I've gone through a lot of soundbars. Most recently I tried two Sony soundbars and ended up returning them. The main thing I dislike about a lot of other soundbar setups is that they come with a separate subwoofer to put on the floor. With those setups the soundbar itself doesn't product much, if any, bass and relies on the subwoofer. Personally I don't like using up the floor space for the subwoofer because I really don't like tons of bass (I don't need to shake the whole room), and I live in an apartment so I don't want a speaker sitting directly on the floor firing down into my neighbor's apartment below.The new Sonos Beam soundbar is great because it has full range sound from the single piece of equipment. A subwoofer isn't needed. Of course you can always add the wireless Sonos subwoofer if you really crave that earth-shaking bass, but I think for most people the bar alone produces enough bass for music and movies.The soundbar is super easy to connect if your TV has an HDMI ARC port (most TVs from the last several years do). You plug in the power cable and then plug in one HDMI cable from the bar to your TV and you're done. The bar receives all the sounds from your TV and any connected devices and plays them. HDMI CEC also allows the bar to automatically power on with the TV and your TV remote will control the volume of the bar. Even connected devices can pass the volume control signal through the TV and to the Sonos bar. For instance, I am using an Apple TV and the volume control on the Apple TV remote controls the Sonos Beam volume now.The bar works great for the TV sound but also is super easy to use for things like Spotify or internet radio. The Sonos app on your phone or tablet controls exactly what is playing out of the bar so you don't even need to have the TV turned on if you are using the soundbar for music.The Alexa integration is superb and when paired with a service like Spotify allows you to just request songs and have them start playing... such as "Alexa, play Where The Streets Have No Name by U2"... a second later your song is playing. If you don't want to use Alexa or want to only use it occasionally there is a microphone on/off touch control on the top of the bar. Sonos is quick to point out that the microphone LED is hardwired to the microphone (rather than being controlled by software) so if the LED is off you can be sure the microphone is actually off. The only potential negative with the Beam compared to other Alexa devices (such as the traditional Amazon Echo devices), is that, at least as of this review, there is not a way to change the default wake word. You are forced to use "Alexa" - which may be problematic if you have an actual human Alexa in your household.The bar itself looks elegant and blends in well with your entertainment setup. I opted for the white bar since my TV stand is white. The top panel has a very simple touch control setup with controls for volume up and down, play/pause, and microphone on/off. The back panel is extremely simple with just the power cable, a button for syncing, a wired network connection jack, and the HDMI port.Being a Sonos device you can easily integrate this with your existing Sonos system or add more speakers for other rooms later. You can also add a pair of Sonos One speakers to act as true rear surround sound speakers and add the aforementioned subwoofer for a true 5.1 setup (although if you are wanting the rear surrounds and subwoofer you might be better off buying a regular receiver/speaker setup as the Sonos setup for 5.1 will cost you around $1500 and will not be nearly as flexible or configurable as a traditional setup). Personally I only recommend getting the Sonos Beam if you are looking for a simple, one device solution. If you start adding speakers you go down a path where there are better solutions for less money.The overall sound quality is great although the stereo separation / sound field is not quite as wide as I was hoping. This may be because I don't have walls directly to the left and right of the speaker for the sound to reflect off of. The sound is not bad by any means, but I can definitely tell that the sound is coming from under the TV rather than from the sides like I'm used to with traditional speaker setups.In my picture the Sonos Beam is shown beneath a 55" Sony TV (XBR55X900F). I was hoping the bar would be able to slide completely under the TV so the front grille of the bar would be flush with the TV screen.. However, as you can see, it is just a hair too tall to be able to squeeze under the front edge of the TV. This isn't impacting the sound or anything but I was just hoping it would fit for a slightly cleaner look - although if it did then the top touch controls would have been inaccessible.The only real complaint I have about this bar is the fact that it consumes the HDMI ARC port on your TV. Sonos has provided a way to avoid using the HDMI ARC port by supplying a HDMI to Optical adapter in the box. This allows you to connect the optical audio output from your TV to the Beam instead of using the HDMI cable. This is a workable solution, however when you use the optical cable you lose out on the remote control and sync functionality so you would have to control the volume from the Sonos app on your phone rather than being able to use the TV volume controls.This HDMI ARC port issue may not bother you if you have a TV with multiple HDMI ports and they all support 4K and HDR, however on my Sony TV the only ports that support HDR are ports 2 and 3. Port 3 is the HDMI ARC port, so I essentially have to "waste" that port's HDR ability by connecting it to the Sonos just for audio. Once I do that all I'm left with is HDMI port 2 on the TV for HDR use. Right now I have my Apple TV connected to this port, but if I add another HDR device in the future (UHD Blu-Ray, Playstation, Xbox One, etc.) I won't have a free port on the TV to use with the new device and will have to get some kind of external HDMI switch. This is one area where a traditional home theater receiver is a better solution as you can connect multiple HDMI sources to the receiver and have it act like the switch. With the Sonos Beam you use up the HDMI ARC port on your TV but aren't using it for video, just the audio path from the TV to the Beam.Pros:- Great sound from a tiny soundbar- Black or white color options let you choose the one that blends in best to your environment- Simple single HDMI cable connection- CEC control allows the TV and connected devices to adjust the volume and turn the soundbar on and off- Sonos ecosystem for music and multi-room audio- Alexa integration so this can replace an existing Amazon Echo or similar deviceCons:- Sound field is not very wide if you don't have a small room with sidewalls to reflect the sound- HDMI ARC connection may consume a valuable HDMI port on your TV and limit the available ports you have for use with actual video devices, especially if you have multiple 4K/HDR capable devices- Alexa wake word cannot be changed from "Alexa"- Subwoofer is not included, so people who expect tons of bass may not be satisfied (I think the bass from the bar itself is more than enough)To summarize, this is the best soundbar I've tried so far. If you're looking for a simple solution to give your TV and music better sound, while at the same time looking nice in you room, then this is definitely the soundbar to get. Don't expect it to match the full sound you'd get from a traditional home theater setup but it more than makes up for that with it's simplicity. If you already use the Sonos system in your house or Alexa devices then those features are just icing on the cake with the Sonos Beam as it will integrate perfectly with both the Sonos and Alexa ecosystems.