace if those existed), and see what the Sonos Beam is, and what it isn't.

Sitting in front of my 55-inch TV, the little Beam is positively dwarfed by the expanse of black. My white, pill-shaped review unit (black is available) has a nice cloth covering the front and sides, and measures 65cm wide and weighs just 2.8kg.

Up on top is a capacitive touch panel with controls for volume up/down, previous/next track, play/pause and microphone mute. Around back is the power port, one HDMI and Ethernet port each, and a pairing button to connect it to other Sonos products in your home.

Inside are four full-range woofers, three passive radiators and one tweeter, all powered by five Class-D digital amplifiers.

Setting it up is dead simple, as all Sonos products are. Download the Sonos app, plug the soundbar in to both power and your TV's audio return channel (ARC) port, and the app will guide you through the set-up process with a minimum of fuss.

I didn't have the chance to test the Beam's microphones for voice assistants, and I suspect that will be how most people will set it up too. For those who like that sort of stuff, the Beam supports Amazon Alexa and in the future, Google Assistant.

For its job as a speaker, the Beam performs admirably, despite its diminutive size. First off: it gets loud. Very loud. Jazz music sounds particularly excellent - Oliver Nelson's trumpet blasts in Stolen Moments sounded loud, clear and bright, and the Beam handled stereo separation of the running bass and flute like a champ.

Pop tunes such as John Mayer's New Light were foot-tappingly good, as did Dire Straits' Sultans of Swing. Its lack of low-end oomph, however, was highlighted in electronic dance music, which was good enough to bop your head to, but not mind-blowing.

Where the Sonos Beam really shines, however, is in movies.

It punches above its weight in fast action scenes such as the one in Jason Bourne, bringing to life the roaring Dodge Charger and police cars during the climactic Las Vegas strip chase scene.

The whine of rotor blades in Black Hawk Down were clear and crisp - too crisp, in fact, as the Beam suffers from some sibilance at the high end.

In Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation, the motorcycle engines resonated with absolute clarity, and when the BMW M3 is barrelling down the narrow streets, the Beam's outstanding midrange truly gave it the punch it deserved.

One of the things I love about Sonos products is that they form a wireless, multi-room speaker set-up, so that you can play the same piece of music across your Sonos products if you have more than one, from anywhere in your home.

At about S$700, however, the Sonos Beam has been priced smack right in the middle of a battleground.

For about the same price, you could get Bose's Soundbar 500, Yamaha's excellent YAS-207 soundbar, or Samsung's HW-N650, which comes with a subwoofer.

You can't bend the laws of physics, either - its small size means it has a narrower soundstage than its larger peers. But I'm nitpicking here. For its size, the Sonos Beam is exceptional, and is everything a homeowner could want from an AV system.

Like your little siblings, no one expects so much sound from something so small, and the Sonos Beam is the same. If you have space constraints, the Beam, with its rich and full sound, is the best choice you can make right now to transform your living room experience.