Enthusiast II

Answered

Sonos Arc - Metallic Sound

1017 replies
128989 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?

This topic has been closed for further comments. You can use the search bar to find a similar topic, or create a new one by clicking Create Topic at the top of the page.

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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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phollin2

Lyricist III

My replacement Arc went back today for a refund. It’s been replaced with another beam (already had sub and two ones). I’m happy with this set up and saved some cash. Butttttt… a few hours after dispatch I’ve been sent an invite to beta test upcoming update to the arc. I’m curious as to whether this will improve things… anyone tried it?

BMF

Prodigy III

I would have thought Beta Testers would be under an Non Disclosure Agreement, so if anyone had tested it they may not be able to report anything.

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Viljavi

Avid Contributor I

My replacement Arc went back today for a refund. It’s been replaced with another beam (already had sub and two ones). I’m happy with this set up and saved some cash. Butttttt… a few hours after dispatch I’ve been sent an invite to beta test upcoming update to the arc. I’m curious as to whether this will improve things… anyone tried it?

When you say a new update for sonos arc, it will be a new software update, right?

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phollin2

Lyricist III

My replacement Arc went back today for a refund. It’s been replaced with another beam (already had sub and two ones). I’m happy with this set up and saved some cash. Butttttt… a few hours after dispatch I’ve been sent an invite to beta test upcoming update to the arc. I’m curious as to whether this will improve things… anyone tried it?

When you say a new update for sonos arc, it will be a new software update, right?

It said a few changes to the arc, so yes I guess that means a software update

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BigTelHols

Lyricist II

So after a night's mixed viewing I can definitely still hear an issue with the sound from the Arc and so can the OH now.

When OH came to mine we watched Coronation Street, audio was fine, voices front and central nice and clear. Lucifer on prime was fine. Watched Fatal Attraction on iTunes and there were scenes that the audio was off. There's a club scene when the affair starts that went really loud (OH complained I was deaf), then during a meal scene I struggled to hear the conversation. The voices were low but ambient background sounds were loud, it was like the director had the window open and mic outside whilst filming.

It's the same issue I've had before where I've struggled to hear the conversation, with vocals not being front, center and clear

O

oriboaz

Prodigy I

So after a night's mixed viewing I can definitely still hear an issue with the sound from the Arc and so can the OH now.

When OH came to mine we watched Coronation Street, audio was fine, voices front and central nice and clear. Lucifer on prime was fine. Watched Fatal Attraction on iTunes and there were scenes that the audio was off. There's a club scene when the affair starts that went really loud (OH complained I was deaf), then during a meal scene I struggled to hear the conversation. The voices were low but ambient background sounds were loud, it was like the director had the window open and mic outside whilst filming.

It's the same issue I've had before where I've struggled to hear the conversation, with vocals not being front, center and clear

This is a different issue than the metallic sound in this thread. Be aware that many films are intentionally mixed so that the voice channel is weaker than other channels. I suggest you do some A/B testing: try to listen to the scene, from the same source, with (good) headphones on. See if the problem persists there. If it does, then the problem is with the source material. However, if with headphones the voice is clear and background is weak, than there may be a problem with your Arc set-up.

(Also: make sure that the Arc is receiving a Dolby signal and not something else. The Apple TV defaults to outputting LPCM audio, which the Arc cannot support yet. This results in a subpar stereo mix, rather than surround sound. The Apple TV has a setting to force Dolby Digital sound, which will sound markedly better).

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shane_sd

Lyricist III

Watched Lord of the Rings (Fellowship) last night and it was horrible. Piercing. Couldn’t hear voices.

Haven’t returned my quite yet. Waiting on the update.

A

Alberta Beagle

Prominent Collaborator I

Watched Lord of the Rings (Fellowship) last night and it was horrible. Piercing. Couldn’t hear voices.

Haven’t returned my quite yet. Waiting on the update.

Return it. It’s crap. Will never work for you.
Mine, on the other hand has been fantastic and it’s no issues with connectivity or Atmos content.
You’re a very small minority of unhappy buyers. The Arc continues to be sold out everywhere with few complaints. Not sure exactly what the expectation was but if you want it to sound like a $40,000 home theatre set up then start saving your money to buy a $40,000 home theatre.

Beagle

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pyro225

Enthusiast II

Watched Lord of the Rings (Fellowship) last night and it was horrible. Piercing. Couldn’t hear voices.

Haven’t returned my quite yet. Waiting on the update.

Return it. It’s crap. Will never work for you.
Mine, on the other hand has been fantastic and it’s no issues with connectivity or Atmos content.
You’re a very small minority of unhappy buyers. The Arc continues to be sold out everywhere with few complaints. Not sure exactly what the expectation was but if you want it to sound like a $40,000 home theatre set up then start saving your money to buy a $40,000 home theatre.

No we don’t we want something that sound as good as the playbar which is 7years old! This fails that in every way except Atmos. Do you ever run yours with bass at 50% plus? Or do you just have a sub?

A

Alberta Beagle

Prominent Collaborator I

Watched Lord of the Rings (Fellowship) last night and it was horrible. Piercing. Couldn’t hear voices.

Haven’t returned my quite yet. Waiting on the update.

Return it. It’s crap. Will never work for you.
Mine, on the other hand has been fantastic and it’s no issues with connectivity or Atmos content.
You’re a very small minority of unhappy buyers. The Arc continues to be sold out everywhere with few complaints. Not sure exactly what the expectation was but if you want it to sound like a $40,000 home theatre set up then start saving your money to buy a $40,000 home theatre.

No we don’t we want something that sound as good as the playbar which is 7years old! This fails that in every way except Atmos. Do you ever run yours with bass at 50% plus? Or do you just have a sub?

Most Arc owners will disagree with you. As stated there are very few owners who aren’t satisfied. Sound being highly subjective I won’t argue that yours sounds horrible to “you”. If it does do yourself and the rest of us a favour and sell it or return it. You’ll feels so much better with something else.

Beagle

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