Enthusiast II

Answered

Sonos Arc - Metallic Sound

1017 replies
128942 views

Hi All.

It’s a relief that Sonos has identified the bug that’s causing the bass distortion in Sonos Arc. Thank you @Ryan S for working with the Sonos Communty to identify the problem quickly.

Having said this, I believe that Sonos still needs more work to make the Arc sound as it was advertised. Currently, multiple people on Reddit including myself are reporting the highs being too high which sort of feels “harsh”. This improve the speech clarity and brings out details in the movies, but the warmth in speech is lost because the voices sound thin and metallic (for eg. actors I know having heavy voices don’t sound heavy). I was expecting the mid-range to be a lot better considering the Arc has 8 woofers.

I have tried TruPlaying twice without success (Turning TruPlay off produces muffled sound). Adjusting the treble also did not help much. Loudness turned on and off does not make a big difference either. May be, this is how the Arc is tuned?!

Anyone else feels that Arc is over-emphasizing the highs with compromised mids?

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Scott - SonosAnswer

Sonos Product Management

Hello everyone. I’m a product manager at Sonos. Thank you for sharing your experiences with Arc. The development team is monitoring this community and listening to your feedback.

As we do with all Sonos products, we’ll continue to improve the experience for Arc through numerous software updates into the future. Last week we issued our first update (12.0.1) to fix a bug some customers were experiencing with low-frequency distortion at higher volumes.

If you have specific music tracks or timestamps for TV shows and movies that you want to bring to our attention, please use this form. It is helpful if you can submit a diagnostic when you’re listening to the content. Instructions for doing so can be found here.

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Mitchellsx

Renowned Enthusiast II

Hello all,

I can appreciate your frustration with any ongoing audio quality issues you are having with your Sonos Arc.

If you have updated your Sonos software and are still having issues, the questions that @Smilja linked to are still highly relevant. To work out a solution for this we will need some data from those of you that are experiencing this mid-range audio quality issue. This information will help us determine if this is an isolated or widespread experience and if it is due to hardware or software.

What is the source of the media that is being played (TV app, external streaming device, cable, broadcast, DVD/DVR)?

Amazon prime app, sky q, Netflix

What volume lever do you experience the issue?

Up to 50% volume

Is the Arc wall-mounted?

No on wooden table

Is Trueplay configured on the Arc?

Yes but made it worse, lowered the Bass and general dynamic of the soundbar

A diagnostic confirmation number from your system while the Arc is playing is key to getting the right information to work towards a solution. You can find information on submitting a diagnostic report here.

If possible, please make a photo where Arc is located and reply to this along with your diagnostic confirmation number.

Diagnostic number; 1242438100 Sky Q 5.1

Diagnostic number:1511790228 Sky Q Atmos

@Jean C. please find my response above, thanks for your help

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yyzjyu

Lyricist II

It’s refreshing to see reviews confirming the bass/tin sound issues that the users have been experiencing: Rtings Review

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Mitchellsx

Renowned Enthusiast II

Yeah good to see a review has been done properly and confirm the issues we are all having

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gswanso2

Lyricist III

that review is brutal, and accurate

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TapDatApp

Enthusiast I

Rtings tend to provide much more factually based reviews than other sites considering they test everything and measure results in a more literal sense. I noticed they too mentioned the Sonos Arc tends to sound overly “bright” and even “piercing” at times. I fully agree, sometimes it’s so harsh I find it a bit aggravating like a headache coming on. I had the Playbase before this in the same room and have a Beam in another and this was never an issue.

Sonos should find it pretty embarrassing that both the Playbar and Beam scored higher than the Arc. I really hope they can turn this around with some software patches.

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lzy1987

Enthusiast I

Quotes from Rtings Review

“The stereo frequency response of the Sonos Arc soundbar is mediocre. It lacks bass, and because of its overemphasized treble, it sounds bright and a bit piercing.”

“The stereo dynamics of this soundbar are quite sub-par. The bar can get very loud, which is nice, but there's noticeable compression in both the bass and treble ranges.”

@Jean C. Hope the Sonos team do look into the above concerns. There are also test results provided in their review, if that helps.

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cronos177

Lyricist III

RTing worded the problem very well. They also mention a lack EQ setting features. So, i wish a center channel is added.

BMF

Prodigy III

Agreed, they have described my observations very well.

The EQ profile of far too bright for my tastes, a very different profile to Playbar and Beam and not in a good way.

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jkozlow3

Enthusiast II

Sounds like Rtings agrees that the Arc is a trainwreck in its current state. There’s no excuse for Sonos releasing the Arc prematurely with so many issues. I’m sure it CAN be tuned to sound better vs. its current state, but Sonos shouldn’t have rushed to release the Arc before it was ready. Sonos deserves thousands of returns, poor sales and bad reviews as a result. Hopefully they learn their lesson.

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Sumit2007

Lyricist II

Sounds like Rtings agrees that the Arc is a trainwreck in its current state. There’s no excuse for Sonos releasing the Arc prematurely with so many issues. I’m sure it CAN be tuned to sound better vs. its current state, but Sonos shouldn’t have rushed to release the Arc before it was ready. Sonos deserves thousands of returns, poor sales and bad reviews as a result. Hopefully they learn their lesson.

Yes I agree. Just proceed to return my arc since updated patch also didnt fix medicore sound and lack of bass. Hope product will be updated or redesigned soon so we can consider to buy again.

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