This week, one of the biggest pieces of news to break is that, after years of our team wishing upon an AV star, Sonos has released a new Beam Dolby Atmos soundbar.

Specifically, the firm lifted the lid on its spiffy new Sonos Beam Ultra at the IFA trade show in Berlin.

Unveiled alongside the new Sonos Ace Ultra wireless headphones, I want to kick off this opinion piece by making clear: I think the Ultra looks impressive and is, in nearly every way, the successor we’ve been waiting for.

In fact, as our reviewer on the ground at IFA, Robyn Quick, rattled off the details about the bar to the team back home, all of us (outside of senior staff writer, Harry McKerrell, who’s always miserable) had a smile growing on our faces.

Upgraded drivers, including the addition of proper up-firing height channels? Yep, it’s got them.

The ability to add Sonos Era 100 or Era 300 satellite wireless speakers as surrounds? Yes, the awesome feature has finally trickled down from the Arc Ultra into the more affordable Beam range.

And as a cherry on top, Robyn then penned a feature detailing how it sounds. The top line is, while it’s too early to give our final verdict, the Ultra left a very strong opening impression – so much so that a game of rock, paper, scissors ensued among the team to decide who would be the primary reviewer (it ended in a stalemate).

All in all, it was huzzahs abound at What Hi-Fi? towers.

But then, one more fact came rumbling in that replaced our smiles with a quizzical expression. Specifically, the Ultra is not a replacement or successor to the Sonos Beam (Gen 2); it’s actually a new step-up model in Sonos’ range.

Yes, we don’t know how the Beam Ultra will perform in our test rooms, but truthfully, given the Beam 2’s age, this was a curveball for us.

Why would the company do that when the Beam 2 is so old? Surely, it’s time to let the old girl retire? These were some of the mutterings that came out of our mouths as we processed the information.

But as I pondered the question, a final bit of information trickled through from the launch event that, at least for me, explained the move.

The Beam Ultra is a lot more expensive, set to retail for £699 (around $946 / AU$1320). The Beam (Gen 2) – outside of big sales events where it’s dropped as low as £349 – usually retails for £429 / $429 in most stores right now.

Cash-rich people may laugh at the idea of going for a soundbar that launched in 2021, when a newer model is out. But truthfully, £160 / $160 is a lot of money for most of us right now.

As a person who has listened to the Beam (Gen 2) alongside newer rivals, I can confirm it is still a very competent unit. That’s why it remains the recommended small option in our best Dolby Atmos soundbars guide.

I cited the cost of living crisis as a key reason I don’t think we’re in a golden age of home cinema during our public debate on the topic earlier this year, and I stand by that sentiment.

So given that it still sounds good, keeping it around and giving normal people an entry point to Sonos’ ecosystem that won’t completely break the bank not only makes sense, but for me is 100 per cent the right thing to do.

It’s also why, even if the Beam Ultra delivers the sonic goods in our review rooms later this year, I can easily envision the Beam (Gen 2) retaining its recommendation. There are very few good, sub-£500 soundbars around and even fewer with the Beam’s compact form factor. So it’s definitely not beyond the realm of possibility…

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Looking to get the inside scoop on all the latest hi-fi news and reviews, with some added insights from our editor-in-chief (me)?

Keen to get a sneak peek at what our team of experts are working on, including which review units we’re testing, companies we’re visiting and events we’re attending?

Got an opinion to share that you’d like immortalised on What Hi-Fi?, in a new Quote of the Week section?

If the answer is yes to any of these questions, then we have some good news: we’re launching a new Editor’s Cut newsletter that will give you all three.

Editor’s Cut is part of a fresh push on What Hi-Fi? to make it easier for you, our lovely readers, to get to know and interact with our team of experts.

The newsletter will be sent every Saturday and will include a bespoke letter from our editor, plus his musings on the two biggest stories and reviews from the week.

On top of that, subscribers will be treated to a new What’s Next? summary detailing some of the big things coming the week after – including launch events we’re covering, products we’re testing and people we’re interviewing.

As is always the case with the likes of our regular Ask The Reader and Sound Advice columns and our new Substack, we’re open to feedback!

Whether it’s a new section you want added, or a question about one of the items in What’s Next?, or something you want us to raise with a manufacturer we're talking to, we want to hear from you!

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Otherwise, you can subscribe to the Editor’s Cut, alongside our other current newsletters here!

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What got you into hi-fi? It’s a question people embedded in the hobby get asked a lot.

After all, hi-fi is a time-consuming, sometimes lifelong, endeavour that will see fans design entire rooms from scratch and invest vast amounts of money in the pursuit of sonic perfection – if that even exists.

So from the outside, it can look like a lot of effort for something that, unless you "get it", doesn't seem that important.

There are many answers to this question, even among the What Hi-Fi? team, which includes numerous experts who have chosen to dedicate their professional and personal lives to the endeavour.

But one of the most consistent themes we hear when answering the question is that it all began with a specific piece of hardware.

Which is why, for this month’s Ask The Reader question, we want to know: what product got you into hi-fi?

Maybe, like our editor (me), it was a special turntable your parents had set up in the lounge and let you use to play their (rather glorious) selection of classic rock LPs?

Or was it a set of speakers you bought in college out of the back of a van at a car boot sale, not knowing the treasure you’d just stumbled upon?

Perhaps you’re a bit younger and discovered the magic of hi-fi after adding a streamer to a classic separates set-up you inherited?

Whatever the answer, we want to know!

You can post your answer in the comments section of this page, or in our forums. Just make sure to tell us what the product was and why it was so special.

Maybe it was the album it was playing? Maybe it was the company you kept, or the place you heard it that made it so special?

As always, at the end of the month we’ll publish a new piece collating your most interesting answers! So please make sure to keep your language PG-13 and stick to our community guidelines for a chance to be included.

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Last month we asked you, our ever-opiniated readers, to settle a long-standing argument amongst the reviews team. Specifically, are we living in a golden age of home cinema?

Four weeks on, the answers have come flooding in (many breaking our PG-13 language rule). But, to our surprise, unlike our team of testers, you are not only united in your belief we are not living in a golden age, you also (generally) agree on the reason why.

It’s all about physical media

The importance of physical media was a central point in all your arguments, which shouldn’t be a surprise given how vocal you (and we) are about the benefits of 4K Blu-ray over streaming.

This was initially expressed by reader “mrj6j”, who argued that, despite having a “proper” set-up that he’s spent years, even decades, honing, the age of streaming is a blemish he can’t ignore, which makes it impossible to call the current world a golden age.

“I have been into home cinema for a long time and agree we are at a point where it is more affordable, but mine has grown into a 4k projector in a dedicated room with a 7.2.4 Atmos set-up. And a 136-inch screen in total darkness. But this has taken a long time to grow into what it is today. But it is exceptional; it often sounds better than the cinema (I had it professionally calibrated), and I can enjoy it whenever,” wrote mrj6j.

“The problem is that the 4k discs are the best format, better than streaming without doubt. But do those with a home cinema set-up utilise this? They should, and more distributors should too.”

Reader Michael Peterson agreed, adding that even if you have a more modest set-up, as he does, the increased price and limited selection of 4K Blu-ray discs and players is an issue that stops the 2020s being a golden age for home cinema.

“I have an entry-level Samsung, my Sony receiver, Elac sub1010 and 8-inch speakers in a 2.1 set-up. I use my Xbox One S for Blu-ray and streaming. Good enough [for] me. 4K Blu-ray would be better if the prices of discs and players were more affordable and discs were more reliable,” he wrote.

But it wasn’t just about 4K Blu-ray; some readers, including Andrew Wood, argued: “Culturally [the golden age was], when you shuffled into town, to a shop, to hire or buy a video/DVD and then watched it on your wide-screen CRT TV with built-in 5.1.”

Our hot take

We agree; there is something undeniably special about physical media. At a technical level, we have long championed 4K Blu-ray. It offers a much higher bitrate, superior HDR and far less data compression than streaming, giving you a sharper, more detailed image in most instances. That’s why we use an ever-evolving library of 4K Blu-ray test discs when reviewing home cinema hardware. We even have a monthly Now Showing column where we detail the new movies we're using.

While none of us would go so far as to want to return to tapes and CRT TVs – read this feature chronicling our editor’s attempts to resurrect his VHS collection last year, and you’ll see why – we also agree there’s something emotionally special about physical media. Having it on a disc you own gives you a more personal, emotional attachment to the film, as rather than just clicking on something an algorithm’s decided you will like, you’ve chosen that film, specifically, at some point.

As Andrew Wood points out, there was also something truly magical about the Blockbuster years, when we had to physically go outside to rent a new movie. Many of the team are old enough to remember the experience, and have fond memories of the family trips (and arguments) we had going out to pick a new film to watch after the final school bell rang on Friday. That makes it hard not to agree that there is some substance to his argument that, "culturally", that was a golden age for film fans – even if the hardware was worse and it wasn’t as easy to find new films to watch.

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