The Ray is a smaller and cheaper soundbar than the Arc, and it's the same price as the Beam. The Ray doesn't earn its premium and leaves one feeling that they should have gone for something bigger.
If you can get a soundbar for under a bill that will be vastly better, you should not have to suffer the sound that comes out of TVs anymore. If you get into the $150-$200 range, you can get a sub and some extra features like smart assistant, Airplay, and so on. Customers are willing to pay a lot more for advanced features.
The Ray is priced well above other essentially 2.0-channel systems except for Bose, another brand that generally gets a pass for inflated prices. The truth is, it is competing against other options.
If a buyer is considering a Sonos setup, and the Ray in particular, they are not looking at Anker and Sony soundbars, and they are wondering what the best way is to go about it without spending a fortune.
The Ray is a cheap and practical way to make that happen, and if you are watching a lot of dialogue in a small room, it will be solid. If you want a sound that is large, you should upgrade to the Beam.
The soundstage is small, but it tries to spread its sound out.
It was easy to set up the Ray because it has an optical connection and my remote works with its little training system to get the volume and mute buttons online. The problem with smart speakers is that they aren't always smart in the right way. You can only use optical or wi-fi if you want to use HDMI, 3.5mm, or some other type of signal.
The reference system I use is an older Yamaha with a great warm sound and compelling virtual surround but, frankly, awful dialogue clarity even with the speech enhancement thing on. A bright, voice-forward sound with great clarity is what the Ray is.
I was able to achieve room-filling ambience with the Yamaha less than half its price, but the sound and music from the Ray always seem to be coming from right in front of you. I didn't have to keep the remote in my hand to turn it on when someone was talking or fighting. Gandalf carries a big stick and speaks too softly.
The Beam is considerably more expensive than the Ray and it is the real competitor. I didn't consider a handful of Ones as an alternative, though they'd probably sound good, because it would be the same price for two, it's really a different use case
The bar is small and adorable. The beam is two inches wide. There is a turtle.
I alternated between the Ray and Beam on the same content and the Beam was better in every respect. Ambient sounds and music spread out much more, and Dialogue sounded just as good, but richer. The beam seemed to bring music into the room rather than direct it to you.
If someone wants to pay a premium to begin with, but they don't have a lot of money, then they should choose the Ray, even if they don't have a lot of money. The Ray falls into a trough between cheaper and better (but not as smart) soundbars and the more expensive and much better (and not much larger) Beam.
It isn't that the Ray is bad, it's that it's easy to set up and sound good. It doesn't sound good enough to warrant the premium over "normal" soundbars, and if you consider a system like this an investment, it's absolutely worth stepping up to the Beam.
The Ray is a good option. The Ray fills the role of an excellent center channel more than made up for by the surround setup, and if you already have some One speakers in the TV room, the Ray is a great option. This is offered as a package deal.
Next week, the Ray will be shipped.
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