Sonos Arc + Apple TV 4K + Vizio E-Series (E70-F3)

There have been a lot of hot takes and initial impressions written about the Sonos Arc at this point, but a week in I’ll wrap mine up with my final thoughts just to close out this post and have my say. This all just my opinion and, as always, your mileage may vary so take with the appropriate amount of salt. 

(Note: my long posts seem to keep getting blocked by moderators so I’ll split up into multiple posts)

ARC

By itself, I was not impressed. I wanted to be. Badly. But I wasn’t. It was the first piece that I got of my very first Sonos system and it came with the massive baggage of glowing reviews and my desire to have a quantum leap forward in sound quality from the old 3.1 system I was upgrading from.

Aside from being beautiful to behold and a snap to set up, sound quality was lacking, Atmos effects were seemingly non-existent (in the extremely limited instances where I could get Atmos), and I was experiencing the same muddy bass issue that most everyone else seems to be dealing with as well. 

I found myself seriously wondering if I’d made a mistake in purchasing it. 

Sonos has been very transparent about there being an issue with the bass that they’re working on a software fix for and early indications from the Sonos Reddit is that it will help tremendously. I hope this is the case and I look forward to hearing the difference. 

ARC + SURROUNDS (ONE SLs)

But rather than box the Arc back up and admit defeat, I doubled-down and ordered a pair of One SLs to use as surrounds. I hadn’t had true surround sound in the living room of our home since we moved in 12 years ago (no particularly good way to run speaker wires to surrounds) so I was excited about the possibility. 

While they didn’t help with the sonic qualities or the bass issues with the Arc itself, they did significantly expand the soundstage and tremendously helped the overall sound quality of the system. Now I was starting to see the potential and the benefit of what Sonos had to offer, especially since I could put them anywhere with power (and have even been running them off of power banks!).

One rather major issue with the surrounds, however, was setup. Quite the opposite of the experience with the Arc, getting the One SLs recognized by the S2 app was a nearly two hour ordeal punctuated by having to connect and disconnect Ethernet cables and do multiple factory resets of the speakers. I don’t honestly remember what particular voodoo magic I finally managed to perform to get them to not just be recognized by the app, but to successfully register and pair as surrounds with the Arc AND see my WiFi network, but if that had been my first experience with Sonos, it probably would have also been my last as they would have gone straight back into the box and back to the store. 

As it is, however, they’ve performed admirably since that initial setup debacle, and the sound quality from them has been nothing short of astounding. Plus, just as with my HomePods before them, I’m continually amazed at the fullness of the sound the One SLs can create and the amount of bass they put out. I’ve listened to quite a bit of music with them on “surround full” which is a mode that I normally would never bother with (in my home theater-centric mind, surrounds are only for ambience when it comes to music), but here I find the added dimension and sonic quality they offer delightful. 

In short, the One SLs were the first Sonos kit that made the start to understand why people seem to really love the sound quality of Sonos speakers. 

ARC + SURROUNDS + SUB (GEN 2)

After reading many, many users talking about how wonderful the Sub is, I decided to take the plunge. I’ve known full well the massive benefit of well-executed sub bass where movie sound is concerned but since Amazon said the Sub 3 wasn’t going to be available until June 16 anyway I didn’t have much of a choice but to wait. 

As I whined about in another posting, when the 16th came Amazon sent me a note saying that the shipment was delayed. Long story short, I found a Gen 2 in stock at my local Best Buy and, after reading enough on the forums to convince myself that Gen 2 and Gen 3 are close enough that I woudn’t notice or care, I went to go get it (tip of the hat to Best Buy here - not only did they have the order ready for pickup about 20 minutes after I clicked buy, they’ve implemented an awesome contactless curbside pickup process where you just show your ID and the put the item in your trunk). 

I know many have been complaining about the lack of a matte option for the Sub, but I have to admit my breath was kind of taken away when I pulled it out of the box. This was no subwoofer - it was a work of art. Big but not massive. Solid, but not heavy (dense may be a better word). Glossy, but not gaudy. Just looking at it, I was seriously impressed and I really kind of wish it was more on display in my living room as opposed to being hidden behind the TV with all the wires. 

Setup, as opposed to the nightmare of the surrounds, was child’s play. Had it up and running in 2 minutes. 5 minutes more, it was Trueplay-tuned and ready to go. Incredibly simple and user friendly. 

Now with the full system in place was the true test - what would it sound like? In short, incredible. The Arc is, in my opinion, utterly transformed by the addition of a Sub - to the point where I’m honestly kind of surprised that Sonos doesn’t only sell them as a pair. Maybe the bass issue software bug is artificially holding the Arc back, sonically, but the Sub sets the Arc free. 

With low bass being sent to the supremely capable Sub, the Arc was free to open up and deliver some absolutely beautiful sound. The already wide soundstage, now paired with the lovely One SLs and a thumping sub now effortlessly creates a shockingly immersive listening experience that I’m pretty amazed by. Granted, it’s getting a LOT of help from the Sub and the surrounds, but the fact that I’m getting sound this good out of “just” a soundbar is astonishing. 

What’s really nice, too, is that the Sub is nice and subtle when it needs to be (at lower volumes, say, or in less sonically adventurous fare, but when it’s time to rock, it is absolutely happy to rock. Even just the opening titles of Blade Runner 2049 had the entire living room shaking to the point where I was worried about the glass in the front door. And the spinner flying overhead and the score blasting made me want to just sit and watch the entire thing in awe. Even just watching a couple of episodes of Marvel’s Agents of SHIELD was much more engaging and enjoyable with bullets whizzing around in 5.1 surround and Quinjets flying quite effectively all over the room. 

Could I do the Arc without the surrounds? Grudgingly, perhaps, but sure. But the Arc without the Sub. No way. One absolutely requires the other in my personal opinion. 

ATMOS

If there’s one thing that’s going to stick in my craw about the Arc both now and moving forward, it’s Atmos. I’ve only been able to experience Atmos via a couple of built-in apps on my TV and thus far I’ve been underwhelmed…. until today.

Over on Reddit, someone posted a Dolby Atmos 5.1.2 test tone video file that could send white noise to the Atmos “height” channels. I played it and was legitimately shocked at what I heard.

I’d heard the downloadable Dolby Atmos Leaf and Amaze trailers in Atmos several times while playing with the Arc and, though they sounded good, I wasn’t really hearing any height effects (yes, I know there’s a lot more to the 3D spatial positioning of Dolby Atmos and how it places sound around you so please don’t try to educate me - I just wanted to hear sound coming from above me on my $800 soundbar that told me I’d be able to hear things over my head, so sue me). 

Listening to the test tones in Atmos, I’ll be damned if it didn’t honestly, realistically sound like there were speakers mounted on the ceiling near the TV. When I moved closer to the TV to investigate (I was curious to know where in the Arc the up-firing speakers were located), I walked into what I can only think of as the height effects channel’s “sweet spot” where it was UNMISTAKABLE that there was crystal clear audio being bounced off the ceiling and into my ears. In this sweet spot, my brain was absolutely 100% legitimately convinced that there were speakers above my head and that that’s where the sound was coming from. I just stood there like an idiot looking at the ceiling for a good two minutes listening to white noise. My wife didn’t disagree that I looked like an idiot. 

Pulling up Amaze and Leaf again from this vantage point, the Atmos effect was stunning. Granted, I was entirely too close to the TV (a solid 10 feet in front of my usual viewing position on the couch), but with the surrounds now well behind me as opposed to their usual side-firing position which is about the only place I can put them given the shape of the room and standing in the height effects sweet spot the sound was unbelievable. I could hear the rain falling from the ceiling. The surrounds, combined with the wide front soundstage, were truly enveloping me in 360 degree sound. It was mesmerizing. Now I just have to figure out how to get that sound from where I sit on the couch instead of 3 feet in front of the TV…..

LIMITATIONS AND COMPROMISES

For nearly $2k, you’d think you’d be getting all the bells and whistles, but you’re not. We’re all aware at this point of the many artificial limitations imposed on the Arc: Completely reliant on a technology In its infancy - eARC - to have the best experience. Only a single HDMI port so you’re stuck with the capabilities of your TV rather than your source equipment unlike literally every other piece of AV gear in the world. Lack of DTS support. And that’s not even mentioning the ecosystem lock-in since you can’t pair non-Sonos subs or surrounds to an Arc.  

For as simple as they make certain things, other things are needlessly complicated at the moment and aren’t likely to change anytime soon. The question is how big of a pain in the ass is it to live with these limits? Limits that you don’t get from practically any other audio equipment. 

The answer will be different for everyone, but for me most everything is turning out to be a non-issue. I watch my Blu-rays as ripped files on my Plex server, and Plex happily transcodes DTS into Dolby Digital. I’m not getting Atmos out of my Apple TV (our preferred streaming solution), but what is coming out sounds amazing. 

I’m going to buy one of HDFury’s Arcana dongles when they’re available and that will trick the Arc into thinking it’s connected to a TV full with eARC capability which will also let me get Atmos from many apps on my Apple TV. Is this a hack? Absolutely. Is it more money? Yep. Does it fix everything? Nope - Plex on Apple TV doesn’t support Dolby TrueHD at all so no TrueHD or Atmos from my Blu-ray rips at all. 

But as a tech geek I’m actually excited about things like this. Do I wish the Arc was more capable from an input perspective? Sure. Can I work around it? Yes. 

CONCLUSION (AT LONG LAST)

Am I happy? Yes, yes I am. The completed system sounds exceptional. It’s easy to use. It’s significantly fewer wires and cables. The surrounds and Sub can be moved around so much more easily since they’re wireless. The Sonos app, while a little clunky in my opinion, is easy enough to use and gives you nice functionality at your fingertips. And AirPlay…. oh, man, AirPlay. I love being able to just throw some music to it from my iPhone, iPad, or even from another HomePod via Siri, without having to turn on the TV. I’ve been really surprised at how well the Arc plays with the rest of my HomePods and how much I’ve enjoyed listening to music on it that way. 

Could I have put together a more capable receiver + speaker AV system for less. Oh, most definitely. But simplicity is meaning more and more to me the older I get. Do I love geeking out and messing around with all the tech? Without a doubt. But sometimes (most times), you just want to fire up a movie and get lost in it for a while. Without having to futz around with receiver settings. 

Do i recommend it? If you can afford the whole thing - yes. If you can only swing the Arc… that’s a bigger question that i don’t think can be answered until the bass issue fix is out and people can properly evaluate it. 

But for now, I’m going to enjoy the hell out of my Arc system. 

Thanks for following along. ;-) 

Thanks for the observations and enjoy! My Arc Arrived today which replaces my Beam and is paired with a Gen 2 Sub and Play:1’s as surrounds and I’m generally happy with it so will likely sell the Beam. Agree the Sub makes a big difference, but coming from the Beam I can tell you for sure that the impact is even greater with the Beam. That thing just requires the Sub. I use Trueplay as it works great for home theater content.  For music though the Arc (and Beam suffered from this to a lesser degree too) sounds a bit too bright with Trueplay to me. I leave the surrounds on ambient usually as they are close by right behind my couch.

Bigger issue for me is can’t really get much Atmos content. I watched Blade Runner 2049 on Vudu (which seems to be the only built in app that works with Atmos for me on my P75-F1) and it sounded absolutely fantastic. Overhead sounds are subtle in parts and more obvious in others but I did feel more height with Atmos. The rears do a lot of the lifting to sometimes make me think it’s coming from overhead possibly but the overall sound was very engaging and dynamic.
 

I can’t however get any Atmos from an Apple TV 4K. Going back to built in apps, Prime Video is supposed to work with Atmos but won’t for me. Netflix also only does DD+. Disappointing because both the Prime Video and Netflix support pages say their Vizio apps support Atmos. Hopefully that gets addressed by whosever is responsible since the hardware is clearly capable given Vudu.
 

Wouldn’t mind trying the 5.1.2 test tones you mention. Can you share the link and let us know how you played it on your system?

Absolutely! Here’s the direct download link: 

https://www.heimkino-atmos.de/.cm4all/uproc.php/0/Trailer/Dolby%20Atmos/dolby-test-tones_5_1_2.mp4?_=15dddc34420&cdp=a

And here’s the link to the Reddit post with some additional commentary: 

https://www.reddit.com/r/sonos/comments/hc21uu/dolby_atmos_512_test_video_file_download_link/

To play it, I loaded it onto my Plex server (I’ve got a library just for “demos” like this, including THX, DTS, and Dolby trailers and demos), and played it on my Vizio E70-F3’s built-in Plex app since the Apple TV can’t pass Atmos through this TV. It worked perfectly since it was encoded in “streaming” E-AC3 that works over the Vizio’s HDMI-ARC connection (as opposed to being encoded in Dolby True HD which won't work over HDMI-ARC (the non e-ARC version) due to lack of bandwidth). 

(Side mini-rant: obviously Dolby didn’t anticipate the situation that Sonos Arc owners find ourselves in, but it sure would be nice if TrueHD could fail-down gracefully from lossless TrueHD with Atmos to lossy E-AC3 while retaining Atmos for lower bandwidth situations. I’m sure there are many wonderful reasons why it can’t - maybe would require a hardware encoder at the sending device? - but it sure would be nice)

(Ugh - I wrote up a whole thing but for some reason it got flagged for moderation. I don’t know why the Sonos forum doesn’t like me. Regardless, here’s the links)

Absolutely @starlan! Here’s the direct download link: 

https://www.heimkino-atmos.de/.cm4all/uproc.php/0/Trailer/Dolby%20Atmos/dolby-test-tones_5_1_2.mp4?_=15dddc34420&cdp=a

And here’s the link to the Reddit post with some additional commentary: 

https://www.reddit.com/r/sonos/comments/hc21uu/dolby_atmos_512_test_video_file_download_link/

Thanks for the response! I will give this a shot through Plex as well.