For the next two days, Amazon is running a Prime Day 2/pre-Black Friday sales event called Amazon Prime Early Access Sale (catchy, huh?) and in it are many of the usual suspects – Sony wireless earbuds, Bose Bluetooth headphones, and TVs from LG OLEDs to Samsung QLEDs. Soundbars are being given their fair dues too, but the best one could go unnoticed by those who are (very reasonably) searching solely within the dedicated Amazon deal section of its website.
That's because Amazon is currently offering the best budget Dolby Atmos soundbar, the Sonos Beam Gen 2, for just £388.50, outside of its deals event. That is £60 less than the soundbar's RRP and undercuts the best prices we have seen offered by other retailers by a good £35. It's also a better deal than the official Prime Early Access soundbar deals we have seen, such as the Bose Solo 5 for £150 and £200 off the LG Eclair – good, but not as good.
- Our curated pick of the best Amazon Prime Early Access Sale deals
We loved the original Sonos Beam when it arrived in 2018, but its successor, released last year, is even better – and our favourite soundbar under £500, as its 2021 What Hi-Fi? Award goes to show.
The Beam Gen 2 ups the ante on the original, with more processing power opening up the door to immersive virtual Dolby Atmos audio. In fact, if space and budget are limited, there isn't a better virtual Atmos soundbar that we'd recommend.
There's also eARC (Enhanced Audio Return Channel) connectivity, which means the Beam can handle the higher bandwidth Dolby True HD Atmos format. And of course, its membership to the Sonos ecosystem makes it compatible with other speakers and soundbars in the reputable, ever-expanding wireless family.
Perhaps most importantly though, the Beam Gen 2 sounds better too – better than the original as well as the competition at this price.
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