Enthusiast II

Answered

Sonos Arc - Metallic Sound

1017 replies
128987 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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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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Little77

Lyricist I

Just return the samsung Q950T and buy Arc package last week.
Huge difference!
Arc is very nice and accurate sound for Movie and Music.

Highly recommend to see the below video before you do the setup by Trueplay and S2.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hu8TLAco2tI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ssJ2XnsSJ-I&t=36s

I believe Metallic Sound because you did not do the best way for Trueplay.

Pls try the link’s method for Trueplay and Sonos APP setup.

I have to say Arc+Sub+ONE SL bet almost all soundbar on the market if you don't care DTS.

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pyro225

Enthusiast II

on the muddied bass thread they have just said its all fixed with the update...its not!

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sebas1509

Enthusiast II

on the muddied bass thread they have just said its all fixed with the update...its not!

No, One rep said the muddy bass issue was fixed according to SONOS. They said 0 about metallic sound or trueplay consistency issues………… So let’s not misinform.

I am however, disappointed, no more was explained or a better statement wasn’t made. However, I do not have or perceive any bass issues with my Arc

P

pyro225

Enthusiast II

on the muddied bass thread they have just said its all fixed with the update...its not!

No, One rep said the muddy bass issue was fixed according to SONOS. They said 0 about metallic sound or trueplay consistency issues………… So let’s not misinform.

I am however, disappointed, no more was explained or a better statement wasn’t made. However, I do not have or perceive any bass issues with my Arc

I bet you do if you play the right things - try drive on Netflix at 35:00 and volume at 50%+ with no sub

or eminem without me 50% +

S

sebas1509

Enthusiast II

on the muddied bass thread they have just said its all fixed with the update...its not!

No, One rep said the muddy bass issue was fixed according to SONOS. They said 0 about metallic sound or trueplay consistency issues………… So let’s not misinform.

I am however, disappointed, no more was explained or a better statement wasn’t made. However, I do not have or perceive any bass issues with my Arc

I bet you do if you play the right things - try drive on Netflix at 35:00 and volume at 50%+ with no sub

or eminem without me 50% +

I listened to the song at 60 percent volume I can’t hear anything wrong.

i played it for a while then switched trueplay off both are in this recording

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1XqMQ8NUzCr3sgjU_b13cowWr3t50Blol/view?usp=drivesdk

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pyro225

Enthusiast II

Interesting I can’t listen now as it’s late but intrigued o compare in the morning!

J

jkozlow3

Enthusiast II

on the muddied bass thread they have just said its all fixed with the update...its not!

No, One rep said the muddy bass issue was fixed according to SONOS. They said 0 about metallic sound or trueplay consistency issues………… So let’s not misinform.

I am however, disappointed, no more was explained or a better statement wasn’t made. However, I do not have or perceive any bass issues with my Arc

I bet you do if you play the right things - try drive on Netflix at 35:00 and volume at 50%+ with no sub

or eminem without me 50% +

I listened to the song at 60 percent volume I can’t hear anything wrong.

i played it for a while then switched trueplay off both are in this recording

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1XqMQ8NUzCr3sgjU_b13cowWr3t50Blol/view?usp=drivesdk

I still get the feeling some people have defective units and are hearing very different things than others OR the Arc is buggy under specific circumstances that others aren’t experiencing.

There are tons of people here and on the Sonos subreddit that have done nothing but praise the Arc - many of which have stated that the Arc was a significant upgrade from their Playbar or Beam.

S

sebas1509

Enthusiast II

Interesting I can’t listen now as it’s late but intrigued o compare in the morning!

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1hXBHZAPA5uQi2H3wpYD8gHJkS5IwCcVL/view?usp=drivesdk

here is the drive movie one. I expect you to venmo me for ruining my newtflix algorithm;) haha

oh well This one I did turn up higher had to disable limit 60 percent I had. I can’t hear anything awful the bass like sounds a bit weird like clubby. But in the sonos one it sounded similar.
I do agree it’s not the strongest bass or like as thumpy as you’d like wirh this type of club music. But it certainly doesn’t sound like shit

A

arpatil1Author

Enthusiast II

Interesting I can’t listen now as it’s late but intrigued o compare in the morning!

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1hXBHZAPA5uQi2H3wpYD8gHJkS5IwCcVL/view?usp=drivesdk

here is the drive movie one. I expect you to venmo me for ruining my newtflix algorithm;) haha

oh well This one I did turn up higher had to disable limit 60 percent I had. I can’t hear anything awful the bass like sounds a bit weird like clubby. But in the sonos one it sounded similar.
I do agree it’s not the strongest bass or like as thumpy as you’d like wirh this type of club music. But it certainly doesn’t sound like shit

That’s so not how this song should sound like lol. I do listen to this song quite often ( Being an Indian). Balance is off by miles. But hey, this is a $799 soundbar that’s not made for Music. So it’s fine.

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sebas1509

Enthusiast II

Interesting I can’t listen now as it’s late but intrigued o compare in the morning!

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1hXBHZAPA5uQi2H3wpYD8gHJkS5IwCcVL/view?usp=drivesdk

here is the drive movie one. I expect you to venmo me for ruining my newtflix algorithm;) haha

oh well This one I did turn up higher had to disable limit 60 percent I had. I can’t hear anything awful the bass like sounds a bit weird like clubby. But in the sonos one it sounded similar.
I do agree it’s not the strongest bass or like as thumpy as you’d like wirh this type of club music. But it certainly doesn’t sound like shit

That’s so not how this song should sound like lol. I do listen to this song quite often ( Being an Indian). Balance is off by miles. But hey, this is a $799 soundbar that’s not made for Music. So it’s fine.

The netflix song you mean? I mean obviously this is the first time I’ve heard this song but having the “balance off” doesn’t mean the speaker is broken. If you can give me the name of the song I can try playing it on my sonos one to check “what it is supposed to sound like” then again, maybe to you the sonos one is also not good? Not sure. I do have a homepod but I boxed it since I’m gifting it.

I didn’t love the homepod music performance as I said before, but I recognize the bass is punchier.

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