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arpatil1
Enthusiast II
June 17, 2020
Answered

Sonos Arc - Metallic Sound

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?

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    Scott - SonosAnswer
    Sonos Product Management
    July 2, 2020

    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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    TomasKV
    Lyricist III
    July 12, 2020
    1. Best Buy Arc sounds better than Amazon Arc
    2. Called Sonos support- wasn’t happy and but, the Arc fixed itself the next morning.
    3. Electricity went off and Arc is fixed when it came back on.
    4. Disabled wifi and now, the Arc sounds good now.

    Please tell me you people are joking, right? 

    Maybe you should read the whole text. Then you wouldn't write point number 4 :-)

    blader80
    Contributor I
    July 12, 2020

    This is most probably a hardware design flaw which will be masked by future firmware/software updates. Compression at loud volume is pretty bad as well (rtings.com)

    Having said that I will definitely be returning the Arc and will make a final decision on what to replace it with this week. Sonos will definitely not admit anything right now as that will mean disastrous financial consequences especially in Covid times… My first and last sonos product.

      IndustrialEcho
      IndustrialEcho
      Lyricist III
      July 12, 2020

      Is it possible that the different size speakers are playing a roll in less bass and tinny highs? My Playbar has a much bigger enclosure and I would imagine bigger woofers, midrange  and tweeters, although just not as many as the Arc.

      In any case, sadly, I am returning it and going back to the Playbar. ….

      Formerly with a Playbar, now with an Arc, but unfortunately, due to poor sound quality, soon back to the Playbar. / Sub / 2 Sonos Ones
        arpatil1Author
        Enthusiast II
        July 13, 2020
        1. Best Buy Arc sounds better than Amazon Arc
        2. Called Sonos support- wasn’t happy and but, the Arc fixed itself the next morning.
        3. Electricity went off and Arc is fixed when it came back on.
        4. Disabled wifi and now, the Arc sounds good now.

        Please tell me you people are joking, right? 

        Maybe you should read the whole text. Then you wouldn't write point number 4 :-)

        Nice use of the edit button right there, mate. Saved the day.

        knafets
        Lyricist III
        July 13, 2020

        Decision made: Arc will be returned. 

        I was watching a movie last night. Halfway I turned off the Arc and watched further via the built TV-speakers. There was not a moment I was thinking off putting the Arc back on.. I think that says it all...

        Someone on this forum nailed it:  “The Arc sounds like a built in TV-speaker with bass”. Utterly disappointed...

         

         

         

          Mitchellsx
          Renowned Enthusiast II
          July 13, 2020

          @Simon B 

          Hi can you find out what is going on regards to this issue, its all gone very quiet from Sonos on this thread, but other threads are being replied to even tho this and the bass issue thread are much bigger.

           

          thank you

          neo06
          Lyricist III
          July 13, 2020

          @arpatil1 On your suggestion I tried the tuning with iPhone 7 and honestly I do feel that the sound is thin or metallic anymore. I have tried both movies and music. I generally listen at level 40-50 that may be one of the reason. I havent found a reason to complain after my new trueplay settings. May be I am not able to hear the issues. I have the complete system with Arc, Surrounds and Sub. I had the surrounds, added Sub and Arc after selling my Bose Bundle. I have found the sound better than the Bose for sure. Could it be possible that you may have some hardware issues missed by Sonos QC. However, the one thing that I agree upon is the silence of Sonos team on this issue. This makes me feel nervous about the money I spent on Sonos. 

          sebas1509
          Enthusiast II
          July 13, 2020

          @arpatil1 On your suggestion I tried the tuning with iPhone 7 and honestly I do feel that the sound is thin or metallic anymore. I have tried both movies and music. I generally listen at level 40-50 that may be one of the reason. I havent found a reason to complain after my new trueplay settings. May be I am not able to hear the issues. I have the complete system with Arc, Surrounds and Sub. I had the surrounds, added Sub and Arc after selling my Bose Bundle. I have found the sound better than the Bose for sure. Could it be possible that you may have some hardware issues missed by Sonos QC. However, the one thing that I agree upon is the silence of Sonos team on this issue. This makes me feel nervous about the money I spent on Sonos. 

          Out of curiosity which Bose bundle did you have? I sampled the bose 500 and 700 and thought playbar sounded better.

          neo06
          Lyricist III
          July 13, 2020

          @sebas1509 I had the Bose ST300 bundle. I auditioned both the playbar and Bose when I initially bought Bose. Wide Soundstage and vocals of Bose was not match for Playbar. I found playbar to be more musical than Bose, however for movies and TV, my ears found Bose to be much better. Additionally the Airplay, HDMI and a great price for Bose was icing on the cake.

          sebas1509
          Enthusiast II
          July 13, 2020

          @sebas1509 I had the Bose ST300 bundle. I auditioned both the playbar and Bose when I initially bought Bose. Wide Soundstage and vocals of Bose was not match for Playbar. I found playbar to be more musical than Bose, however for movies and TV, my ears found Bose to be much better. Additionally the Airplay, HDMI and a great price for Bose was icing on the cake.

          And if I understand your comment you say the Sonos Arc is superior than the Bose ST300 bundle you previously had? I think this is the predecessor to the Bose 700, correct me if I am wrong.

           

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