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jeminijoseph
Trending Lyricist I
September 19, 2022

New to Sonos - bass issue

I just got Sonos arc after reading lots of reviews. I want a soundbar now without woofer and surround speakers and may add these stuff later. 

However very disappointed with sound quality. Almost no surround effect (Atmos etc). But that’s ok. May be my expectation was too high. Biggest issue is the bass. This thing has no bass!. My $200 bose TV speaker has much better bass (that’s all I need). I don’t see many reviews mentioning this despite some early threads. Is this normal? Is there any solution?

I use Android device. So certain features are not available in app. 

My TV has ARC output, but don’t see it’s eARC. Does it matter for bass?

Here’s an example. The short movie ‘Olaf's Frozen Adventure’ in Disney+ has deep bass at 19 minute and 27-28 seconds. It’s great with my tiny bose speaker. But almost none with ARC. All comments are appreciated.

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    23 replies

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    Ken_Griffiths
    Ken_Griffiths
    September 21, 2022

    There’s a bug affecting an unknown number of Arc owners that trashes the sound. Arc generally sounds pretty good so maybe yours is affected by it. It seems unlikely but there’s definitely some problem as there’s no way it’s worse than your POS Bose. 

    I agree with you in theory. But every time I start listening to TV, I feel like going back to Bose and I did. But how's it possible two in a row? 

    I would just do as @buzz mentions and stick with what you prefer, particularly  if you’re not happy with the Arc - we all hear things differently and it’s clear you have made up your mind having listened to them in your own home. I too have listed to both (and others) and I preferred the Sonos Arc, but it’s horses for courses. I most certainly have no regrets too, but it makes sense to go with your own preference having listened to them.

      jeminijosephAuthor
      Trending Lyricist I
      September 21, 2022

      @jeminijoseph

      Could you share a picture of your arc setup? Is the thing mounted on the wall or on a console etc. ?

      Yeah, it’s not ‘finished’. Need to hide wires. Wall above is where video is projected. I know many things can affect the sound. But the difference can’t be this much. Biggest surprise is that there’s no effect on adding +10 bass in EQ settings. On Bose this makes huge difference. 

      Mr. T
      Mr. T
      September 21, 2022

      When you are listening to the Arc, within the Sonos app, what is the Audio format being received?

      The format is displayed in the Now Playing screen or you can see it under Settings > System > About My System > Arc: Audio In

      jeminijosephAuthor
      Trending Lyricist I
      September 21, 2022

      When you are listening to the Arc, within the Sonos app, what is the Audio format being received?

      The format is displayed in the Now Playing screen or you can see it under Settings > System > About My System > Arc: Audio In

      Long answer! I get few formats but not the highest quality (TureHD?) since I don’t have eARC. This is when connected to Sony TV which has ARC. I tried this setup.

       

      Anyway now it’s connected to NVIDIA shield using an audio extractor which has only Optical Out (5.1). (HDMI 2.0 Fibre Optics cable is connected using the little Toslink adapter came with Arc) Bose is connected to Bluetooth. Sonos app is showing DD 5.1 when 5.1 video is played. If I play anything above (7.1 or atmost) I get Stero only. I think DD 2.0  

      I will get eARC today (HDFury Arcana) and can’t wait to try it. I will do an update after 

       

      AjTrek1
      AjTrek1
      September 21, 2022

      @jeminijoseph 

      Thanks for the picture of your Arc mounting. However, there is a propriety wall mount designed for Arc. When mounted to it the Arc detects it and makes adjustments for sound parameters. Your mounting mimics an Arc sitting on a stand or table. Click the links to learn more about the Arc wall mount and positioning relative to the view screen/TV.

      PS: The positioning of the Arc in your picture would suggest it’s below ear level. You’ll never enjoy proper sound parameters with that positioning. If you are unwilling/unable to make the suggested changes as indicated in the links then by all means go with Bose.

      https://www.sonos.com/en-us/guides/arc
       

      https://www.sonos.com/en-us/shop/wall-mount-for-arc

      Together Everyone Achieves More = T.E.A.M.
        jeminijosephAuthor
        Trending Lyricist I
        September 21, 2022

        There’s a bug affecting an unknown number of Arc owners that trashes the sound. Arc generally sounds pretty good so maybe yours is affected by it. It seems unlikely but there’s definitely some problem as there’s no way it’s worse than your POS Bose. 

        I agree with you in theory. But every time I start listening to TV, I feel like going back to Bose and I did. But how's it possible two in a row? 

        I would just do as @buzz mentions and stick with what you prefer, particularly  if you’re not happy with the Arc - we all hear things differently and it’s clear you have made up your mind having listened to them in your own home. I too have listed to both (and others) and I preferred the Sonos Arc, but it’s horses for courses. I most certainly have no regrets too, but it makes sense to go with your own preference having listened to them.

        I agree. We hear things differently. But I had a bias and expectations towards Sonos after reading all reviews. Also Bose is too 'common'. :). I know if I add a woofer things might change. For now that's not an option for me. Besides if I get same or better bass than what I'm getting from current Bose bar, I may not even need a bass module. The HT system that I'm replacing had a 10" woofer and I was keeping it at minimum all the time. Bose tv speaker gives me that level. Anyway I'm not sure if the Bose TV speaker is 'faking' the bass or it's real. I like it though. Will find out by Friday 

        jeminijosephAuthor
        Trending Lyricist I
        September 21, 2022

        @jeminijoseph 

        Thanks for the picture of your Arc mounting. However, there is a propriety wall mount designed for Arc. When mounted to it the Arc detects it and makes adjustments for sound parameters. Your mounting mimics an Arc sitting on a stand or table. Click the links to learn more about the Arc wall mount and positioning relative to the view screen/TV.

        PS: The positioning of the Arc in your picture would suggest it’s below ear level. You’ll never enjoy proper sound parameters with that positioning. If you are unwilling to make the suggested changes as indicated in the links then by all means go with Bose.

        https://www.sonos.com/en-us/guides/arc
         

        https://www.sonos.com/en-us/shop/wall-mount-for-arc

        Thanks for the links. I will definitely go through them. Positioning of the bar is not an option for me as the projector take rest of the wall. Anyway I didn’t spent too much to make the sound accurate or checked it. I like what I hear. Clean dialogues and almost all sounds from a standard movie scene including Dolby sample videos. I’m sure I will get better effect if I follow their guidance. Not sure about wall mount as it’s more money. But will read about them too

        For now I just want to see if I can get the bass right. If I can, I will keep it.

        jeminijosephAuthor
        Trending Lyricist I
        September 22, 2022

        Is there anyone using HDFury Arcana to get audio to Sonos Arc from NVIDIA Shield? I got the arcana today. I tried everything but I could not pair my ‘TV’ to arcana. This means no audio. I’m sure I’ve messed up some settings. I will ask the question to HDFury. But comments from someone using similar setup would be greatly appreciated.

         

        Thank you

        Mr. T
        Mr. T
        September 22, 2022

        Is there anyone using HDFury Arcana to get audio to Sonos Arc from NVIDIA Shield? I got the arcana today. I tried everything but I could not pair my ‘TV’ to arcana. This means no audio. I’m sure I’ve messed up some settings. I will ask the question to HDFury. But comments from someone using similar setup would be greatly appreciated.

        Thank you

        What FW is installed on the Arcana? On the discord channel tech support we’re recommending to use either 0.82 or 0.83 with Sony TVs when latest FW available was 0.86

        jeminijosephAuthor
        Trending Lyricist I
        September 22, 2022

        Is there anyone using HDFury Arcana to get audio to Sonos Arc from NVIDIA Shield? I got the arcana today. I tried everything but I could not pair my ‘TV’ to arcana. This means no audio. I’m sure I’ve messed up some settings. I will ask the question to HDFury. But comments from someone using similar setup would be greatly appreciated.

        Thank you

        What FW is installed on the Arcana? On the discord channel tech support we’re recommending to use either 0.82 or 0.83 with Sony TVs when latest FW available was 0.86

        It’s .86. To make sure I didn’t mess up anything shield I went back to my Toslink audio and it works fine. Sonos app instantly find the ‘TV’ and audio works. But with Arcana, it cannot find TV. It’s possible the Arcana is faulty. But want to make sure I it’s not the settings cause problem. 

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