I don't have any apple product so I can't really try it (might need borrow someone's)
However, I think the main concern is that without trueplay, the default sound of the Arc is bad, which should not be the case.
Trueplay should be improving an already good sound, not fixing bad sound.
Yeah, I mean TechHive described it in their review as having “thick midrange”. Like… where?! Something isn’t right.
I don't have any apple product so I can't really try it (might need borrow someone's)
However, I think the main concern is that without trueplay, the default sound of the Arc is bad, which should not be the case.
Trueplay should be improving an already good sound, not fixing bad sound.
On a side note, it's good that there are ways to improve sound quality through software, an indication that its not hardware related.
Im hopeful that this will get resolved soon :)
My first tune sounded great. I moved things around and had to tune it again and it was very bright. I tried tuning again and had the same problem. For a final attempt, I tried using my 3rd gen iPad Pro and it was less bright, but was still not great and the imaging was worse.
Edit: seems I’m not the only one who tried the iPad vs iphone (11 Pro Max) and had the same outcome: https://en.community.sonos.com/troubleshooting-228999/sonos-arc-metallic-sound-6843110?postid=16442638#post16442638
So after reading about others having success with Trueplaying older devices, I got a hold of my co-worker’s old iPhone 6 he had sitting in a drawer. All I can say is: wow, the difference is night and day.
My 5.1.2 sounds so much more like I was expecting to now with a more balanced, warmer sound similar to the Playbase set-up I had before. The highs aren’t anywhere near as harsh, although I would argue they’re not perfect either. Still a bit sharp and a noticeable lack of mids. Still, I 100% believe the issue is mostly related to Trueplay on newer devices now. Should be pretty easily replicable for the Sonos team.
I’m in the same boat, my friend. For now, those without an army of iPhones lying around can try the technique of gently waving their phone around the tops and sides of the Arc which definitely can go a long way to helping. I tried using this technique and honestly it took me 30-40 minutes of retrying to get a tonal balance that I liked. It’s really frustratingly imprecise and unscientific, and the opposite of the selling point of TruePlay.
But as you said, in the meantime, if investing this bit of effort gets you satisfactory sound, I think it’s better than sitting around with a soundbar that sounds like a pair of cheap beach speakers.
Absolutely, like I say, it really does sound impressive as is, but can completely understand your frustration!. Let’s hope in a week from now we are both happy with our purchase!
I’m in the same boat, my friend. For now, those without an army of iPhones lying around can try the technique of gently waving their phone around the tops and sides of the Arc which definitely can go a long way to helping. I tried using this technique and honestly it took me 30-40 minutes of retrying to get a tonal balance that I liked. It’s really frustratingly imprecise and unscientific, and the opposite of the selling point of TruePlay.
But as you said, in the meantime, if investing this bit of effort gets you satisfactory sound, I think it’s better than sitting around with a soundbar that sounds like a pair of cheap beach speakers.
I true played twice using an iPhone X, the first time I had some setup issues with the arc so decided to redo whilst ensuring to wave above the arc and this yielded a massively better result. Overall sound is more than satisfactory and miles ahead of the beam, though curiously deactivating the sub makes the arc sound pretty terrible, so not sure what this is about as its phenomenal with sub and surrounds
I commented about that on my dedicated thread about TruePlay, https://en.community.sonos.com/troubleshooting-228999/trueplay-tuning-a-variety-of-speakers-playbar-arc-beam-with-newer-iphones-results-in-tinny-sound-6843248
I agree that waving the affected iPhones directly over the Arc or esp. the side tweeters results in making the TruePlay tuning sound a bit better, but that’s just a workaround of forcing the iPhone to sample a bunch of treble from small tweeters. It compromises the overall fidelity of TruePlay tuning and still doesn’t sound as “correct” as TruePlay tuning with an unaffected device like a 2nd gen iPad Pro.
Maybe so, obviously I haven’t tried on an older device, but I can’t say I’m hearing an overly ‘bright’ midrange deficient presentation in any way, which perhaps is more worrying; as surely points to a hardware problem on certain batches?
No, I don’t think it indicates a batched problem. If one is correctly following the TruePlay tuning instructions, you aren’t supposed to wave the phone directly above the Arc. When you do so above or to the sides of the sound bar, you are basically aiming the microphone at treble-only tweeters that generate surround effects. That’s basically just counteracting and masking the newer iPhone microphones attempting to filter out treble.
I tried this process with an affected phone and can confirm, purposely bringing the mic closer to the tweeters during the TruePlay process does get rid of some of the bright tinny nature, but it’s still not the same as the TruePlay improvements you get with TruePlay tuning using one of the unaffected devices.
In your situation, I'd probably suggest turning off TruePlay and just using the "balance surrounds” feature to equalize, rather than the unscientific approach of forcing TruePlay to listen to some treble up close.
I have tried turning off trueplay and balancing as you suggest, but it always sounds massively better with it active. By saying waving above arc, I meant for a brief time during the process, perhaps 5 seconds or so
Yeah that’s unfortunate. I don’t think this has to do with hardware batches. I have also seen that waving the device above the Arc to capture the up-firing tweeters just for a few seconds does balance the soudn a bit with an affecting phone. But it still is nowhere near as proper sounding as tuning with an unaffected older device.
Could it be better than TruePlay Off? Very possible, but this adds such an unscientific factor in that I don't think we should consider this a solution. How much you bring the TruePlay tuning mic within close range of the soundbar has dramatic effects on the end result of the tuning, both for the better and for the worse.
I agree, the inconsistencies are unsettling. Let’s see what solutions are put out and how that affects things. I’m lucky to be enjoying some great audio, but the lack of a scientific basis or any consistency is not ideal, I.e how will an update that I will have to install affect me if I’m happy with things?
I true played twice using an iPhone X, the first time I had some setup issues with the arc so decided to redo whilst ensuring to wave above the arc and this yielded a massively better result. Overall sound is more than satisfactory and miles ahead of the beam, though curiously deactivating the sub makes the arc sound pretty terrible, so not sure what this is about as its phenomenal with sub and surrounds
I commented about that on my dedicated thread about TruePlay, https://en.community.sonos.com/troubleshooting-228999/trueplay-tuning-a-variety-of-speakers-playbar-arc-beam-with-newer-iphones-results-in-tinny-sound-6843248
I agree that waving the affected iPhones directly over the Arc or esp. the side tweeters results in making the TruePlay tuning sound a bit better, but that’s just a workaround of forcing the iPhone to sample a bunch of treble from small tweeters. It compromises the overall fidelity of TruePlay tuning and still doesn’t sound as “correct” as TruePlay tuning with an unaffected device like a 2nd gen iPad Pro.
Maybe so, obviously I haven’t tried on an older device, but I can’t say I’m hearing an overly ‘bright’ midrange deficient presentation in any way, which perhaps is more worrying; as surely points to a hardware problem on certain batches?
No, I don’t think it indicates a batched problem. If one is correctly following the TruePlay tuning instructions, you aren’t supposed to wave the phone directly above the Arc. When you do so above or to the sides of the sound bar, you are basically aiming the microphone at treble-only tweeters that generate surround effects. That’s basically just counteracting and masking the newer iPhone microphones attempting to filter out treble.
I tried this process with an affected phone and can confirm, purposely bringing the mic closer to the tweeters during the TruePlay process does get rid of some of the bright tinny nature, but it’s still not the same as the TruePlay improvements you get with TruePlay tuning using one of the unaffected devices.
In your situation, I'd probably suggest turning off TruePlay and just using the "balance surrounds” feature to equalize, rather than the unscientific approach of forcing TruePlay to listen to some treble up close.
I have tried turning off trueplay and balancing as you suggest, but it always sounds massively better with it active. By saying waving above arc, I meant for a brief time during the process, perhaps 5 seconds or so
Yeah that’s unfortunate. I don’t think this has to do with hardware batches. I have also seen that waving the device above the Arc to capture the up-firing tweeters just for a few seconds does balance the soudn a bit with an affecting phone. But it still is nowhere near as proper sounding as tuning with an unaffected older device.
Could it be better than TruePlay Off? Very possible, but this adds such an unscientific factor in that I don't think we should consider this a solution. How much you bring the TruePlay tuning mic within close range of the soundbar has dramatic effects on the end result of the tuning, both for the better and for the worse.
I true played twice using an iPhone X, the first time I had some setup issues with the arc so decided to redo whilst ensuring to wave above the arc and this yielded a massively better result. Overall sound is more than satisfactory and miles ahead of the beam, though curiously deactivating the sub makes the arc sound pretty terrible, so not sure what this is about as its phenomenal with sub and surrounds
I commented about that on my dedicated thread about TruePlay, https://en.community.sonos.com/troubleshooting-228999/trueplay-tuning-a-variety-of-speakers-playbar-arc-beam-with-newer-iphones-results-in-tinny-sound-6843248
I agree that waving the affected iPhones directly over the Arc or esp. the side tweeters results in making the TruePlay tuning sound a bit better, but that’s just a workaround of forcing the iPhone to sample a bunch of treble from small tweeters. It compromises the overall fidelity of TruePlay tuning and still doesn’t sound as “correct” as TruePlay tuning with an unaffected device like a 2nd gen iPad Pro.
Maybe so, obviously I haven’t tried on an older device, but I can’t say I’m hearing an overly ‘bright’ midrange deficient presentation in any way, which perhaps is more worrying; as surely points to a hardware problem on certain batches?
No, I don’t think it indicates a batched problem. If one is correctly following the TruePlay tuning instructions, you aren’t supposed to wave the phone directly above the Arc. When you do so above or to the sides of the sound bar, you are basically aiming the microphone at treble-only tweeters that generate surround effects. That’s basically just counteracting and masking the newer iPhone microphones attempting to filter out treble.
I tried this process with an affected phone and can confirm, purposely bringing the mic closer to the tweeters during the TruePlay process does get rid of some of the bright tinny nature, but it’s still not the same as the TruePlay improvements you get with TruePlay tuning using one of the unaffected devices.
In your situation, I'd probably suggest turning off TruePlay and just using the "balance surrounds” feature to equalize, rather than the unscientific approach of forcing TruePlay to listen to some treble up close.
I have tried turning off trueplay and balancing as you suggest, but it always sounds massively better with it active. By saying waving above arc, I meant for a brief time during the process, perhaps 5 seconds or so
I true played twice using an iPhone X, the first time I had some setup issues with the arc so decided to redo whilst ensuring to wave above the arc and this yielded a massively better result. Overall sound is more than satisfactory and miles ahead of the beam, though curiously deactivating the sub makes the arc sound pretty terrible, so not sure what this is about as its phenomenal with sub and surrounds
I commented about that on my dedicated thread about TruePlay, https://en.community.sonos.com/troubleshooting-228999/trueplay-tuning-a-variety-of-speakers-playbar-arc-beam-with-newer-iphones-results-in-tinny-sound-6843248
I agree that waving the affected iPhones directly over the Arc or esp. the side tweeters results in making the TruePlay tuning sound a bit better, but that’s just a workaround of forcing the iPhone to sample a bunch of treble from small tweeters. It compromises the overall fidelity of TruePlay tuning and still doesn’t sound as “correct” as TruePlay tuning with an unaffected device like a 2nd gen iPad Pro.
Maybe so, obviously I haven’t tried on an older device, but I can’t say I’m hearing an overly ‘bright’ midrange deficient presentation in any way, which perhaps is more worrying; as surely points to a hardware problem on certain batches?
No, I don’t think it indicates a batched problem. If one is correctly following the TruePlay tuning instructions, you aren’t supposed to wave the phone directly above the Arc. When you do so above or to the sides of the sound bar, you are basically aiming the microphone at treble-only tweeters that generate surround effects. That’s basically just counteracting and masking the newer iPhone microphones attempting to filter out treble.
I tried this process with an affected phone and can confirm, purposely bringing the mic closer to the tweeters during the TruePlay process does get rid of some of the bright tinny nature, but it’s still not the same as the TruePlay improvements you get with TruePlay tuning using one of the unaffected devices.
In your situation, I'd probably suggest turning off TruePlay and just using the "balance surrounds” feature to equalize, rather than the unscientific approach of forcing TruePlay to listen to some treble up close.
I true played twice using an iPhone X, the first time I had some setup issues with the arc so decided to redo whilst ensuring to wave above the arc and this yielded a massively better result. Overall sound is more than satisfactory and miles ahead of the beam, though curiously deactivating the sub makes the arc sound pretty terrible, so not sure what this is about as its phenomenal with sub and surrounds
I commented about that on my dedicated thread about TruePlay, https://en.community.sonos.com/troubleshooting-228999/trueplay-tuning-a-variety-of-speakers-playbar-arc-beam-with-newer-iphones-results-in-tinny-sound-6843248
I agree that waving the affected iPhones directly over the Arc or esp. the side tweeters results in making the TruePlay tuning sound a bit better, but that’s just a workaround of forcing the iPhone to sample a bunch of treble from small tweeters. It compromises the overall fidelity of TruePlay tuning and still doesn’t sound as “correct” as TruePlay tuning with an unaffected device like a 2nd gen iPad Pro.
Maybe so, obviously I haven’t tried on an older device, but I can’t say I’m hearing an overly ‘bright’ midrange deficient presentation in any way, which perhaps is more worrying; as surely points to a hardware problem on certain batches?
I true played twice using an iPhone X, the first time I had some setup issues with the arc so decided to redo whilst ensuring to wave above the arc and this yielded a massively better result. Overall sound is more than satisfactory and miles ahead of the beam, though curiously deactivating the sub makes the arc sound pretty terrible, so not sure what this is about as its phenomenal with sub and surrounds
I commented about that on my dedicated thread about TruePlay, https://en.community.sonos.com/troubleshooting-228999/trueplay-tuning-a-variety-of-speakers-playbar-arc-beam-with-newer-iphones-results-in-tinny-sound-6843248
I agree that waving the affected iPhones directly over the Arc or esp. the side tweeters results in making the TruePlay tuning sound a bit better, but that’s just a workaround of forcing the iPhone to sample a bunch of treble from small tweeters. It compromises the overall fidelity of TruePlay tuning and still doesn’t sound as “correct” as TruePlay tuning with an unaffected device like a 2nd gen iPad Pro.
I true played twice using an iPhone X, the first time I had some setup issues with the arc so decided to redo whilst ensuring to wave above the arc and this yielded a massively better result. Overall sound is more than satisfactory and miles ahead of the beam, though curiously deactivating the sub makes the arc sound pretty terrible, so not sure what this is about as its phenomenal with sub and surrounds
To give some balance to this I’m not finding this at all. I found the beam severely lacking in this regard, to the point that using speech enhancement was horrible, the arc is very transparent and mids are completely transparent and full, and overall sound is fantastic.
Hey @anujgoel83 . What device did you use for the Truplay?
To give some balance to this I’m not finding this at all. I found the beam severely lacking in this regard, to the point that using speech enhancement was horrible, the arc is very transparent and mids are completely transparent and full, and overall sound is fantastic.
**Updated edit**
So I think I figured it out. Spent a lot of time on this.
Its as if the “virtual surround sound” is tuned too high. Think about a cheap sound bar and you select the “virtual surround button.” It creates a “room filling” sound but this also why people are explaining the sound is irritating especially with music. You hear too much of it thus missing out on the warmth and depth of mods. I suspect people with a large room where sound doesn’t bounce off walls don’t have this problem which explains the differing view points.
Even when I pair the sub and surrounds I still feel like the arc is trying to do too much electronically to fill the room. Let the speaker do the talking and back down the algorithm for emphasizing “virtual surround sound”
This does not explain why the vocals are tinny. Center speaker is till direct, facing you. there is no virtual surround with the speech.
Same issue here (Arc and Sub v3) - deeply disappointed in the sound quality right off the bat. Coming from a decade-old Bose Cinemate GS Series II system, this setup as it currently stands loses out pretty dramatically.
Out of the box it had a “dull” sound. Trueplay with an iPhone 11 Pro resulted in this tinny, treble-y sound described by everyone else. I was going to try Trueplay using the iPad (again, mentioned by others) but apparently support for the 2020 iPad Pro is lacking (receive a network error) so I’m stuck. The piercing highs are honestly uncomfortable to listen to even at mid-volumes so I turned off Trueplay and bumped the treble and bass a bit to get something halfway decent. It still emphasizes the highs too much and is lacking mid-range but I’m going with this weak config and keeping my fingers crossed Sonos addresses this before nearing the 45 day window or I’ll be returning it.
**Updated edit**
So I think I figured it out. Spent a lot of time on this.
Its as if the “virtual surround sound” is tuned too high. Think about a cheap sound bar and you select the “virtual surround button.” It creates a “room filling” sound but this also why people are explaining the sound is irritating especially with music. You hear too much of it thus missing out on the warmth and depth of mods. I suspect people with a large room where sound doesn’t bounce off walls don’t have this problem which explains the differing view points.
Even when I pair the sub and surrounds I still feel like the arc is trying to do too much electronically to fill the room. Let the speaker do the talking and back down the algorithm for emphasizing “virtual surround sound”
It’s definitely a software issue. I don't see a reason why Arc should have thin, tinny vocals since the center channel has one tweeter and 2 woofers. I think Sonos just decided to pack all the hardware it needs to make it sound great but decided to release half-baked product thinking they will fix all the software issues later. Usually done to meet the deadlines. Though this does not explain all the positive reviews.
I think the Sonos company released the S2 app and Sonos ARC to quickly before it was ready for prime time. I don’t remember this happening with the Sonos beam. And, I suspect this has something to do with COVID-19 in rushing the product out there, before it was ready.
Just wanted to throw my experience into this too. I am experiencing the same ‘tinny’ and ‘metallic’ sounding vocals with my ARC as well. I have a Beam in the other room and it definitely sounds more warm and fuller than the ARC. I’m not an expert on this audio stuff but I can hear a big difference between my ARC and Beam. Hope this helps.
just got the arc yesterday and hear the same thing as everyone else. thin vocals and lacking mids.
I have the same issue, and the harshness gives me a buzz. As much I want to keep the ARC these issues are not helping. Its too bright,metallic sounding.
For now, I have applied the band-aid called truplaying with iPad. Vocals still sound tinny to me. This is bad especially when Sonos said - “Arc was carefully tuned with the help of Oscar-winning sound engineers to emphasize the human voice so you never miss a word.” and “Featuring eleven high-performance drivers for crisp highs, dynamic midranges, and surprising bass.”
I have the same issue, and the harshness gives me a buzz. As much I want to keep the ARC these issues are not helping. Its too bright,metallic sounding.
My wife and I agree on this issue, I came from a Bose Soundbar 700. While I could notice more details in the movies, our first impression was that the sound is too thin and metallic like described in the post. I purchased 2x One SL and a Sub (gen 2) and I’m still debating if I should keep this system. I like the immersion it offers. I suspect based on the hardware available in the Sonos Arc a lot can be improved with software. Hopefully, we can get a more fuller sound. But I would definitely like to see are settings available in Bose where the CENTER CHANNEL can be adjusted just like the Bose SB 700. I think this could help with this issue by making speech more fuller. This is only for Movies and TV , not so much for music.
Agreed. Control over the center channel to make the speech fuller would be great if Sonos doesn’t want to fix the issue themselves. This way, we can increase the treble a bit to bring details out of the ambient sound without making the vocals thin and tinny.