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arpatil1
Enthusiast II
June 17, 2020
Answered

Sonos Arc - Metallic Sound

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
    July 2, 2020

    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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    pyro225
    Enthusiast II
    June 29, 2020

    Random but anyone in the uk was just watching panorama (on iplayer too) today’s episode and Richard biltons voice at around 30% sound horrific others aren’t so bad. It seems marginally better with trueplay off

    zztop610
    Contributor II
    June 29, 2020

    Just watched John Oliver on HBO Max. I have the Sonos Arc with Gen 3 Sub and 2 SL’s and the audio sounded like it came from my laptop speaker. Squeaky, metallic, high pitched (not sure what to call it). It lacks the richness of a modern soundbar. I have updated it to the latest software and trueplayed several times with an ipad after reading the issues with my iphone 11 pro, but still the sound just sucks. I hope Sonos gets its act together and releases an update which addresses this issue. If not, I will be sending all of it back and buying the Samsung Q90R.

     

     

      TomMcNally
      Contributor I
      June 29, 2020

      Think I will return my Arc and go back to the Beam. After sitting in front of it I really can’t hear £800 sound quality, really think the Beam sounded better. Been disappointing from day one, will maybe think about trying out the second iteration or later down the line when they actually update their flawed product.

        dodgey1191
        Contributor I
        June 29, 2020

        @zztop610 @TomMcNally any chance you guys could submit the survey from Jean C above and diagnostics to Sonos? Seeing if we can give them enough data to get a fix in place.  Thanks!

          PowdeRiver
          Lyricist III
          June 29, 2020

          I realize this is for a different problem but if Sonos looks at arc muddy/bottoming out bass related topic as well as post build 58178180 there are multiple examples of arc owners experiences.

            pyro225
            Enthusiast II
            June 30, 2020

            I realize this is for a different problem but if Sonos looks at arc muddy/bottoming out bass related topic as well as post build 58178180 there are multiple examples of arc owners experiences.

            There answer to me for both issues was rma I said it hardware they ignored my question and proceeded to start the process.

            Babarollin
            Lyricist I
            June 30, 2020
            • What is the source of the media that is being played (TV app, external streaming device, cable, broadcast, DVD/DVR)?  

                     - TV app Netflix, Amazon Prime, Tidal,   

                       Spotify,Youtube 

             

            • What volume lever do you experience the issue?

                      Above 40%. Testet it at 80% got even worse

             

            • Is the Arc wall-mounted? 

                      Yes 

             

            • If wall-mounted, does removing the speaker from the wall bracket and setting it on a credenza or table improve the issue?

                      No it has the same problems

             

            • Is Trueplay configured on the Arc?

                     Yes. 

             

             

                      Diagnostic number : 1453398813

             

            SirDBK
            Contributor I
            June 30, 2020

            .

            Seeky
            Prominent Collaborator II
            June 30, 2020

            Has anyone tried doing full reset on arc and then re-trueplaying? I just did and it sounds considerably better and for the first time the bass from arc alone was impressive, beforehand was flat and over trebly, as soon as the arc came back online before I even trueplayed or added sub/surrounds It sounded completely different. I done the update last week too so god knows what’s going on, but might be worth a go for some people?


            Can anyone else confirm this? I’ve received an RMA and updated the speaker right after I unpacked it. The issue is not gone for me.

            mewantsonos
            Trending Lyricist I
            June 30, 2020

            Mine sounds thin and harsh I have the complete 5.1.2 system. Increasing bass and setting the sub to -2 and treble to -8 I could just pass it as an ok system but it gives me a headache every time I watch a 2 hr movie because of the harsh treble. Dialogues are thin so it’s just bass and treble not mid range.

             

            i might return it if they don’t update and fix this soon.

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