The most compact and least expensive soundbar made by Sonos is also the company's only soundbar I can't wholeheartedly recommend. I could get over most of its quirks, perhaps even the port chuffing and midwoofer distortion when playing exceptionally deep bass at high volumes, but not the lack of an HDMI ARC input. Although the Ray can learn the volume controls of your TV's remote, they will only work if your remote is infrared. Got a more advanced TV with a Bluetooth remote? You're out of luck.

If you're looking for a compact soundbar for your TV, you're better off looking elsewhere, in the direction of something equipped with an HDMI ARC input. A nice upgrade from the Ray is the $449/€499 Sonos Beam Gen 2, which offers all of the same excellent multiroom features, but also sounds much better without being drastically larger and doesn't have any of the chuffing issues associated with the Ray. Of course, if you don't need the ability to wirelessly stream content from various music and internet radio services, a traditional "dumb" soundbar will suit you better and cost less.

There's one scenario where the Ray is worth considering: if you already own one or more Sonos speakers and would like to add a soundbar to an older TV in your home. If that's the case, the Ray is an obvious choice because it will offer you all of the benefits of being a part of the Sonos multiroom system you already know and like while greatly improving the sound quality of your TV. While this isn't a particularly impressive soundbar, it certainly is an exceptionally capable multiroom speaker.