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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ledzep1

Headliner II

Just got Bose 500 soundbar with the sub 500 for the same price as Arc. There’s no competition whatsoever. Music is miles better, fuller dialogues and sub-bass is awesome, thanks to the sub (compact sub that doesn’t overpower apartment and annoys neighbors). Movies and music both shine. Those who live in apartments and don’t want a Sonos sub, and having sound quality issues could consider this option. ONLY if you don’t care about Atmos.

I sold my 500 over the weekend and replaced it with an Arc. Compared to the Bose, the Arc has a massive soundstage, which was a sore point that always used to bug me with the 500. Everything was tightly localised to under my TV. The bass response comparing bars alone is night and day with the Arc. Everyone has different taste preferences, so good to hear you are enjoying your setup.

In regards to the metallic sound, I had read this thread extensively before purchasing the Arc. Day one I had exactly what has been described above. Harsh treble, thin midrange and weak bass. I Trueplayed the bar using my 3 year old iPhone X. Admittedly, it has the usual ‘pocket fluff’ buildup in the mic.

The next morning I re-ran Trueplay with a 2018 iPad Pro (3rd gen 12.9”). The difference is remarkable. No harsh sibilance and midrange is full again. Previously, I was running -7 treble and noticed all of the ‘metallic sound’ comments. Now, the bar is at 0 Treble and -3 Bass sounding wonderful.

There is definitely something odd going on with device specific Trueplay. Mic ports tend to fill with dust which would invariably lower treble response measurements.

I also run trueplay with an iPhone SE original at first and then thought I would try my iPad pro 11” (1st generation) both true plays seemed the same to my ears. I don’t actually notice this harshness, I have listened to some content and voices have sounded bright, but I put that down to the content as most content I listen to is fine.

I run treble a -3, just because in general the soundbar sounds slightly brighter than my previous soundbar.

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Alberta Beagle

Prominent Collaborator I

Just got Bose 500 soundbar with the sub 500 for the same price as Arc. There’s no competition whatsoever. Music is miles better, fuller dialogues and sub-bass is awesome, thanks to the sub (compact sub that doesn’t overpower apartment and annoys neighbors). Movies and music both shine. Those who live in apartments and don’t want a Sonos sub, and having sound quality issues could consider this option. ONLY if you don’t care about Atmos.

I looked at the Bose 700 with sub before I bought the Arc. Had my dealer set them up side by side and played the same content on both for comparison. Sound being what it is, highly subjective, to the individual I can share that to my ears the Arc was the hands down choice on all front. Soundstage being much wider than the Bose. Then add the fact the Bose is not a smart bar made the decision even easier for me.
At the end of the day I’m happy that you’ve found a solution that works for you, your room and your ears. You’re personal satisfaction is all that matters. Enjoy!!!

Beagle

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arpatil1Author

Enthusiast II

Just got Bose 500 soundbar with the sub 500 for the same price as Arc. There’s no competition whatsoever. Music is miles better, fuller dialogues and sub-bass is awesome, thanks to the sub (compact sub that doesn’t overpower apartment and annoys neighbors). Movies and music both shine. Those who live in apartments and don’t want a Sonos sub, and having sound quality issues could consider this option. ONLY if you don’t care about Atmos.

I looked at the Bose 700 with sub before I bought the Arc. Had my dealer set them up side by side and played the same content on both for comparison. Sound being what it is, highly subjective, to the individual I can share that to my ears the Arc was the hands down choice on all front. Soundstage being much wider than the Bose. Then add the fact the Bose is not a smart bar made the decision even easier for me.
At the end of the day I’m happy that you’ve found a solution that works for you, your room and your ears. You’re personal satisfaction is all that matters. Enjoy!!!

Right. Sound is indeed highly subjective and room setting affects it quite a lot (for eg. Arc did not have any wider soundstage than my 500 as my living room is an open-concept). But Bose soundbars do have AirPlay 2, Bluetooth, assistant functionality, room correction, good EQ (adjusting the center channel volume is a big plus), etc. Which smart function do you think it’s missing?

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sebas1509

Enthusiast II

@Krishma M @Scott - Sonos

Was the latest update this week meant to fix metallic sound issues?

According to Sonos, there are no issues. Lol

Based on what, exactly? That contradicts their input in this thread.

Some people either don’t know how to read, don’t want to or are trolls spreding misinformation. Reps did indeed say the ****muddy bass**** issue was corrected before. BUT they also said the engineers were now looking into the metallic sound tinny center channel issue….. then again don’t feed the trolls

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sebas1509

Enthusiast II

@Krishma M @Scott - Sonos

Was the latest update this week meant to fix metallic sound issues?

According to Sonos, there are no issues. Lol

Based on what, exactly? That contradicts their input in this thread.

Some people either don’t know how to read, don’t want to or are trolls spreding misinformation. Reps did indeed say the ****muddy bass**** issue was corrected before. BUT they also said the engineers were now looking into the metallic sound tinny center channel issue….. then again don’t feed the trolls

Edit: Guess what thread we are on? ;)

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pyro225

Enthusiast II

I’ve added a sub as I can’t bear the muddy bass any longer but still have this nasty tinny ness… driving me nuts.

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dhewitt

Lyricist III

@Krishma M @Scott - Sonos @Ryan S

Krishma, Scott, we didn't seem to get a reply from our last comment. Could you please find out for us if this metallic sound issue is likely to be fixed anytime soon or even at all? The bass issue was fixed very promptly after it was reported and this is certainly not the case for this issue, i understand different problems can take longer to rectify, but i want to know if im pointlessly hanging onto my arc in the hope of a fix and it never comes or is not expected for months, my return window is soon about to end so a prompt response would be great.

i understand it may take some time to chase this with the relevant people but on behalf of everyone with this issue we would really appreciate if you could find out what is going on. This soundbar does not sound right to me at all.

Thanks.

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GuitarSuperstar

Lead Maestro

For those of you who are still hearing the “metallic” or “tinny” sound from the Arc, more than likely it will not change anytime soon or at all. Most people who own the Arc are happy with the way it sounds, including myself. If you personally hear a “metallic” sound and it bothers you, it will probably ALWAYS bother you, and you will never reach a point where you are completely satisfied with your sound bar. For most of you, it’s probably best to just return the Arc before your return window has closed rather than wait for something that may never come.

"Receive with simplicity everything that happens to you." - Rashi

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Viljavi

Avid Contributor I

For those of you who are still hearing the “metallic” or “tinny” sound from the Arc, more than likely it will not change anytime soon or at all. Most people who own the Arc are happy with the way it sounds, including myself. If you personally hear a “metallic” sound and it bothers you, it will probably ALWAYS bother you, and you will never reach a point where you are completely satisfied with your sound bar. For most of you, it’s probably best to just return the Arc before your return window has closed rather than wait for something that may never come.

For your information ... the metallic sound that is spoken in this forum is recognized by sonos.

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Dysfunctional

Enthusiast II

Also - for what it’s worth - the bass issue (when not using a sub) is better than it was but certainly NOT 100% fixed….

I don’t have an issue with the metallic sound - but I have no doubt some people do.

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