Question

Arc + surrounds Sonos(oneSLs) Review

I
Userlevel 2
Badge +3

So I finally received my Sonos Arc and One SLs  today.  Unfortunately, I will not get the sub for a couple of weeks.

 

As a first time Sonos owner, the setup was super easy And uneventful connecting the Arc and Ones together.  

 

I have an LG OLED B8 series TV with AppleTV  4K.  I mention this because I do not have eARC, so I do not get true Dolby Atmos (DA).  But I have noticed that plugging the Arc sound-bar into the HDMI ARC does NOT sound as good as plugging it into the optical and changing the the TV output to internal TV speakers + optical with DA and adaptive sound turned on.  I believe the is the lossy DA I have read about (basically Dolby digital+).   It is nice!   I do look forward to hearing true lossless DA at some point.

 

 

I have spent the past few hours on YouTube (with Apple TV in the HDMI ARC) and looking and listening to DA tests, samples, movie trailers and frequency tests.  As most have probably heard about the bass issues, yes I notice it and duplicate it.  Interestingly enough when running a freq test from 1hz through 200khz..  with volumes about 30% and starts at 1hz and slowly moves through the frequency, I literally can’t hear anything until about 35Hz (might be my hearing) but it is smooth throughout the freqs.  Running several times, I noticed starting about 40hz through 100hz and volume >50% the bass starts breaking up.  When listening to music, at about 50% volume, the bass starts to crack, break and fall off as the mods and highs continue to rise as volume rises.  Below 50% it’s sounds great!  Now that’s bad… Sonos definitely has screwed up.  However, I am hearing today they have identified an issue and hope to have a firmware update next week.  Keep in mind.. at 49% volume, it is still pretty loud.

 

so far, I have really enjoyed it.  However the phone app is taking a bit to get used to.  It isn’t that hard to figure out, still a bit of learning curve.

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12 replies

M

Really hoping they fix the bass issue with firmware update. I can’t set my One SL’s as surround, it keeps giving me “Surround Setup Error” message. It is a nightmare. 

A
Userlevel 2
Badge +2

I’ve seen a few issues with pairing in One SL’s. I guess I got lucky with mine this week. Set up was silky smooth and really completes my setup with the ARC, Sub Gen 2 and the One SL’s 

D

Really hoping they fix the bass issue with firmware update. I can’t set my One SL’s as surround, it keeps giving me “Surround Setup Error” message. It is a nightmare. 

Thought it was just me, it doesn't work. Arc + 2 One SLs, I’ve tried a million times

Ken_Griffiths

Really hoping they fix the bass issue with firmware update. I can’t set my One SL’s as surround, it keeps giving me “Surround Setup Error” message. It is a nightmare. 

I had no issues with the Arc HT surround setup, did you perhaps wire the Arc to your network and switch off its WiFi? .. if so, you need to leave it’s WiFi card switched on for it to communicate with the surrounds.
 

Alternatively, perhaps check your mobile is not connecting to a different WiFi access point on the network, or that the WiFi is operating in ‘isolation’, as that too may cause an error when trying to setup surrounds.

 

I can’t say I’ve noticed the bass issue (yet) during the playing of general music audio, or listening to Netflix/Prime movies, but will keep a listen out for it, but so far, so good.

M

Did you say you successfully connected your ARC to your WiFi network?  or is it connected directly via ethernet cable to your router?  I have a brand new ARC which will not connect to my WiFi.  Have had a couple sessions with Sonos support to no avail.  If you do have it on your WiFi what type of router are you using?  This is my first experience with Sonos products and so far it has been very disappointing.

Thanks.

 

I
Userlevel 2
Badge +3

Yes I went through WiFi with zero issues.  All my installations have been absolutely seamless.   So far, the arc,2 surrounds, a sub, and a new Five.

R
Userlevel 1
Badge +1

Did you say you successfully connected your ARC to your WiFi network?  or is it connected directly via ethernet cable to your router?  I have a brand new ARC which will not connect to my WiFi.  Have had a couple sessions with Sonos support to no avail.  If you do have it on your WiFi what type of router are you using?  This is my first experience with Sonos products and so far it has been very disappointing.

Thanks.

 

Mine connected no problem to my dual band 2.4/5 wifi. You need the 2.4 btw for the Sonos. 
 

if there is a lot of interference- other wifi networks etc about - it seems to interfere. I had a google wifi node very near my Arc and had trouble getting it connected. When I temporarily disconnected the node it connected to my network without further issues. 

H
Userlevel 6
Badge +7

I have an LG OLED B8 series TV with AppleTV  4K.  I mention this because I do not have eARC, so I do not get true Dolby Atmos (DA).  

 

(This isn’t directed at you, @Immersive, as much as it is a mini-rant sponsored by this comment) I keep hearing this a lot which surprises me. There is no such thing as “true” Atmos. If you’re getting Atmos, you’re getting Atmos, regardless of how it’s being delivered. What you may mean is Atmos over “lossy” Dolby Digital Plus vs. Atmos over “lossless” Dolby TrueHD, but one isn’t more “true” than the other. 

In fact, there’s no way to get Dolby TrueHD from the Apple TV 4K at all. From any app in any way. The Apple TV just doesn’t support it. So any “Atmos” you get from it will be over lossy Dolby Digital Plus. The only way you’d be able to hear Atmos over lossless TrueHD on your Arc would be via a Blu-ray Disc.  

And, honestly, I think the “lossy” vs “lossless” debate is fairly bunk here in 2020. The Dolby and DTS compression (lossy) algorithms have been in development for 20+ years now and are very, very good. In fact, I’d be willing to bet that most things that most people have listened to over the past 10+ years have been “lossy” in some way shape or form: music in MP3/AAC format, Dolby Digital on HDTV, Dolby Digital or DTS on DVDs / Blu-rays, etc. No one complains because there’s nothing to complain about - it sounds great. 

The only time, in my opinion, that “lossless” really means anything is if you’ve got serious equipment to play on it. And even then, I’d bet that most people couldn’t tell the difference in an A/B test (though I’d be willing to be proven wrong). 

 

 

But I have noticed that plugging the Arc sound-bar into the HDMI ARC does NOT sound as good as plugging it into the optical and changing the the TV output to internal TV speakers + optical with DA and adaptive sound turned on.  I believe the is the lossy DA I have read about (basically Dolby digital+).   It is nice!  

 

There’s a lot to unpack here. First off, that's a really interesting comment about the Arc sounding better via an optical connection. That’s something I haven’t tried but one I would actually be curious to attempt (again, pretty much out of sheer curiosity). 

Second, be aware that optical connections are limited to regular old Dolby Digital 5.1. That connection does not and can not support Dolby Digital Plus which is the bare minimum codec for Atmos. So you may be getting good sound out of the optical connection, but it’s not Dolby Digital Plus and it’s very definitely not Dolby Atmos. If the Apple TV is showing Dolby Atmos (“Immersive audio”) as an option in settings, it may be seeing the TV as being Atmos compatible (maybe) but what the TV is sending is definitely regular Dolby Digital 5.1. 

 

 I do look forward to hearing true lossless DA at some point.

See previous comments. 

Arc + Sub 3 + One SLs = Awesome and Loving It!
I
Userlevel 2
Badge +3

Highfalutintodd… I won’t quote due to the size. However, your points about DA DD+ (Lossy) and DA TrueHD (Lossless) are well taken.

its been awhile since I wrote this initial post and have learned a lot since then.  My optical statement was true at the time… however I had some weirdness at the beginning of all of this due to I had no idea I was not getting DA.  I had never seen the DA in the app.  Also didn’t know to check in the about settings for what type of input receiving.  So, although it seemed the optical sounded better, I believe now it was because I was probably only getting only stereo  sound and it made it sound fuller in the room.

it was until I saw a peter pee video and saw the DA in the app, started inquiring about it.  I realized my TV need firmware update.  That’s fixed DA (DD+) and then there was a world of difference.  

I now have the sub to get the 5.1.2.  This made another world of difference since the arc itself seems to choke on the bass.  I’m pretty happy with the setup over all, especially watching DA capable movies.  Music is a lot better with the sub, but still some songs still don’t sound good.  But at the end of the day, it is a soundbar setup and it does well for what it is.  But does have a pretty steep price tag for what it is.  But, it’s all about trade-offs for some simplicity and flexibility.

 

J
Badge

I notice you say you’ve been trying clips and trailers on YouTube. Apols if I’m missing the point here but as far as I know, YouTube doesn’t support 5.1, only good old stereo so any attempt at 5.1 will be the result of a conversion somewhere which won’t give you true 5.1. 

J
Badge

Correct!!  YouTube does NOT support 5.1.  Do not use test videos from YT, even if it says something related to Atmos in the title…… you’ll only disappoint yourself.  Remember to always check the what the ARC is receiving by checking it in the “About My System” page in the app.

 

-JR

J
Badge

I find that for 5.1 surround with Apple TV, the SpeakerCheck app is much better for problem solving. I was setting up a third Sonos surround system comprising an Arc, sub and 2 x Play 1s this week. Whilst my Apple TV was configured correctly, the TV had a setting buried deep in the menu system for choosing between PCM or ‘auto’ (which in itself is an odd pair of choices) but only this app highlighted that I wasn’t getting true surround to the rears. It won’t help with Atmos since at time of writing, it doesn’t provide an Atmos test sequence but my ageing TV won’t let such signals through and my ATV is gen 4 non-4K so it’s fine fine for me. It has helped me speed up the configuration of all of my systems at some time or other and is well worth the few quid it costs. 

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