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Sonos Arc - Metallic Sound

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1017 replies

D
Badge +4

I changed from Playbar to ARC in January and have often thought it was sounding distorted - I have just happened upon this thread - I thought it was just me and I was going mad.  During Four Weddings and a Funeral the other night, when Kristin Scott Thomas is proposing a toast ‘to Duckface’ outside the church, the distortion on her speech was excruciating.  I have tuned several times with iPhone 12, without a case and holding/moving as instructed.

I have turned Trueplay off and will see how it sounds for a few days.  It seems better on first listen.

 

iPhones for me always had issues. Found an old iPad and seems to sort it correctly. 

That’s very interesting - I’ll try with an ipad.

S
Userlevel 4
Badge +3

I changed from Playbar to ARC in January and have often thought it was sounding distorted - I have just happened upon this thread - I thought it was just me and I was going mad.  During Four Weddings and a Funeral the other night, when Kristin Scott Thomas is proposing a toast ‘to Duckface’ outside the church, the distortion on her speech was excruciating.  I have tuned several times with iPhone 12, without a case and holding/moving as instructed.

I have turned Trueplay off and will see how it sounds for a few days.  It seems better on first listen.

 

iPhones for me always had issues. Found an old iPad and seems to sort it correctly. 

D
Badge +4

I changed from Playbar to ARC in January and have often thought it was sounding distorted - I have just happened upon this thread - I thought it was just me and I was going mad.  During Four Weddings and a Funeral the other night, when Kristin Scott Thomas is proposing a toast ‘to Duckface’ outside the church, the distortion on her speech was excruciating.  I have tuned several times with iPhone 12, without a case and holding/moving as instructed.

I have turned Trueplay off and will see how it sounds for a few days.  It seems better on first listen.

H

I have had a Sonos Playbar for 8 years and the sound sold me on Sonos! Decided to upgrade to the Arc as I was so impressed with the Playbar that on paper the Arc was a no brainer. I had the privilege of having both sound bars hooked up and comparing the 2 almost side by side (Arc in my living room connected to TV and Playbar in kitchen used for music only now) the sound and feel of the two are very different. I cannot say one is better than the other only different. The Playbar to me had more feel to the bass and a warmer sound over all compared to the Arc. The Arc seems more defined and fared better at louder volumes especially with the bass which the Playbar’s bass had issues at volumes above 65 IMO.

 

Music was compared by setting the 2 speakers up as a system so I could play the same songs simultaneously from the same source (Qobuz Hi Res Audio 24bit 48kHz). My ears preferred the Playbar but the Arc sounded great! The Arc truly excels at Dolby Atmos content and I much preferred it over the Playbar for all TV related viewing. I do not seem to be having the issue of the “thin” “metallic” sound as others are describing. Only issue I had was an annoying popping/crackling sound that began midway through a movie which was resolved by unplugging the speaker and plugging it back in. No issues since.

L

I'm so glad this thread exists. I thought I was going crazy. Just spent an hour with support, and they're going to send me a replacement. Has anyone actually had success with a replacement or is the product just bad?

I

Just submitted my return request for my ARC and my SUB. I am so glad to read that so many people thought this system sounded terrible. I thought I was crazy after everyone on Youtube raving about it and RTINGS giving it a good rating. I felt like I was watching TV in a cave. It sounds so thin and hollow. I plugged my 4 years old Vizio in and immediately my room was filled with sound again. I can’t believe how disappointed I am in this product. I also had to fight with it constantly to actually work right because it didn’t like my Orbi. Just ordered a Samsung 950A off of greentoe for $1149.

L

After days of research on this. It’s Trueplay creating this issue. Turning off Trueplay made the harsh s, sh and t’s go away. I’ve tuned this five times and it’s still an issue. I’ll try using another device and tune Trueplay again.  

J

I bought the sonos Arc last week and was soo dissapointed. I added a Sub gen 3 because I tought that would give the sound of the arc more “body”. The bass is better now, but there are no mid tones. 

During tv shows, the vocal part drops in volume (probably because the voice goes into the midrange where there is almost no amplification)

I am really dissapointed, and would not recommend anyone buying this setup.

Yeah having had the ARC for well over a year, The midrange is not great on the ARC, ive truplayed and truplayed changed settings galore but never found I could get the midrange to sound great.

 

850 euros down the drain! This product is useless. My poor car speakers sound better. 
To everyone I know I will advice not to buy this soundbar! Complete rubbish. I made an amplifier at school that produced better sound … 

 

M
Userlevel 5
Badge +7

I bought the sonos Arc last week and was soo dissapointed. I added a Sub gen 3 because I tought that would give the sound of the arc more “body”. The bass is better now, but there are no mid tones. 

During tv shows, the vocal part drops in volume (probably because the voice goes into the midrange where there is almost no amplification)

I am really dissapointed, and would not recommend anyone buying this setup.

Yeah having had the ARC for well over a year, The midrange is not great on the ARC, ive truplayed and truplayed changed settings galore but never found I could get the midrange to sound great.

J

I bought the sonos Arc last week and was soo dissapointed. I added a Sub gen 3 because I tought that would give the sound of the arc more “body”. The bass is better now, but there are no mid tones. 

During tv shows, the vocal part drops in volume (probably because the voice goes into the midrange where there is almost no amplification)

I am really dissapointed, and would not recommend anyone buying this setup.

Ken_Griffiths

@DavidKlein 

It’s difficult to know what you’re hearing, but when you encounter the described poor audio quality issues mentioned (assuming you have the App settings at their default), it maybe best to submit a system diagnostic report and note it’s reference back here and then contact/chat with the Sonos Support Staff via this LINK, (during the usual opening times stated) and maybe see what they suggest.

Sometimes a video recording can possibly assist the Staff too. At the very least, they should be able to identify if there is a hardware fault or not.

Hope that assists.

D

Hi there!

 

Can somebody please help..

 

I bought both the arc and sub (gen 3) this week. I am coming from a cheap logitech 5.1 system, but sadly this (as it sounds now) doesn’t seem like a worthy upgrade..

The lows are incredible (with the sub), but the mids are pretty absent and highs to present. This makes the total profile seem metallic/hollow, instead of warm.
 

Do I perhaps have a faulty arc??

What to do?

 

Kind regards,

David

 

H

@Ken_Griffiths I ended up borrowing a phone and doing what you suggested, the system improved slightly but I still feel the vocals/conversations are trapped in a box (compare to other systems) maybe I contact Sonos support now and see what they can offer.

H

@Ken_Griffiths got it, thanks for the suggestions. Let me see if I can do that here and compare the results.

Ken_Griffiths

@hooman64 

I tend to TruePlay/calibrate things with the speakers set in the position where they are normally/usually placed in the room. If I do move them for any reason (it’s rare I do that), I simply switch TruePlay off, then switch it back on when the speakers are returned to their regular spot.

H

Correct, ambient and full only affect music, as I mentioned, part of my problem is also vocals in songs. I do change that to see if it affects the vocals, however, with all my testing I realized “talking” is the weak point here, whether in songs or movies. 

@Ken_Griffiths, you might find it funny, I definitely don’t have any iphones in my immediate friend/family circle. I can for sure find one and try what you suggest to, but if that’s the case, it sucks that the product is configured in a way to only cater to a certain group of users.  

Bruce and I are just users, like yourself and simply trying to help - often Trueplay can sort these kind of issues. The reason why iOS devices are used is is their microphones are a certain known standard, whereas in many Android devices they can vary considerably by make/model, so that’s why borrowing an iPhone might be helpful and it’s something you only need to do once in most cases.

I appreciate the help. most of the times communities like these are more useful than actual product support, or at least in my experience. 

With Trueplay, is there a period that’s suggested to “recalibrate” the room? or If I need to move the surrounds and then place back where they were, approximately, I’m still good?

Ken_Griffiths

Correct, ambient and full only affect music, as I mentioned, part of my problem is also vocals in songs. I do change that to see if it affects the vocals, however, with all my testing I realized “talking” is the weak point here, whether in songs or movies. 

@Ken_Griffiths, you might find it funny, I definitely don’t have any iphones in my immediate friend/family circle. I can for sure find one and try what you suggest to, but if that’s the case, it sucks that the product is configured in a way to only cater to a certain group of users.  

Bruce and I are just users, like yourself and simply trying to help - often Trueplay can sort these kind of issues. The reason why iOS devices are used is that their microphones are a certain known standard, whereas in many Android devices they can vary considerably by make/model, so that’s why borrowing an iPhone might be helpful and it’s something you only need to do once in most cases.

H

I’m confused. Full and Ambient only change the sound when playing a music stream, and have no impact when playing the TV input, which is why it’s under the heading ‘Music Playback’. 

 

@hooman64,

There are still some things worth trying before contacting Sonos Support with your issue. I would first try to borrow an iOS device and see if TruePlay tuning the HT to the room helps to resolve your matter. Also as Bruce mentions, switching the sound option between Ambient & Full only applies to music audio, it has no effect on the audio out from your TV. 

If problems persist, then submitting a diagnostic report and contacting Sonos Support are probably the next best steps.

Correct, ambient and full only affect music, as I mentioned, part of my problem is also vocals in songs. I do change that to see if it affects the vocals, however, with all my testing I realized “talking” is the weak point here, whether in songs or movies. 

@Ken_Griffiths, you might find it funny, I definitely don’t have any iphones in my immediate friend/family circle. I can for sure find one and try what you suggest to, but if that’s the case, it sucks that the product is configured in a way to only cater to a certain group of users.  

Ken_Griffiths

@hooman64,

There are still some things worth trying before contacting Sonos Support with your issue. I would first try to borrow an iOS device and see if TruePlay tuning the HT to the room helps to resolve your matter. Also as Bruce mentions, switching the sound option between Ambient & Full only applies to music audio, it has no effect on the audio out from your TV. 

If problems persist, then submitting a diagnostic report and contacting Sonos Support are probably the next best steps.

Airgetlam

I’m confused. Full and Ambient only change the sound when playing a music stream, and have no impact when playing the TV input, which is why it’s under the heading ‘Music Playback’. 

 

Bruce
H

  • I also have an issue with the dialogues in movies, ARC sounds great playing music, but as soon as you add vocals or you watch a movie/show the vocals sound very compressed and as if the sounds are coming from a closed box! I bought 2 Sonos Ones too to see if that maybe helps with the quality but still no luck, I then went ahead and purchased a Samsung HW-Q950A, I like how the conversation sound on Q950A, very clear and front, but the music sounds shallow and without character. Since I am also reaching my return deadline, I wanted to see if there are any fixes/workarounds for the conversation sounding like this? Any suggestion helps.

    Some suggestions that initially spring to mind from myself are…

     

  • I’m an Android user, so no Trueplay
  • Playing with the EQs affect the sounds more than the vocals. very minimal effect I’d say
  • Speech Enhancer was on by default, turning it off makes the conversation sounds much dimmer, same as turning Night Sound on
  • I have not, I just signed up here today to see if I can check with other users first
  • same as above. Mostly bc the music itself sounds amazing, it’s just the vocals and conversations that sound like “coming out of a closed box” that bothers me 

unfortunately Sonos app doesn’t provide a more advanced EQ to play around. I bought 2 Sonos Ones over the weekend and even adding those in doesn’t help much with the conversations, if I take them out of “Ambient” mode and put them on “Full” it help, but then you lose the surround effects

Ken_Griffiths

I also have an issue with the dialogues in movies, ARC sounds great playing music, but as soon as you add vocals or you watch a movie/show the vocals sound very compressed and as if the sounds are coming from a closed box! I bought 2 Sonos Ones too to see if that maybe helps with the quality but still no luck, I then went ahead and purchased a Samsung HW-Q950A, I like how the conversation sound on Q950A, very clear and front, but the music sounds shallow and without character. Since I am also reaching my return deadline, I wanted to see if there are any fixes/workarounds for the conversation sounding like this? Any suggestion helps.

Some suggestions that initially spring to mind from myself are…

H

I also have an issue with the dialogues in movies, ARC sounds great playing music, but as soon as you add vocals or you watch a movie/show the vocals sound very compressed and as if the sounds are coming from a closed box! I bought 2 Sonos Ones too to see if that maybe helps with the quality but still no luck, I then went ahead and purchased a Samsung HW-Q950A, I like how the conversation sound on Q950A, very clear and front, but the music sounds shallow and without character. Since I am also reaching my return deadline, I wanted to see if there are any fixes/workarounds for the conversation sounding like this? Any suggestion helps.

106rallye
Userlevel 7
Badge +17

@virgiltracy123 I have not read anywhere this update has doen anything to the sound of a Sonos device. I’d contact Sonos about this instead of waiting for an update that might not fix anything……

V

Yes since the Dts update my arc is atrocious when using it for speech ie tv. It sounds like people are shouting into there mics and the sound is distorting. Music and background is fine but audio is definitely clipping. I have stopped using it until a software patch fixes it. I liked the sound before the Dts update.

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