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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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    Danio1137
    July 23, 2020

    Hi.

    Are there any figures on how many have problems, sent back or received new ones?  How big is the problem and how many may have been sold?  if anyone knows :-)

    kenwk123
    Lyricist III
    July 23, 2020

    This is such a joke people are bored of posting now on here and Sonos will probably just accept everyone is putting up with it… we need updates!

    I think by now if one wants to return they have already done so.  The rest are accepting the shortcomings and learning to live with it.  With 99% all positive reviews plus a few fanboys out there raving about the ARC, the Arc is mostly sold out.  So why should they care?

      Smilja
      Smilja
      July 23, 2020

      Hi.

      Are there any figures on how many have problems, sent back or received new ones?  How big is the problem and how many may have been sold?  if anyone knows :-)

       

      Sure, Sonos is in the know but they won’t tell you. Customers don’t have access to such information.

      »And the world is like an apple whirling silently in space, Like the circles that you find in the windmills of your mind.« (›Windmills Of Your Mind‹ [1967]. Music by Michel Legrand ; English lyrics written by Alan & Marilyn Bergman)
        sebas1509
        Enthusiast II
        July 23, 2020

        This is such a joke people are bored of posting now on here and Sonos will probably just accept everyone is putting up with it… we need updates!

        While I agree they haven’t updated in a while they did say they’re working on a fix. And it is being investigated and worked on. So It doesn’t seem theyre ignoring just working quietly and decided not to provide constant updates (for whatever reason) but yeah do as you wish if you want to return do so. And definitely post here if you haveb issues

        sebas1509
        Enthusiast II
        July 23, 2020

        This is such a joke people are bored of posting now on here and Sonos will probably just accept everyone is putting up with it… we need updates!

        I think by now if one wants to return they have already done so.  The rest are accepting the shortcomings and learning to live with it.  With 99% all positive reviews plus a few fanboys out there raving about the ARC, the Arc is mostly sold out.  So why should they care?

        They already said here theyre workin gon a fix and investigating the issue. They provided a form to submit problematic content. I do agree it is frustrating they haven’t provided any updates. But sayihng they dont care and are doing  nothing is just not right. Just speculation and doesn’t really contribute.

        Also, many have said their setups are sounding good and theyre enjoying it. So “living with it” doesnt quite fit it. 

         

        AGAIN there is an issue for some people, it seems this group isn’t small and many have complaints. SONOS said theyure working on it and theywentr quiet (dont know why or try to defend that). But let’s have accurate posts here for those who come here looking to check progress. Your post just isn’t right at no point SONOS has said “most users are happy, there is no issue,if you dont like it Arc is not for you, we plan on not investigating or working on this” so don’t be misleading.

          phollin2
          Lyricist III
          July 23, 2020

          I have been waiting since end of June for Sonos to organise an exchange of mine. They last emailed me on 13/7 and have not replied to several follow up emails over last week. Complete silence. I plan to do a credit card chargeback (not really sure if that will work). Bizarre situation. To say I’m a bit disappointed would be an understatement!!! 

          arpatil1Author
          Enthusiast II
          July 23, 2020

          I have been waiting since end of June for Sonos to organise an exchange of mine. They last emailed me on 13/7 and have not replied to several follow up emails over last week. Complete silence. I plan to do a credit card chargeback (not really sure if that will work). Bizarre situation. To say I’m a bit disappointed would be an understatement!!! 

          Have you tried their chat support yet? They helped me with my return.

          phollin2
          Lyricist III
          July 23, 2020

          I have been waiting since end of June for Sonos to organise an exchange of mine. They last emailed me on 13/7 and have not replied to several follow up emails over last week. Complete silence. I plan to do a credit card chargeback (not really sure if that will work). Bizarre situation. To say I’m a bit disappointed would be an understatement!!! 

          Have you tried their chat support yet? They helped me with my return.

          No - i’ve tried to ring but dont get much chance in the day to spend the time required to go via live chat. 

          They initially replied to email and we seemed to get quite far down the line, so my preference was just to continue with that but now they have gone completely silent…. I even tried the email the CEO link on their help pages. 

          Part of me wonders if they aren’t replying as they have no stock - that would make sense - but surely they could communicate that ???

          I am guessing they are inundated with people returning and complaining about faulty/below expectation arcs!!!!

          It’s on a par with the worst customer service I have experienced. 

          Mrfresh
          Lyricist I
          July 24, 2020

          Sonos - please fix this problem! I am not at all an audiophile and I can easily tell. 
           

          Maybe this makes movie sounds pop out more, but music playing (which I do more of) sounds really bad. I the artist’s voice sounds so thin. I had to turn the treble down to -5 to help but still not totally satisfactory. I might be to return the device if not resolved. 

          kenwk123
          Lyricist III
          July 24, 2020

          This is such a joke people are bored of posting now on here and Sonos will probably just accept everyone is putting up with it… we need updates!

          I think by now if one wants to return they have already done so.  The rest are accepting the shortcomings and learning to live with it.  With 99% all positive reviews plus a few fanboys out there raving about the ARC, the Arc is mostly sold out.  So why should they care?

          They already said here theyre workin gon a fix and investigating the issue. They provided a form to submit problematic content. I do agree it is frustrating they haven’t provided any updates. But sayihng they dont care and are doing  nothing is just not right. Just speculation and doesn’t really contribute.

          Also, many have said their setups are sounding good and theyre enjoying it. So “living with it” doesnt quite fit it. 

           

          AGAIN there is an issue for some people, it seems this group isn’t small and many have complaints. SONOS said theyure working on it and theywentr quiet (dont know why or try to defend that). But let’s have accurate posts here for those who come here looking to check progress. Your post just isn’t right at no point SONOS has said “most users are happy, there is no issue,if you dont like it Arc is not for you, we plan on not investigating or working on this” so don’t be misleading.

          Relax there just my opinion, we will see how much they care like u said.  

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