With music in stereo, most users actually prefer the sound quality through the app because you can set the Music Playback setting under Surround Audio to Full and get full stereo audio from both the Arc and Ones as opposed to just getting ambient sound from the surrounds when playing music through the TV. What do you have Music Playback currently set to?

What music streaming apps are you using? Are you listening to music in just 2.0 stereo or also in Dolby Atmos or 5.1 surround?

Try this:

1. Open the Sonos app for iOS or Android.
2. From the  Settings tab, tap System.
3. Under Products, tap your Sonos home theater room.
4. Under Sound, tap Surround Audio.
5. Set Music Playback to ‘Full’

Music audio is already at full. What I am finding is that the audio from the Arc is less dynamic than if it’s been played through my TV Spotify app. 

Music plays in stereo 2.0 and Dolby 5.1 at times. Is that a result of the source weather it plays in either of those format? I only get Dolby Atmos when watching atmos content on Netflix, Apple TV or Prime.

I wonder if your TV is performing some sort of audio conversion. What type of audio is displayed on the Now Playing screen on the Sonos app when you play music from the TV’s Spotify app? What model TV are you using?

EDIT: If you are getting Dolby Digital 5.1 audio from Spotify, this tells me the TV is converting the audio. Because, as far as I know, Spotify doesn’t offer any 5.1 music.

The TV is a Sony Bravia 900 series (Android OS). I checked the audio output and it states it’s Dolby Digital Plus 2.0

The Sony TV is converting the stereo audio from Spotify to Dolby Digital Plus 2.0. That’s why it sounds different than what you hear from Spotify on the Sonos app. Since the Sonos app will not perform the same audio conversion, you will not be able to get the same audio quality from the Sonos app as you would through the TV.

That’s disappointing because the audio through the TV is so immersive. It seems to use all the atmos surround features from the Arc’s speakers when playing.

What would you suggest as the best settings for my configuration or should I just cough up the money for a pair of five? I find Truplay still needs to have the settings tweaked after it’s done it’s  thing.

Sonos has recently announced it will soon support Dolby Atmos music from Amazon Music directly from the Sonos app. In the future, I would imagine this feature could be available from more music services like Apple Music and TIDAL so we won’t have to rely on a TV app or an external media streamer connected to the TV to play multichannel music.

There isn’t much more you can do other than Trueplay tuning and adjusting EQ settings and surround audio levels. The majority of music has been mixed in stereo, and stereo just has its limitations. Your Sonos setup can only do so much with two channels of audio playing out of five channels. But if you want better quality audio when playing music from the Sonos app, a pair of Fives as surrounds would definitely be an upgrade. But keep in mind that a pair of Fives could also be overkill for your room setup, especially when listening to TV/movie audio. You really don’t want the surround speakers to overpower the Arc.

I have recently discovered music in 5.1 surround and Dolby Atmos. It really has changed the way I listen to music and has become a new hobby of mine. I use an Apple TV 4K to listen to Dolby Atmos music from Apple Music and TIDAL. And I have started a small Blu-ray collection of concerts and albums that have been mixed in 5.1 and Dolby Atmos. It’s another option if you are interested.

Thanks for all the great ideas GuitarSuperstar, I appreciate the help. I’ve resided to using my TV for music listening as well. The sound quality is too good not to. There is a feature on the TV that allows for the screen to be off if you don’t want it on while playing music. I can also download Apple Music and play it through the TV just so I don’t have to buy any additional gear.