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Sonos Arc - Metallic Sound

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G
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Honestly, my $120 Vizio sound bar beats the Arc in all respects, except when playing Dolby Atmos media.

 

This is not a preference issue - the sound coming out of the Arc is not correct. 

M
Userlevel 3
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Here also flat metallic sound and missing mid range. Voices sound very low and ambient much louder.

 

i turned off Trueplay, this made the flat sound worse

G
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I could not agree with this more. I cannot believe that all the media fawned over the Arc given this very noticeable issue.  I will be saving the box and my old soundbar - if this is not fixed within the next 45 days, it will definitely be going back.

 

Can’t believe Sonos either did not notice this issue or thought that it sounded good.

K

the highs being too high which sort of feels “harsh”. 

 Anyone else feels that Arc is over-emphasizing the highs with compromised mids?

Yes same here,  I am glad I am not the only one.  This will be hard to fix as I am guessing the ARC is purposely “tuned” in this way.  Also I think a lot of ppl will not even notice this if they don’t have a reference point to compare with. (eg. stereo system or other soundbar).

A
Userlevel 6
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I agree. Mine just sounds off and not what I expected at all - especially after listening to so many other Sonos products over the years. Being that Sonos is reluctant to help with with an RMA at the moment I still have mine. I’m going to wait to see what happens with next week’s update for the bass issue and then make a final decision on a return. 

Oops. I accidentally tagged your answer as the best. don't know how to fix it. @Ryan S

Ohhh. I dunno either! 

I fixed it.

 

Thanks for the feedback everyone. The team is very focused on the bass issue right now, but I’ve flagged this with them too. I’ll let you know if there’s any news to share.

Hey @Ryan S  . Thanks for the quick response. We totally understand that the bass issue takes priority right now. We will come back to this once that’s fixed.

Ryan S
Userlevel 7
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I agree. Mine just sounds off and not what I expected at all - especially after listening to so many other Sonos products over the years. Being that Sonos is reluctant to help with with an RMA at the moment I still have mine. I’m going to wait to see what happens with next week’s update for the bass issue and then make a final decision on a return. 

Oops. I accidentally tagged your answer as the best. don't know how to fix it. @Ryan S

Ohhh. I dunno either! 

I fixed it.

 

Thanks for the feedback everyone. The team is very focused on the bass issue right now, but I’ve flagged this with them too. I’ll let you know if there’s any news to share.

Mark good posts by pressing the like button, and select the best answer on questions you've asked to help others find solutions.
A
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Thank you for opening this thread, I wanted to open one but kept procrastinating. 

  1. Everybody talks about the bass issues ( alright yes that is an issue)
  2. My point is its not just the bass issue overall Sonos Arc and even the Sub does not sound right
    1. Arc has a very metallic tone, too crisp and harsh to the hears its like having 100% Treble and only the tweeters are working.
    2. Arc lower volume is really low and cannot hear any voice, with enhancing voice yes I do hear it better but why do I want to do that unless its night time and I am having a very low volume level
    3. Arc sound is not balanced and something is off, I am still wondering why no acknowledgement on this from Sonos
  3. Sonos Sub Gen 3 - No comments, personally previous Sub gen 2 performed better, but I am not able to tell what is the difference in this sub since low frequencies are always difficult to measure.

Yes, I have tried different EQ settins, trueplay, my living room is well laid out with carpet, paintings, couch etc so room acoustics are fine. I had LG SJ9 sold it just after getting the Sonos ARC and now regretting. The LG SJ9 for its cost sounded much better (of course the bass was thin in that)

I have 30 more days before I could return I think in the US the return period is only 45 days. So if Sonos does not comment back or reply to my emails. Both Arc + Sub goes back. I am totally disappointed.

BMF
Userlevel 5
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This is the same issue I have, it sounds like a badly EQ’d speakers.

 

the bass is overpowering (via Sub) with TruePlay off and nasally with TruePlay on.

 

i have retuned the Arc, assuming that I might have messed up TruePlay setup.

 

I replaced Beam with this Arc and used Playbar in this same location before that.

 

it does not sound like anything is broken in the speaker, more like something in the EQ has become messed up.

 

sounds way “thinner”.

 

like moving from a larger speaker to smaller speakers.

 

if this was moving From Arc to Beam I might have put it down to size of the unit… but seems odd to go the other way.

A

I agree. Mine just sounds off and not what I expected at all - especially after listening to so many other Sonos products over the years. Being that Sonos is reluctant to help with with an RMA at the moment I still have mine. I’m going to wait to see what happens with next week’s update for the bass issue and then make a final decision on a return. 

Oops. I accidentally tagged your answer as the best. don't know how to fix it. @Ryan S

Ohhh. I dunno either! 

P
Userlevel 3
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I haven’t had a chance to test this in my ARC, until they fix the bass issue. Until the software update, it’s staying turned off.

L
Userlevel 3
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I can confirmed this is the same case for me.

I spend most of the times using the Arc for watching films and TV shows. Dialogues are harsh/sharp and metallic sounding. At times it sounds like it’s coming from a laptop speaker. Music fares better, but still poses the same problem. 

Generally, the sound is uncomfortable to listen at mid to high volume, even causing discomfort to my ears sometimes. Hopefully the Sonos team can look into this.

A
Userlevel 6
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I agree. Mine just sounds off and not what I expected at all - especially after listening to so many other Sonos products over the years. Being that Sonos is reluctant to help with with an RMA at the moment I still have mine. I’m going to wait to see what happens with next week’s update for the bass issue and then make a final decision on a return. 

Oops. I accidentally tagged your answer as the best. don't know how to fix it. @Ryan S

A

I agree. Mine just sounds off and not what I expected at all - especially after listening to so many other Sonos products over the years. Being that Sonos is reluctant to help with with an RMA at the moment I still have mine. I’m going to wait to see what happens with next week’s update for the bass issue and then make a final decision on a return. 

S
Userlevel 3
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Recently set up a brand new Arc and Sub 3.0 and something is not sounding right.  Coming from a Playbase, Play 5, and several Play 1s around the house, the sound is metallic, tinny, unbalanced, lacking any midrange or full sound that I’ve come to love from Sonos.

I’m aware of the current issue with standalone Arc bass response but there is an issue with Arc + Sub as well that needs to be resolved.  Hoping the Arc bug fix will remedy how Arc performs with the Sub paired next week.

Is anyone else experiencing this same issue with Arc + Sub set up??

P
Userlevel 3

Same issue here. I will copy what I posted on Reddit. 

My ARC sounds EXTREMELY thin and tinny sounding. Very metallic sounding. Vocals are really awful right now and really hurt my ears. I really have no idea what is going on. It’s like the soundbar has 0 mid-bass and has maxed out the treble. I have the Sonos Sub as well and it is very good but the soundbar really sounds awful right now with music. I have tuned my room and kept settings at flat.

R
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I am also hearing this.

P
Userlevel 3

For some reason my ARC sounds EXTREMELY thin and tinny sounding. Very metallic sounding. Vocals are really awful right now and really hurt my ears. I really have no idea what is going on. It’s like the sound bar has 0 mid bass and has maxed out treble. I have the Sonos Sub as well and it is very good but the sound bar really sounds awful right now with music. I have tuned my room and kept settings at flat. Has anyone else ran into this?

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