Enthusiast II

Answered

Sonos Arc - Metallic Sound

1017 replies
128976 views

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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S

Scott - SonosAnswer

Sonos Product Management

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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BMF

Prodigy III

Updated, let’s see.

hopefully a “what’s new” will be released

App store did not say very much in the release notes

S

sebas1509

Enthusiast II

Updated, let’s see.

hopefully a “what’s new” will be released

App store did not say very much in the release notes

What version? The app wont really fix anything besides the possible supposed trueplay issues.

But I don’t see any updates. I see 12.0.2 as 3w ago. And also, the fix would be a firmware fix so check updates in the app

T

TheHeadlessPoster

Enthusiast I

Updated, let’s see.

hopefully a “what’s new” will be released

App store did not say very much in the release notes

What version? The app wont really fix anything besides the possible supposed trueplay issues.

But I don’t see any updates. I see 12.0.2 as 3w ago. And also, the fix would be a firmware fix so check updates in the app

After you update the app it says a system update is available and asks you to update your system.

BMF

Prodigy III

Version 12.0.3

App and System updates

S

sebas1509

Enthusiast II

Version 12.0.3

App and System updates

You are correct just updating the system. Unclear what the improvements are? I expect them to comment in one of the threads explaining.

@Scott - Sonos @Krishma M Does this 12.0.3 update target this issue?

Bumper

Version 12.0.3

App and System updates

"Performance enhancements and improved reliability."

S

sebas1509

Enthusiast II

Ok: I want to start by saying I am not a person that is super sensitive to this issue. I updated the app and firmware then played songs I had played this morning. for some reason to me it sounded worse like more lifeless. BUT then i re-truplayed with my same phone iphone XR and now to my ears it sounds better than it did before the update. The high pitch sounds arent bad (less noticeable to me ) I turned treble to -1 and i think it is perfect now. The bass also seems a bit more present. It could be truplay variability. Maybe this is placebo so please update and RETRUPLAY!!! and let us know

S

sebas1509

Enthusiast II

@oriboaz btw before this update: I played that scene you talked about on the arc and then airplayed to a homepod. I think you shouldnt point at one content to blame. This is because this Sssss could be mic related. On the homepod I can clearly hear the Sssssss as well when she speaks. I think the reason the Arc shows more of an issue there is because it goes higher frequencies so it can be a bit harsh but I need to try it again after this update. Update and retune and lets see

P

phollin2

Lyricist III

So I finally received a replacement arc today. I’ve set up and tested and the verdict is in….. it’s exactly the same as the old one!!!

Same tinny, hallow sound, annoying dynamic range (loud one minute, inaudible the next), different volumes on different channels, doesn’t push out sound to fill entire open plan room, sounds odd and artificial… can clearly tell it’s coming from sound bar which is separate from tv. Basically it’s a bit of a mess.

It’s even more noticeable as I have been using a beam for last week which is a much nicer sound (but smaller soundstage).

ive got a sub + ones as a rears. Squarish room. True play with iPhone 6s and iPad. updated with today’s update. All in all bit of a disappointing saga.

S

sebas1509

Enthusiast II

So I finally received a replacement arc today. I’ve set up and tested and the verdict is in….. it’s exactly the same as the old one!!!

Same tinny, hallow sound, annoying dynamic range (loud one minute, inaudible the next), different volumes on different channels, doesn’t push out sound to fill entire open plan room, sounds odd and artificial… can clearly tell it’s coming from sound bar which is separate from tv. Basically it’s a bit of a mess.

It’s even more noticeable as I have been using a beam for last week which is a much nicer sound (but smaller soundstage).

ive got a sub + ones as a rears. Squarish room. True play with iPhone 6s and iPad. updated with today’s update. All in all bit of a disappointing saga.

I want to repeat the great majority of users and Sonos have stated this is not a hardware issue. Replacement doesn't solve the problem ( many reported so) I have seen one user saying it did, and i attribute that to something else (not sure what).

Please @phollin2 check the new updated issued this morning (not that loing ago) you must update the app then the firmware within the app. After that you need to re-truplay! I noticed an improvemen in music. After this I am not sure what was changed or if it is a case of a truplay incosistency fix. But my bar sounds better I can say I am happy with it. If you think it still sound harsh turning down the treble one or two notches can help.

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