Sonos didn’t change its iconic look when it introduced the new Sub 4, but its minor tweaks help ensure the powerful subwoofer remains at top form for years to come.
The new flagship subwoofer from Sonos debuted in November, 2024 alongside the Arc Ultra. They’re easy companions for one another, though they don’t have to be paired together.
You can use the Arc Ultra on its own — which we recently reviewed — and the Sub 4 can be paired with various models in the Sonos lineup. We’ve been listening to it for a few weeks now to see how it stand up.
The Sub 4 couldn’t have been easier to set up. We chose our room in the Sonos app and just had to tap our phone to complete the pairing and finishing the on-boarding.
Despite the recent headwinds Sonos has faced with its app, we had no issues getting our Sub 4 configured. From there, more smooth sailing.
Sonos Sub 4 review: Design
The Sonos design team crushed it with the original design of its signature subwoofer. So, it’s no surprise that with the fourth-generation model, it’s still unchanged. At least largely unchanged.
Sonos Sub 4 review: We tucked our sub away into a corner
Sonos has made a few tweaks to the aesthetics that keep is looking sharp. It’s still available in black and while — we chose the former.
One subtle change is a new matte finish that better compliments the modern looks. It looks great and doesn’t show fingerprints too badly as we placed it.
The old high-shine gloss looked good too, but made the sub stand out more prominently. It was also alone in the Sonos lineup, with the rest all sporting matte finishes of their own.
Sonos Sub 4 review: Any black surface will easily show dust, even with the matte finish
Our only recommendation is if you go with the black, be sure you’re good at dusting. Dust shows very easily on the old gloss and the new matte finish quickly.
If you’re unfamiliar with the Sonos subwoofer’s design, we can provide a bit of a high level. It’s a large — quite large — squared off “O” shape with dual woofers on the inner walls.
Sonos Sub 4 review: One of the two internal woofer drivers
These are force-cancelling woofers, meaning that since they fire at one another, the force cancels each other out, preventing vibrations and distortion.
It can placed vertically or it can be laid flat, allowing it to be surprisingly versatile for a 15 by 15 by 6-inch, 25 pound speaker. We placed ours in the corner of the room and it works very well in our setup.
This new model weighs less too, which isn’t too important but will likely help reduce its carbon footprint. It will be easier to ship and deliver, which is always good.
Sonos Sub 4 review: A single button is on the outside of the Sub 4
The power cable routes out the bottom, which is color-matched to your speaker. One side has a small pairing button with an infinite symbol.
Sonos Sub 4 review: Internal changes
There are two internal changes to the Sonos Sub 4. Both rather negligible in terms of user-facing features.
Then again this is just a subwoofer. Not a lot of features to tout on its own as it’s meant as part of a larger sound system.
Sonos Sub 4 review: An exploded view of the Sonos Sub 4
Sonos says that they’ve kept the same internal architecture but they’ve added a new Wi-Fi chip and a faster processor. Two important things for longevity of the speaker.
Both have 10/100 Ethernet ports, but the Sonos Sub 3 supported 802.11n Wi-Fi while the Sub 4 has upgraded to Wi-Fi 6. Faster networking is always good.
For the processor, it is now a 1.9GHz quad-core processor, up from a 1.5GHz chip. We’re not sure how much processing is needed here for a subwoofer, but more complex Spatial Audio may be the reason.
Similarly, there is more memory. The ran has went from 256MB of SDRAM to 512MB of DDR4 memory.
It also used to have 256MB of onboard NAND flash. The new model has a whopping 4GB of eMMC memory.
We don’t see eMMC much, an embedded form of flash storage, but Sonos must have some plans in store to increase its capacity by that much.
Right now, this all means very little because performance was solid on the last model, so there’s clearly a lot of headroom being accounted for with this release.
Sonos Sub 4 review: Audio performance
How your overall sound system sounds will depend on what speaker you’ve paired your Sub 4 with. And how many Sub 4s you’ve opted to pair.
Sonos Sub 4 review: You can pair one or two Sub 4s with any Sonos soundbar or speaker
You can pair the Sub 4 with any of the Sonos soundbars — Ray, Beam, Arc, or the new Arc Ultra. It can also be paired with the other Sonos speakers — Era 100, Era 300, Five, One, or One SL.
Two Sub 4s can be paired at a time. As we outlined in our Arc Ultra review, if used in a complete living room setup, you could easily spend over $3,000.
We tested ours primarily with that new Arc Ultra soundbar. We played various genres of music but largely focused on movies and TV.
Sonos Sub 4 review: It’s easy to set up the Sub 4 with just a tap of your phone via the Sonos app
Without the sub, the Arc Ultra does very good, but it’s a night and day difference when upgrading to a dedicated subwoofer like the Sub 4.
The Sub 4 takes over the low end, freeing up your Sonos soundbar to Devore more of its output to the mids and highs. It essentially rebalances your setup when a sub is connected which gives better sound over the entire frequency spectrum.
Prior to the Sub 4, we’d been using the Sub Mini. It was adequate, but definitely lacked some punch.
The Sub 4 really follows through with that. It gives you chest-pounding lows.
When you have an action movie playing, like Furiosa or Argylle, explosions feel intense. It’s a very movie-theater like effect, in your home.
The only way it gets even better is you have two. But we’re not that bougie.
Sonos Sub 4 review: Should you buy the Sonos Sub 4?
The Sonos Sub 4 is frankly overkill for most people. We’d be willing to bet the vast majority of users would be just fine with the Arc Ultra on its own;
Sonos Sub 4 review: Sub Mini versus Sub 4
That’s one of the things we love with the Sonos system, you can pick and choose based on what you want or what you want to spend.
You could go with one of four soundbars with no sub, you can then pair the Sub Mini or full size Sub 4, or you can do a pair of those subs. It’s a great range.
The Sub 3 was a highly-rated and popular premium subwoofer. The Sub 4 is as good as the Sub 3, with better Wi-Fi, faster internals, lighter weight, and a better-looking exterior.
It’s not something you’d upgrade to from the Sub 3, but easily worth it if you’re in the market for a high-end sub.
Sonos Sub 4 review: The new Sub 4 continues to pack a punch with an improved look
Like with the Arc Ultra, Sonos crushed it with the Sub 4 and we’re excited about what they may have cooking for the future.
Sonos Sub 4 review: Pros
- Clear, powerful, defined bass
- Dead-simple setup
- Pair with almost any Sonos speaker or soundbar
- New matte finish looks great and doesn’t cling to fingerprints
- Lighter weight
Sonos Sub 4 review: Cons
- Expensive
- Black version can easily show dust
Sonos Sub 4 review: Rating 4.5 out of 5
Sonos Sub 4 review: Where to buy
You can find the Sonos Sub 4 at B&H, Adorama, and Amazon, currently at $679, down from full MSRP of $799.
