@Krishma M ?

As one of the earlier people reporting this issue, I thought I’d offer an update on my experience.

Initially, I found the ARC very harsh, ‘tinny/metallic,’ and lacking midrange. My original post describes it in more detail. After recalibrating with an ‘old’ iphone 6, it was better, but not as good as I thought it could be. After the 12.1 update, I retuned with my 11” iPad Pro (2018), and made sure NOT to move around the room, but just wave the iPad around the couch area, it was at least AS good, but seemed slightly less harsh than the iphone 6 tune. 

After living with the arc for 4+ months, I am satisfied with the sound, and DO think it’s better on all metrics than the Beam. I still have the Beam, and recently played with it a bit and I’m reminded that, while it definitely emphasises midrange more, it really lacks detail in the high end, and the soundstage is dramatically smaller. 

I don’t listen to much music on this system, and when I do, it’s mostly for background/ambiance. If I were focused on music, with TV secondary, I would not recommend the Arc. But it does a pretty dang good job with home theater. I no longer find it distractingly harsh, but I admit that’s just as likely due to my ears/brain adapting as any changes Sonos has made.

Things I would like to see change in order of likelihood:

1. Sonos could provide more control over the sound profile of a tuned system. My preference would be some kind of ‘advanced’ mode that shows you the eq settings it had detected, and let you customise them a bit. Let people who understand sound, and know their preferences, take more control. AND all eq settings should be able to be saved separately for music vs. tv playback.
2. Sonos could allow adding left/right main speakers to a surround setup. I would LOVE to spend the money on two Fives to add as main left/right. I could get a bigger soundstage, more punch in the mids, and the arc could be freed up to focus on center/height/virtual-surround). For stereo music, I would want JUST the Fives and the sub to be active. 

@rick.f I’m sat here listening to my One SL at an 8th of the volume on my iPhone - it’s kicking out more depth and bass than the Arc when it’s turned up! WTF!? Can’t believe it.

Ahh a customer allowed EQ would be a DREAM!! Here’s to dreaming 

I think this is definitely a software issue more than a hardware - reason being, after you use the Trueplay it plays a tone to show you its complete and the depth and range of that tone is completely different than when I’m watching it with a movie. You can hear the capability it has. I’ve just tried a retune and played “Man Of Steel” more specifically, the scene where superman first learns he can fly. When he’s flying through the air there is no rumble, when he hits the ground there is no thud at all.
 

As a test, I set my Ones to a stereo pair and watched the same scene on my phone and airplay’d the audio to the speakers - it was much closer to the sound I was expecting from the Arc. It wasn’t perfect but I felt way more engaged and a part of the scene. How can an iPhone and £280’s worth of speakers out do £800’s worth of sound bar?! Makes no sense. 

I was one of the early people complaining about the sound as you can track back on this thread. I was completely disappointed the first time I played it. It sounded closed off & small. 
 

I actually started the process of returning my Arc right up until they released the big firmware updates. I waited to see if the updates would help and I’m glad I did. I’d say I’m now content with the sound. It’s pleasant and sounds good paired with the sub. With that said, I absolutely think it’s overpriced. I went to Costco today and they had the Arc in stock right next to the Beam, a Playbar, a sub $200 Bose soundbar, Klipsch 5.1 system, a $239 Yamaha soundbar, and a Samsung soundbar (not sure the model). My wife and I both agreed that the little $239 Yamaha and Bose soundbars sounded as good for a fraction of the price. The Bose has spooky imaging.

To sum it up, I’m happy with the sound now but think there are some serious contenders for way less money. 

Has anyone found a fix for this yet? It is very clear when you listen to the S’s in dialogue.

I have tried True Playing with my iPhone X, 2 old iPhone 6’s, and an iPhone XR - not much difference with them.

I have treble set to -4 and bass to 3. It hasn’t changed after getting the Sub too.

I received the Arc 5 days ago.  I went from a receiver and bookshelf/surround speakers to the Arc/Sub/One set.  My listening experience went from warm, full, rich and enjoyable to unpleasant and somewhat painful.

My previous setup sounded disciplined and focused - the sound appropriately filled the room.  The Arc setup sounds like a scattered mess with manic sound separation, including painful highs, and a tinny/metallic/echoey sound profile.

I read through the comments and tried running Trueplay from all of my ios devices (some older, some newer) and it still sounds echoey.  At this point, I have turned off Trueplay (to reduce the echoey effect), turned off the Sub (to bring back some of the mids to the Arc and to somewhat reduce the piercing highs) and have the treble turned all the way down.  Disappointing, to say the least.

I currently own 2 Play:1, 2 Play:3, 1 Five, 1 Amp and am pleased with the fullness, warmth and richness of these components.  I expected and hope for the same from the Arc, but it’s a mess.  I hope they plan to address the concerns expressed by many in a future software update.  Otherwise, I’ll need to return the Arc.  It’s not an enjoyable experience at all.

Have sonos responded to this?

We have recently bought the Sonos Arc & Sub Woofer but are struggling to get the right balance.  Voices are sometimes faint and are overpowered by the action/music noises.  I have tried the enchanced speech but that just makes it sound very tinnie.  Also we note that voices go up and down in volume on a regular basis.

Our room is relatively small and I have done the Trueplay.  I've tried the settings with and without this but it makes little to no difference.  At the moment I have the following, which is the best I have managed so far:

• No night time or speech enhancements
• EQ Bass at 0
• EQ Treble at -2
• EQ Loudness on
• Trueplay on
• Sub Audio 0

I think that's all I can alter.

Any thoughts on this set up?

If the action/music sounds are too overpowering, turn on Night Sound. This will lower the dynamic range of the audio so loud explosions and music will be played at a lower level.

I really wouldn't wait for developments that'll change things to your liking, note this forum question is marked 'Answered" as far as Sonos is concerned.

Many folks are happy with the sound though like you I found it unpleasant compared to other Sonos products. 

I think your best bet regrettably is to accept this product isn't for you and return it and move on.

I have been following forums (including this one) about this and I agree with Bernardo’s assessment. I have not had the chance to listen to the ARC but I am quite sensitive to treble  and midrange harshness so I am very reluctant to try it. I still might try it as Sonos offers a return window. Beyond my individual concerns, it does appear that there is a split among users. Judging from amazon reviews on the ARC, most seem to love the sound. It is not clear what use cases this refers to (maybe only movies and background listening only) so we cannot draw conclusions. Most amazon reviews rate the ARC highly. There are some (few) reviews that identify the upper midrange and treble harshness: https://www.flatpanelshd.com/review.php?subaction=showfull&id=1591262781

and 

https://www.rtings.com/soundbar/reviews/sonos/arc

I found the flatpanelshd review quite well written and it seems to describe the issue quite well. 

Most other magazine reviews focus primarily on the HDMI connectivity problems but do not mention issues with the sound quality. 

My sense is (not scientific) that there is indeed a group of people who find the ARC to be harsh and tinny but I do not see Sonos taking any corrective action on this. It may be that this is the sound ‘flavour’ they intended for the ARC all along and perhaps a majority of users are fine with it. A parametric EQ would be the remedy but again.. I don’t see this being implemented by Sonos. 

I think that (sadly) for those of us who find the ARC sound to be harsh and tinny, a different product will serve us better.

Sono’s response to this thread has been lackluster so far. I was initially so excited when I pre-ordered the Arc during June, didn't expect it turns out to be a major disappointment. Still hoping for some improvement by next year.

Don’t expect the sound profile of the Sonos Arc to change much. The majority of Arc owners love how it sounds and aren’t experiencing the issue discussed on this thread. Your best bet would be to accept what you currently have or find another soundbar that you will be happy with.

I’ve played with my ARC+sub every way possible and the mids are still lousy with music. The Arc is tinny and hollow, sort of sounds like a 80-90’s portable stereo (not the boom box). It get’s worse the higher the volume, to get some sort of lower mids you have to turn it up, then the sound seems to get muddled like the ARC is overwhelmed. 
Source seems to play a part; Music off my phone via AirPlay isn’t not good, music (XM, Amazon) through the Sonos app is eh, same with music off YouTube off my TV’s app. It’s a sound bar, I’m not expecting rattle the house music, but this is really poor, my truck’s OEM stereo sounds better, not kidding.

The ARC (w/sub) is pretty good with movies and tv shows, unfortunately not $800+$700 good. I wanted the clean wireless look in my house and could live with this being tv/movie only, but not at the cost. I’m going to return them and maybe if Sonos corrects this I’ll repurchase. A broader EQ would have been a help, but maybe that would have just shown a design problem instead of leaving people to wonder. 

Sonos.

A lot of people have report this problem.  I have until 31 Jan to return my to Amazon.  I really do not want to do so.  TV is okay (sort of), but streamed music, sadly, is not.

Please respond so I know if this will be fixed.

Thank you,

Are you using Trueplay? If so Peter Pee has quantified the sound profile changes depending on which IOS device you use to perform the tuning on.  The results can vary massively & I have started a topic here with links to his video. Below is the link to the new thread, I hope this can help.

Trueplay with newer iPhones causing issues?

I would sincerely suggest anyone waiting for a 'fix' to move on, there is nothing to fix as this is how it is.

I don't like the sound either, it's horrible for music to my ears but this is how Sonos built the hardware and no amount of tuning with Truplay or software revisions is going to change that and life's too short to wait for something that'll never happen.

I completely agree. The Sonos Arc isn’t broken. The majority of Arc users are VERY happy with the way it sounds. The fact that Sonos can’t keep them in stock proves it. Yes, Sonos will improve the sound gradually over time, but not dramatically. If you don’t like the sound profile of the Arc today, you probably won’t like it years from now even after multiple firmware updates. It’s all about personal preference and how the Arc sounds in your room. If you don’t like the Arc because it sounds too “tinny” or “metallic” to your ears, just return it and find another sound bar that you can enjoy TODAY.

I did use Trueplay and it still didn’t sound good (using a 2-3yr iPad Pro). Then I read a post somewhere last night where a person had a better solution for calibrating with Trueplay than Sonos’ instructions. Don’t go more than 2-3’ from your listening position vs walking around the room as Sonos instructs… It improved things when it came to the mids.
I have also seen a few posts where people commented that the mids and sound in general improved a good deal when they mounted the Arc to the wall, it made a noticeable difference. Since I am still undecided, I’m not mounting it to the wall at this time. But, the above did change me from definitely returning the Arc to giving it some more time.

The harshness was still there and I had the eq all over the place. Volume with music still seems to be an issue with me. The volume just does not get very loud until 75% or so, the mids really open up there and higher, but then the harshness seems to be very bad. None of that happens with tv/video.
 

I don’t think AirPlay gives good quality (or my music is just of really bad quality. iWhatever doesn’t deliver) because the music is definitely better through the Sonos app (XM and AMZ Prime) volume is better as well, I really have to turn it up using my iPad/phone.

A EQ with more settings would be really nice and a few presets for the sound settings would be fantastic! Hey Sonos! The settings I found I liked for music are not good (too much bass out of the sub and too little treb) for tv/movies and vis versa. 
 

I have 2 more weeks and I haven’t given up on it, but the different Trueplay set up definitely made a difference and throughout the whole room (house) not just in the listening position. To be fair, I may be asking too much (musically)  coming from cabinet speakers. I just can’t wrap my head around the sound difference in tv/movies vs straight audio (from all sources.) It’s a good soundbar for movies, I will definitely give it that, the harshness is still an issue there too. 

So.... The question... Are all arc's affected, and is it just that some people don't mind or hear it (hard to believe) or are there units that simply sound better than other?

I am contemplating whether to get the arc or not, but I am unsure right now…

The fact that there is no more feedback from Sonos is worrisome to say the least, it makes me believe they're letting it be as it is, which means probably no arc for me.… 

This is a problem, I have a beam with sub right now (and two one's as rears, and a five gen2 in the kitchen) but the beam just doesn't really does it for me in the music department. With  the Arc now no longer being an option, there is no real alternative from Sonos right now.... 

This might mean i'd might have to say goodbye to Sonos altogether, I don't think there will be another soundbar added to the product line anytime soon....

@MJAhoud I was in exactly the same situation as you (though without sub) and considered moving on but my Beam/Ones setup works entirely adequately with TV viewing for my needs and throwing TV sound to the kitchen to the Ones in there is something I use extensively.

I went to a competitor's system for a music playback solution which I'm more than happy with, especially as it allows for integration of an existing remote control on their non-HDMI components.

If they produce a soundbar which has a form factor I can live with I may move over to that platform exclusively but for now I can use both systems together happily.

@MJAhoud It is probably a combination of people just hearing things differently and/or being more sensitive to certain things. When you go shopping for components there are speakers and amps/receivers that can be bright or warm (why a lot of people liked tube amps), my component system had a warm receiver and warm speakers, it took a lot of shopping and some returning (internet was in it’s infancy then). Not every person is the same. There is a well know speaker company where the running joke used to be “No highs, no lows, it must be ****.”
 

The Arc is marketed as a sound bar for movies and part (if you wish) of a home theater system, it does that fairly well. It is not a full blown stereo meant to play a dance party. We have all become used to having a product do everything good (not great) that many become frustrated when something doesn’t do everything great and only does one thing well, in this case movies/tv. I could see the Arc being designed to be brighter in order to do dialog in movies. Also a lot of people just don’t know any better and will live with the hot new thing, you see this with certain brands of automobiles.
 

Either Sonos designed the Arc to be bright/harsh, the Arc sounded fine to them and they don’t see a problem, they realize there is a problem that affects a certain group of people and they don’t know how to fix it, or they just don’t care that a minority are bothered by it. They did however release a product with a bass issue, which they later fixed. A broader EQ may solve the problem for a majority of the minority that are complaining about harsh treble. Only being able to adjust the bass and treble is some pre-2000 car stereo crap.

I bet three 5’s, two 1’s, and a sub would be a outstanding all around 5.1 and music set up, but it’s not really possible or cost effective, and at that point you may as well go wired. 

I drug two of my speakers and sub out to use for music and my gf is annoyed that they are “cluttering up” the room. lol  

I’m not going to throw Sonos under the bus, the Arc (with sub) delivers what it is supposed to with tv/video, I won’t tell someone not to get one, I’m just really sensitive to bright/harsh highs. Heck, it’s probably just fine for music for most people! Look at all, the people running around with the earbuds that come with your phone and those things sound pretty lousy.  It does a lot of things well and is lower profile, better than tv speakers by far, if it is worth the price is subjective. I’ll admit, it IS the best looking soundbar out there and it does work.

Too add, since I couldn’t edit. A lot of different rooms out there too. Everything in my room is hard w/ only a sofa and mid size area rug to absorb sound, I’m sure that doesn’t help matters. Big open floor plan room too. 
 

I just moved it to the edge of the table it’s sitting on so the front of the Arc is a bit forward (no table top in front of the speakers) and this seems to have made a bit of a difference. 
 

Still want a couple of user set able EQ, one for music and one for movies and a multi eq so I can dumb down the higher freq. 

Obviously, every speaker sounds different and everyone experiences sound quality differently, but seeing the amount of post about this issue makes saying "a small amount of people have a problem" a little bit of an understatement. I choose Sonos after listening to playb5 gen 2 and a pair of one's  because of the sound signature (tight and clean, with lots of detail). I would expect a company that advertises getting "the whole Sonos ecosystem" to at least try to unify that sound signature, as they have done with the playbar for example.... Ev

By the way, the arc is promoted as "The premium smart soundbar for TV, movies, music, gaming, and more", not just a TV soundbar...