Enthusiast II

Answered

Sonos Arc - Metallic Sound

1017 replies
128954 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.

Show previous replies

K

King Colin

Avid Contributor I

I was on the phone yesterday with tech support and he had me send in the diagnostics from the Sonos app. He said it came back with some bad “bashes”, he would not elaborate, but obviously it is not performing like it should, but I still have a feeling this has nothing to do with the tinny lack of bass. I am afraid this is a hardware and not a software problem :( I am so bummed, I was really looking forward to this being a great speaker, but when I go back to my Playbar, which I still have, I get more bass and a fuller sound. I was doing my best to sell my wife on the fact that it would be great to have this new speaker which costs a lot, but alas, playing the Arc is not helping. And music through it is just awful! The dialogue on movies with the Arc is a bit better, but to loose the lows is a non starter. My setup has the sub and to Sonos Ones as well.

This is exactly my experience with the Arc. I just regretfully sent it back to Sonos this morning. My Playbar doesn't look as nice as the Arc but the sound is so much smoother and voices are way better too. I just couldn't take the shrillness of the Arc any longer. Of course I lost my discount code on the return…. :tired_face:

My advice is to stay with the Playbar or Beam until this is sorted out.

I too talked to technical support yesterday. I got positive vibes that this issue will be fixed.l didn’t get a sinister report from my diagnostic submission. The product has only been released since June-so surely Sonos can fix these problems!!

O

oriboaz

Prodigy I

I too am on the “this is a software issue that will be fixed”. I am also overly observant of audio issues at the moment.

However, what bothers me is the radio silence from Sonos. I really hope they will chime in to say that something is in the works!

IndustrialEcho

Lyricist III

I was on the phone yesterday with tech support and he had me send in the diagnostics from the Sonos app. He said it came back with some bad “bashes”, he would not elaborate, but obviously it is not performing like it should, but I still have a feeling this has nothing to do with the tinny lack of bass. I am afraid this is a hardware and not a software problem :( I am so bummed, I was really looking forward to this being a great speaker, but when I go back to my Playbar, which I still have, I get more bass and a fuller sound. I was doing my best to sell my wife on the fact that it would be great to have this new speaker which costs a lot, but alas, playing the Arc is not helping. And music through it is just awful! The dialogue on movies with the Arc is a bit better, but to loose the lows is a non starter. My setup has the sub and to Sonos Ones as well.

This is exactly my experience with the Arc. I just regretfully sent it back to Sonos this morning. My Playbar doesn't look as nice as the Arc but the sound is so much smoother and voices are way better too. I just couldn't take the shrillness of the Arc any longer. Of course I lost my discount code on the return…. :tired_face:

My advice is to stay with the Playbar or Beam until this is sorted out.

I too talked to technical support yesterday. I got positive vibes that this issue will be fixed.l didn’t get a sinister report from my diagnostic submission. The product has only been released since June-so surely Sonos can fix these problems!!

It was not sinister, he just said there were problems that showed up. I am not really sure that it is a software fix, although I wish that were true. I am feeling it is more a hardware issue. Yes, they were just released in June, but I am pretty surprised that after all the testing Sonos must have done on these...before June... that no-one said, hey, these sound flat and lackluster. Maybe we should do some more testing? ….

Formerly with a Playbar, now with an Arc, but unfortunately, due to poor sound quality, soon back to the Playbar. / Sub / 2 Sonos Ones

K

King Colin

Avid Contributor I

Yeah. The audio on mine is very bright on most tv channels. It’s bright on my streaming device too.Not as bad on dvds.Music is very good.
lt is very disappointing considering what l paid for it. I have the subwoofer and a couple rear speakers too in my set up.

l don’t know what further testing we can do.l have only tuned mine with iPad.l will try with an iPhone.Tech support told me that it didn’t matter what device you used.

A

arpatil1Author

Enthusiast II

Yeah. The audio on mine is very bright on most tv channels. It’s bright on my streaming device too.Not as bad on dvds.Music is very good.
lt is very disappointing considering what l paid for it. I have the subwoofer and a couple rear speakers too in my set up.

l don’t know what further testing we can do.l have only tuned mine with iPad.l will try with an iPhone.Tech support told me that it didn’t matter what device you used.

Tech support doesn’t know anything apart from fixing standard issues. Truplay on my setup with an iPad Pro 2017 is much better than Xs. If I add +6/+7 treble to my current sound profile, I get the same sound I had before with Xs Truplay. I am still struggling to like the dialogues. I really hope the fix is coming, but lack of clear communication from the Sonos team on top of asking for the same diagnostics and questions, again and again, is not helping.

K

King Colin

Avid Contributor I

Yeah. The audio on mine is very bright on most tv channels. It’s bright on my streaming device too.Not as bad on dvds.Music is very good.
lt is very disappointing considering what l paid for it. I have the subwoofer and a couple rear speakers too in my set up.

l don’t know what further testing we can do.l have only tuned mine with iPad.l will try with an iPhone.Tech support told me that it didn’t matter what device you used.

Tech support doesn’t know anything apart from fixing standard issues. Truplay on my setup with an iPad Pro 2017 is much better than Xs. If I add +6/+7 treble to my current sound profile, I get the same sound I had before with Xs Truplay. I am still struggling to like the dialogues. I really hope the fix is coming, but lack of clear communication from the Sonos team on top of asking for the same diagnostics and questions, again and again, is not helping.

I wonder what the last software update was about!!!!

R

Reefy

Enthusiast I

I was on the phone yesterday with tech support and he had me send in the diagnostics from the Sonos app. He said it came back with some bad “bashes”, he would not elaborate, but obviously it is not performing like it should, but I still have a feeling this has nothing to do with the tinny lack of bass. I am afraid this is a hardware and not a software problem :( I am so bummed, I was really looking forward to this being a great speaker, but when I go back to my Playbar, which I still have, I get more bass and a fuller sound. I was doing my best to sell my wife on the fact that it would be great to have this new speaker which costs a lot, but alas, playing the Arc is not helping. And music through it is just awful! The dialogue on movies with the Arc is a bit better, but to loose the lows is a non starter. My setup has the sub and to Sonos Ones as well.

This is exactly my experience with the Arc. I just regretfully sent it back to Sonos this morning. My Playbar doesn't look as nice as the Arc but the sound is so much smoother and voices are way better too. I just couldn't take the shrillness of the Arc any longer. Of course I lost my discount code on the return…. :tired_face:

My advice is to stay with the Playbar or Beam until this is sorted out.

I have a Playbar and an Arc setup side by side connected to the same tv (as the same time) and on the same network. I keep switching the audio between the 2. I can say that the Arc is not perfect but it does sound way more immersive than the playbar The Playbar sounds great on its own but when comparing it side by side with the Arc i can really see the benefits of the new soundbar. Still not sure which i will keep.

IndustrialEcho

Lyricist III

I was on the phone yesterday with tech support and he had me send in the diagnostics from the Sonos app. He said it came back with some bad “bashes”, he would not elaborate, but obviously it is not performing like it should, but I still have a feeling this has nothing to do with the tinny lack of bass. I am afraid this is a hardware and not a software problem :( I am so bummed, I was really looking forward to this being a great speaker, but when I go back to my Playbar, which I still have, I get more bass and a fuller sound. I was doing my best to sell my wife on the fact that it would be great to have this new speaker which costs a lot, but alas, playing the Arc is not helping. And music through it is just awful! The dialogue on movies with the Arc is a bit better, but to loose the lows is a non starter. My setup has the sub and to Sonos Ones as well.

This is exactly my experience with the Arc. I just regretfully sent it back to Sonos this morning. My Playbar doesn't look as nice as the Arc but the sound is so much smoother and voices are way better too. I just couldn't take the shrillness of the Arc any longer. Of course I lost my discount code on the return…. :tired_face:

My advice is to stay with the Playbar or Beam until this is sorted out.

I have a Playbar and an Arc setup side by side connected to the same tv (as the same time) and on the same network. I keep switching the audio between the 2. I can say that the Arc is not perfect but it does sound way more immersive than the playbar The Playbar sounds great on its own but when comparing it side by side with the Arc i can really see the benefits of the new soundbar. Still not sure which i will keep.

Hi Reefy, just wondering if you have both set up and you think that the Arc is fuller and better what would make you still wonder whether you will keep it or not?

Formerly with a Playbar, now with an Arc, but unfortunately, due to poor sound quality, soon back to the Playbar. / Sub / 2 Sonos Ones

R

Reefy

Enthusiast I

I was on the phone yesterday with tech support and he had me send in the diagnostics from the Sonos app. He said it came back with some bad “bashes”, he would not elaborate, but obviously it is not performing like it should, but I still have a feeling this has nothing to do with the tinny lack of bass. I am afraid this is a hardware and not a software problem :( I am so bummed, I was really looking forward to this being a great speaker, but when I go back to my Playbar, which I still have, I get more bass and a fuller sound. I was doing my best to sell my wife on the fact that it would be great to have this new speaker which costs a lot, but alas, playing the Arc is not helping. And music through it is just awful! The dialogue on movies with the Arc is a bit better, but to loose the lows is a non starter. My setup has the sub and to Sonos Ones as well.

This is exactly my experience with the Arc. I just regretfully sent it back to Sonos this morning. My Playbar doesn't look as nice as the Arc but the sound is so much smoother and voices are way better too. I just couldn't take the shrillness of the Arc any longer. Of course I lost my discount code on the return…. :tired_face:

My advice is to stay with the Playbar or Beam until this is sorted out.

I have a Playbar and an Arc setup side by side connected to the same tv (as the same time) and on the same network. I keep switching the audio between the 2. I can say that the Arc is not perfect but it does sound way more immersive than the playbar The Playbar sounds great on its own but when comparing it side by side with the Arc i can really see the benefits of the new soundbar. Still not sure which i will keep.

Hi Reefy, just wondering if you have both set up and you think that the Arc is fuller and better what would make you still wonder whether you will keep it or not?

Ya that’s a good question. It was with limited testing. One thing I know for sure with the Arc is that I noticed the treble/bass is not right at times. I never had that impression with the playbar. I will keep testing them out with music and movies. I said I can see the benefits of the Arc but not sure if the sound profile is better than the playbar. The added speakers in the Arc do provide greater potential and that is apparent when hearing them side by side. But the Arc May require better tuning or software. The 250$ price difference might play a role but I plan on having the sound bar many years and 250$ in the long term won’t the deciding factor.
I feel like I’m talking myself into the Arc. And if Sonos can adjust/fix sound profile it’s a slam dunk. Listening side by side provide a great perspective!

O

oriboaz

Prodigy I

Ya that’s a good question. It was with limited testing. One thing I know for sure with the Arc is that I noticed the treble/bass is not right at times. I never had that impression with the playbar. I will keep testing them out with music and movies. I said I can see the benefits of the Arc but not sure if the sound profile is better than the playbar. The added speakers in the Arc do provide greater potential and that is apparent when hearing them side by side. But the Arc May require better tuning or software. The 250$ price difference might play a role but I plan on having the sound bar many years and 250$ in the long term won’t the deciding factor.
I feel like I’m talking myself into the Arc. And if Sonos can adjust/fix sound profile it’s a slam dunk. Listening side by side provide a great perspective!

Wow, you put this very well. Some times I think the Arc sounds great. Other times, I am unsure if the sound is correct. I, too, feel like I’m talking myself into the Arc.
Sonos: please chime in and tell us a fix is coming!!!

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