Yes, of course but even then it is still not the same, this update has screwed up the way the sound system sounds as it has for many others.

I have a Sub Gen 3 and it sounds just as good as it did before the update. If anything, it sounds less boomy than it did before which is a good thing.

I have two sub Gen 3s and I am experiencing issues as well. Seems like the update lowered the bass tremendously and it now sounds flat. Hopefully Sonos fixes the issues soon.

My setup is Arc + One SL (x2) surrounds. I don’t have a Sub.

Before the 14.12 update this is how my system was setup:

The Arc was tuned with Trueplay alone but the system was not Trueplay tuned after the surrounds were added. After much experimentation this setup seemed to produce the most balanced sound for me. Bass was deep but not overpowering. My EQ was set to bass +8. Height audio was +8. Surrounds music setting +4, ambient mode.

After the 14.12 update I tried tuning with Trueplay multiple times, also with and without the surround speakers connected. There is definitely a big difference in the way the system sounds overall:

• The surround speakers now sound a lot louder in all modes: Atmos movies, stereo music in ambient mode, etc. Even when listing to stereo TV the surrounds are a lot more noticeable. When listening to stereo music (surrounds in ambient mode) they also seem to produce more bass than before. This is even with surround volume for music now set to 0.
• Probably due to the higher surround speakers volume now content in Atmos and 5.1 has a very distinct channel separation. E.g. I can clearly tell when a sound is playing from one of the surrounds. I’m not sure yet if this a good or bad thing. It feels like Atmos sounded more subtle, atmospherical and enveloping before while now it is very clearly directional.
• Bass overall is lower but it also sounds different in general. When listening to stereo music bass sounds very unbalanced and muddy. Occasionally it completely overpowers the sound but overall it really lacks definition and sounds thin. This is not as noticeable and bad with movies but there is definitely less bass. Lower overall volume makes the issue worse with bass nearly completely disappearing.
• Dialogue appears to be somewhat clearer now but this seems to be at the expense of higher treble overall. High frequencies can be almost piercing now especially at higher system volume.
• There seems to be a difference with the Arc’s volume levels but I can’t quite put my finger on it. For example I had to increase the height audio setting to +10 from +8 before the update. I’m also having to put the overall system volume higher than before with some content but I can’t find a clear pattern yet.

My overall impression of the changes in 14.12 is very much negative. My system sounds unbalanced and bass is lacking. Trueplay doesn’t seem to make a significant difference with the issues and if fact I’d say it makes them worse.

I don’t have a Sub in my setup because I generally dislike very loud, rattling bass especially with TV and movies. Before the 14.12 update I found music to be perfectly bass-y and balanced with just the Arc and surrounds. Movies and TV had just enough bass to send vibrations through my sofa but not so loud as to rattle my windows and annoy the neighbours. I think it is telling that even someone like me who prefers balanced bass finds the system very thin and unbalanced after 14.12.

I appreciate Sonos’ efforts to enhance their products through software updates and usually I’d consider this a good thing. However, it is also extremely annoying that they would release buggy updates and updates that occasionally change the sound profile of their products in such drastic ways. As other commenters have said: if something is not broken (and nobody is complaining about it) perhaps it would be best not to change it.

Here’s to hoping Sonos will address these issues ASAP.

P.S. Decided to report the issues directly with Sonos too just to add my case/voice to their backlog. The chat agent (Horea) was very courteous and informed. They advised me that Sonos has indeed recognised this as an issue and are working on a fix. Fingers crossed!

Fairly new to Sonos, little over a month of owning the Arc and One SLs. Loved it previously but sounds like complete cr#p now since this update. 

Android user here to boot! So feel like a second class citizen. Beta to Sonos' preferred VHS. 

Fixing a failed update by TruePlay isn't an option open to us all. Looked at purchasing an iPod touch but seems little point when TruePlay can suddenly be removed at the whim of a app developer. 

Was going to purhase the sub, not now, that's laughable!

Front soundstage is now non existent, sound is weak and tinny. It's embarrassing and I'm so disappointed in the company and product. 

@EioEioEio
don't bother truplay does little to resolve this issue at least for me anyway 

Make sure you contact sonos support to register your problem more that do more chance they fix it 

And more data they have helps

Excellent description there and I concur with everything you've said. This is probably my 4th or 5th reply to other people's comments in this same thread so I'll keep it short and sweet.

I just wanted to add that I've removed my 1SL's and Sub from the Arc and the 1SLs on their own sound different too. Maybe the reduced volume level isn't as much (only 5 levels lower I'd say) but the One is now mid-high and treble biased too.

With the volume reduction not as much, this would probably explain why they sound louder as part of a surround group. Just a thought.

But agreed, the whole lot needs to go back to how it sounded pre-14.12 but if necessary keep the connectivity improvements.

I feel trapped if they won't revert it back to how it was before; £1500 system ruined.

Same issue here. Have the Arc with sub gen3 and 2   One SL’s for the living room. Had to turn up the sub level from +3 to +10, but still sounds worse. Did Trueplay several times, no improvement whatsoever. 

Will contact Sonos tomorrow so they have another costumer with a complaint. Hope they will fix this soon. Unbelievable that there is no option to revert back to 14.10. Next time I will think twice before I install an update from Sonos. 
An update should make things better, not worse. I’m very disappointed in Sonos. Would expect better from this company  

I would encourage everyone who is experiencing issues since upgrading to 14.12 to also contact Sonos Support and log a case. Try to provide as best you can a detailed description of what you are experiencing. You can contact Sonos via online chat on the Support page of their website (you’ll have to navigate the AI assistant first to get to a human agent but the on-hold wasn’t too long for me) or you can call them on one of the numbers provided on the same page. You may also consider submitting diagnostics from the Sonos app (Settings → Support → Submit Diagnostics).
If the support agent doesn’t suggest it themselves, ask them to keep your case open until a resolution becomes available. This way they’ll have to escalate the case to upper support and engineering teams for follow-up. You will also get notified by email when a fix becomes available and your individual case gets closed.

Update:

After listening to various sources (music, movies and TV shows) for a few more hours I have some additional observations:

• Music (Deezer HiFi tracks, pop, jazz) sounds really bad since the 14.12 update. It’s as if the system tries to emphasise (and often over-emphasise) vocals at the expense of most other frequencies apart from very low bass. I have my EQ set at bass+8 and that might be the reason why lower bass frequencies are pronounced. This wasn’t the case with the same EQ setting before the update. Bass was strong but balanced before. Apart from vocals most other music detail is very quiet (or completely lost) and sounds flat. This is at what I consider normal system volume for music, which is around 22-30 level on my setup. Surround speakers still sound more pronounced than before to the point where they become distracting on some tracks. My surround sound setting is at 0 for music level since the update and music playback mode is set to ambient as before. I’m struggling to understand why an update meant to improve dialogue clarity for movies/TV has such a huge impact on music playback. This is a real deal-breaker as music is painful to listen to now.
• Blu-ray movies (Lossless Atmos soundtracks) tested with Blade Runner 2049, Free Guy and Dune. Bass isn’t as strong as before the 14.12 update and it also sounded unbalanced with lower bass frequencies more pronounced. Voices and dialogue seem to be marginally better but that also varies with different scenes and movies. Surround speakers are definitely louder now (surround audio TV level at 0 just as it was before I updated to 14.12) but this is not so much of a problem with movies as it is with music. Overall, the update does change the Atmos movie sound profile quite a bit but it is not as much of a deal breaker as it is with music. Movie soundtracks are a bit more forgiving I guess.
• TV shows tested with streaming from Netflix and Disney+ (Atmos and 5.1 soundtracks). Similar result to blu-ray movies except for dialogue clarity, which doesn’t seem to have improved much with 14.12. For example I found the dialogue on Orville to be significantly quieter compared to all other sounds - pretty much the experience I’ve always had.

I should emphasise again that I don’t have a Sub in my setup and I rely only on the Arc and OneSL surrounds. A setup which I found more than adequate before the 14.12 update. Those of you with Sub in your setup might have different experience.

Hey everyone. 
 

I have the Arc, Sub Gen 3 and 2 One SL’s so here is my experience since the 14.2 update:

1st Trueplay tuning result I got was very poor with far too much treble and a distinct lack of Bass. Put up with it for one evening as I thought perhaps it was just “psychological” but when my wife mentioned the sound I knew something was going on.

2nd Trueplay tuning. Bass, bass, bass!! Initially I thought that this was my system back to normal and put down my first experience to a bad Trueplay. Used this for 2 ½ days with a variety of content before coming to the conclusion that now the sound was far too bass heavy and had become very muddy and messy sounding, particular during action scenes in movies. At this point I looked online and could see that many people were unhappy with what has happened since the update.

3rd Trueplay tuning. So this is where I am now completely confused to what is going on. I carried out this 3rd Trueplay with as similar a “technique” as the first 2.(perhaps going a little slower on the second stage sweeps). Now it’s early to say but I have spent the whole day testing my system with a wide variety of content and I have to say it now sounds the best it ever has since I purchased it 15 months ago?! I wonder if as well as tweaking the default eq of the arc to give clearer vocals, they have also done something with Trueplay that is causing very varied results? Possibly even a Trueplay bug? I’ve only ever used Trueplay so I can’t tell the difference in the default non Trueplay eq. The other strange thing that I have noticed is that Trueplay has been changing the volume of the surrounds. In the first Trueplay I had to set them at -1 TV, 2nd Trueplay -2 TV but now with my 3rd and favoured Trueplay they are at +3?! (I use a sound meter /mic to determine my correct surround volume settings).

Clearly some very strange things going on!

I wonder in future if Sonos could allow Trueplay profiles to be saved and stored so you can revert back to a previous tuning if you get an undesirable result?

I think it’s ok to let the SONOS team to have more time to spend on the overall improvement and that of the dialogue, but at the very least just let us revert back to the system that used to be on version 14.10 first? I don’t mind to run another trueplay for that cos it’s much better than don’t want to use the system now… The volume drop problem may not give big impact to me because the apartments in Asian countries are relatively small but for those user in other countries, they may feel like their system already reached or very close to the limit and the system is not as powerful as before, which is really a bad feeling. I’ve read that a user used to put the volume at 60% in his big room and now he has to put 100%… :(

Please just simply let us have the system back in the status before this update 14.12 and then spend time on improvements.

My system definitely sounds worse after 14.12

I agree. I have just re-bought the full ARC system after returning my original one due to the infamous disconnect problem, and its a lot worse. The sound is nothing like my original sound. Its going back, Sonos have well and truly lost their way.

I wonder who they’re going to blame this time for this issue. Last time, it was our internet that caused the drop outs.

Get ready for another 2 months of nightmare.

Nah, i have the option to return it, which i will. Only shame is that Sonos dont care. They wont miss my £2500

Not sure if any of you guys can also confirm this, but I notice the loudness setting has very little effect now between on and off, whatever the volume you have set.

Before 14.12 I would notice the change easily, loudness on having a lot more bass in everything, now its like the setting does nothing at all.

I have just tried it and can confirm the same

Hardly any changes 

Indeed, I noticed this too the other day. After the 14.12 update the Loudness setting has little effect.

Same here, no effect whatsoever. Any setting that can be changed in the app does nothing to get it back to how it used to sound. If this had happened within my first 30 days I would have sent it back, no question. I think SONOS forget that we hear and live with their products day in day out. I am utterly astonished how this ‘update’ was approved and pushed out to devices. Must be a different team to those who originally released (the ARC) at least. I know everyone has different equipment, TruePlay, room conditions, tonal tastes etc but it’s very annoying. Anyway I might call up instead of keep ranting on here.

@nikid i think this update was for people complaining about being unable to hear dialogue 

I never had an issue hearing dialogue myself but it seems some people like this update either they have no issues like us or it suits their preferences 

I never had an issue with dialogue previously either, in fact I never had an issue with anything regarding the Arc, Sub or my 1SL’s. For me, it worked perfectly in the way it was intended and I was extremely happy.

Anyhow, I just called up and they said there’s been ‘some’ positive reviews but mostly negative ones and that the engineers are underway in making a fix. It was portrayed that it’ll be a ‘middle-ground’ update, lets hope for a return to how it sounded originally - Award winning sound! Fingers crossed. I’ll probably go a bit quiet on here now, replying to posts has got me nowhere and I don’t want to be branded a keyboard warrior. But great chat nonetheless. Eyes and ears peeled..

Had my arc, sub and ones for about 18 months now and have been blissfully happy with them. 
 

Downloaded the new update over the weekend and what a difference. As others have said the update seems to have muted they system and I now have to listen at approx 50% volume. That would have shaken my house pre 14.12. The system now just sounds flat and devoid of any dynamic range. 
 

If the system sounded like this out of the box on day one it would have been packed up and sent back immediately. I couldn’t believe the results from true play. I even re ran with my iPad as I assumed it hadn’t worked properly with my phone. 
 

Please put the system back to how it was pre 14.12.  There was literally nothing wrong with the audio quality. Not happy. 

Well I’ve just been on to a very helpful person at Sonos, confirmed that they are indeed working on a fix for the problem. I hope it’s soon, I have 30 days to return. Such a shame that this once decent brand has taken such a nosedive. Mind you, I’ve tried so many other soundbars, all of them having problems.