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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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    yeezus69
    Lyricist III
    October 17, 2020

    I have the same issue.  Been working with Sonos and they even replaced the device. As of today they are telling me to disable eARC to fix the problem.  Seems like they rushed this project out and can’t seem to fix it. 

    Did turning off eARC fix the issue for you?

    This is for sure a half assed release. 

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      ledzep1
      Headliner II
      October 17, 2020

      What’s eARC got to do with metallic/harsh sounds.

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      rick.f
      Lyricist III
      October 20, 2020

      Why is there no answer yet, there have been several updates last months, but the ARC still sounds metallic. 😔

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      Rick
        Janoabatedaga
        Enthusiast I
        October 22, 2020

        Hi, I’ve just received my Sonos arc and Sub gen 3. I’m having the same issues as others here. Watching Tv news is unbearable with this thing, the highs are extremely high and voices sound extremely tinny with absolutely no depth. Dolby Atmos on Netflix and music is ok though. Having spent a lot for this setup in Argentina, I’m kind of disappointed. 

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          Bcd123
          Lyricist III
          November 9, 2020

          New to Sonos. Having the same problem. Will have to return at this rate. Is the beam much better? I’d try that with the sub and surrounds if so, otherwise it might need to be a different brand! It’s so tinny and harsh!

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            Shedza
            Lyricist I
            November 10, 2020

            While searching the community posts for some indication of the angle of the upward firing speakers on the Arc (anybody know if it’s 15 or 20 degrees off the vertical?), I see people are complaining about tinny sound from their Arc. I found this on YouTube which suggests there is an issue using certain models of iPhone with Trueplay when calibrating your system...

             

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            Bcd123
            Lyricist III
            November 10, 2020

            Tried a different phone. Hasn’t worked for me. Think I’ll have to return. Such a shame. Maybe it’s just difference tastes 

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              Jack33
              Lyricist II
              November 26, 2020

              I had to join to comment in the hope that Sonos sort this out. I’ve got 2 Sonos 1’s and I was amazed when I first heard them, so I was excited to get the arc. After spending some time with it, It definitely lacks mid range depth for sure and is definitely too bright. Music can sound OK but movies lack that oomph that I’ve heard from other (much cheaper!!) soundbars. Hopefully an update will sort this - the thing has enough woofers and speakers to get a more full sound surely?!

              I truetuned it, but I’ve turned that off now as that made it sound even worse. Please sort this Sonos!!!

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                rick.f
                Lyricist III
                November 26, 2020

                @Jack33 Same story here no reply from Sonos at all…. 

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                Rick
                  soesed
                  Lyricist III
                  November 26, 2020

                  So, is there a fix?  There are multiple forums on this/similar sound concerns.  I want to love the ARC, but either can’t hear it or it becomes painful.  However, you can hear that the real sound is in there somewhere and at times, you get to hear some of it and then, ugh.

                  Need to know if I return.

                   

                  Thank you.

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