Enthusiast II

Answered

Sonos Arc - Metallic Sound

1017 replies
128946 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?

This topic has been closed for further comments. You can use the search bar to find a similar topic, or create a new one by clicking Create Topic at the top of the page.

S

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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K

knafets

Lyricist III

Not sure why this problem is still not acknowledged by Sonos. That harsh treble is just present across all contents I played.

Feels like I'm still using TV speaker but with better bass. I had occasions I was using TV speaker and I thought I was using the Arc.. that is how bad the sound is to me..

+1 same experience here....

K

King Colin

Avid Contributor I

Maybe there is a bad batch. Mine sounds great after 2-3 weeks daily use. Arc + surrounds + sub. Replaced a Beam 5.1 system, which replaced hardwired Denon AVR and NHT 5.1 speakers.

The Arc-anchored Sonos system much better than the Beam, and while not getting as really loud as well as the AVR-based system the quality of sound is more or less on par for me.

Atmos is effective in my usage as well.

Did you find sound harsh on initial set up? I have the same set up as you which l bought a few days ago.l am wondering if indeed a running in period is required.

K

knafets

Lyricist III

Meanwhile at Sonos headquarters..” Sh*t, this topic about tiny, harsh treble isn't dying out by itself...what to do? keep silent or not?….”

C

craigski

Local Superstar

Have you ever been in a room where the audio, be it music or a movie soundtrack, sounds really “tinny” or “crisp”? It’s what we refer to in the industry as “bright”. Taming bright speakers is a big deal if you want to maintain clarity without achieving a harsh or unruly sound. While a loudspeaker can be responsible for this, it can also be the effects of a room. A room can also “muddy” the sound by creating a reverberant effect that reflects the sound back into itself over and over again. Most rooms aren’t large enough to create an actual echo, but if they are made of concrete, hard surfaces and lots of glass, the effects can be detrimental to your listening enjoyment.

http://www.audiogurus.com/learn/speakers/taming-bright-speakers/902

K

knafets

Lyricist III

Have you ever been in a room where the audio, be it music or a movie soundtrack, sounds really “tinny” or “crisp”? It’s what we refer to in the industry as “bright”. Taming bright speakers is a big deal if you want to maintain clarity without achieving a harsh or unruly sound. While a loudspeaker can be responsible for this, it can also be the effects of a room. A room can also “muddy” the sound by creating a reverberant effect that reflects the sound back into itself over and over again. Most rooms aren’t large enough to create an actual echo, but if they are made of concrete, hard surfaces and lots of glass, the effects can be detrimental to your listening enjoyment.

http://www.audiogurus.com/learn/speakers/taming-bright-speakers/902

IF (and thats a big IF) the room is part of the problem, shouldn't trueplay make it sound better? Now trueplay makes it sound worse...

K

knafets

Lyricist III

Have you ever been in a room where the audio, be it music or a movie soundtrack, sounds really “tinny” or “crisp”? It’s what we refer to in the industry as “bright”. Taming bright speakers is a big deal if you want to maintain clarity without achieving a harsh or unruly sound. While a loudspeaker can be responsible for this, it can also be the effects of a room. A room can also “muddy” the sound by creating a reverberant effect that reflects the sound back into itself over and over again. Most rooms aren’t large enough to create an actual echo, but if they are made of concrete, hard surfaces and lots of glass, the effects can be detrimental to your listening enjoyment.

http://www.audiogurus.com/learn/speakers/taming-bright-speakers/902

IF (and thats a big IF) the room is part of the problem, shouldn't trueplay make it sound better? Now trueplay makes it sound worse...

Thinking about this...its obvious trueplay is broken (new ios devices especcialy), so fixing treuplay could potentially resolve in a less bright sound in these kinds of enviroments…..

C

craigski

Local Superstar

IF (and thats a big IF) the room is part of the problem, shouldn't trueplay make it sound better? Now trueplay makes it sound worse...

No IFs, a room will definitely make a difference to sound. If you ever walk into an empty unfurnished room, its sounds very different when you walk in again when its carpeted and furnished.

If too much sound is bouncing around it will smear imaging and in many cases cause the overall sound to be bright and fatiguing. The trend amongst speaker manufacturers is to make speakers that are already too bright (to make them sound more "exciting" during sales demos) so in a room with too much sound reflection, these speakers can be extremely irritating. Certain wall surfaces such as glass or drywall which are popular in modern condo style apartments are atrocious when it comes to treble information and in many cases will echo because there are so many reflections. This destroys imaging as well as intelligibility of speech and transients. Drums especially can blur together so badly that you can't hear individual notes anymore. Voices can have terrible "esses".

https://www.planetofsoundonline.com/pages/fixing-your-room-acoustics

If Trueplay is making your setup worse, I would try another Trueplay, and focus on the area you are listening, and if possible try another (older) iDevice.

K

knafets

Lyricist III

Not sure why this problem is still not acknowledged by Sonos. That harsh treble is just present across all contents I played.

Feels like I'm still using TV speaker but with better bass. I had occasions I was using TV speaker and I thought I was using the Arc.. that is how bad the sound is to me..

Izy1987: you're description of the problem is very recognisable. Could you describe you're room? Large open space, hard floor, etc…?

L

lzy1987

Enthusiast I

Not sure why this problem is still not acknowledged by Sonos. That harsh treble is just present across all contents I played.

Feels like I'm still using TV speaker but with better bass. I had occasions I was using TV speaker and I thought I was using the Arc.. that is how bad the sound is to me..

Izy1987: you're description of the problem is very recognisable. Could you describe you're room? Large open space, hard floor, etc…?

Fairly large living room. Square layout. Flooring not sure (feels like marble or granite). No curtain or carpet.

My room setup is not really optimal, but I do expect decent audio quality.

My desktop speaker costing 1/3 of the Arc's price performs better in the same environment.

C

craigski

Local Superstar

Fairly large living room. Square layout. Flooring not sure (feels like marble or granite). No curtain or carpet.

My room setup is not really optimal, but I do expect decent audio quality.

Can you try another Trueplay? I got best results just waving up and down along the sofa, rather than waving around whole room, make sure you remove iPhone cover and check mic for dust/fluff:

https://en.community.sonos.com/home-theater-228993/optimum-trueplay-6842990

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