Enthusiast II

Answered

Sonos Arc - Metallic Sound

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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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Jimothy

Contributor I

@Jimothy Yes, there are people who will read these comments and go purchase the Arc and thoroughly enjoy the way it sounds like myself and many many others. Your opinion about the Arc is an exception not the rule.

The solution to your problem is really simple. Sell your Sonos Arc and find a speaker system that you can actually enjoy. The Sonos Arc is in very high demand so you won’t have any problems selling it for a good price. I hope you kept the box.

Yes I saved the box. But I prefer to work with what I got before abandoning ship. If there is a forum such as this where I can voice grievances in hopes of getting them fixed I will go down that route first which is what I’m doing. Thank you for your input.

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turoc

Lyricist I

Come on Sonos! I have the arc 5.1 system and it is by far the worst 5.1 system I have ever owned. I have reverted to just using my TV speakers as the dialogue is clear. I spent $1700 on this system and I’m way outside the return window. I definitely feel like Sonos RAPED me here. before the arc I had the beam and thought that sounded pretty terrible for the price so like an idiot I upgraded to the arc thinking that throwing more money at the system would solve the problem. It did not. I think that Sonos just makes a terrible sound bar altogether i guess. I have been listening to this thing for seven months and I have never hated watching movies more than when I turn on my TV and have to listen to this POS. If this is something fixable by a software update why the hell hasn’t SONOS fixED this yet? Anyone stating the sound is good or even reasonable for the price is either insane, deaf, or working for SONOS.

i do agree with you, i have a LG C8 and the dialog is a lot clearer on my tv speakers.. i feel the arc is lacking of mid and accuracy. Maybe adding a sub will fix this? Or maybe it is a trueplay problem i don’t know .. i had the jbl 9.1 at the same time and the dialog was clearer and a lot warmer, more enjoyable.

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J

Jimothy

Contributor I

Come on Sonos! I have the arc 5.1 system and it is by far the worst 5.1 system I have ever owned. I have reverted to just using my TV speakers as the dialogue is clear. I spent $1700 on this system and I’m way outside the return window. I definitely feel like Sonos RAPED me here. before the arc I had the beam and thought that sounded pretty terrible for the price so like an idiot I upgraded to the arc thinking that throwing more money at the system would solve the problem. It did not. I think that Sonos just makes a terrible sound bar altogether i guess. I have been listening to this thing for seven months and I have never hated watching movies more than when I turn on my TV and have to listen to this POS. If this is something fixable by a software update why the hell hasn’t SONOS fixED this yet? Anyone stating the sound is good or even reasonable for the price is either insane, deaf, or working for SONOS.

i do agree with you, i have a LG C8 and the dialog is a lot clearer on my tv speakers.. i feel the arc is lacking of mid and accuracy. Maybe adding a sub will fix this? Or maybe it is a trueplay problem i don’t know .. i had the jbl 9.1 at the same time and the dialog was clearer and a lot warmer, more enjoyable.

The sub has zero affect on the terrible sound quality. It sounds just as bad just with more bass.

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rick.f

Lyricist III

The Sonos ARC sounds terrible !! I’m following this topic for 4 months. No answer from Sonos after all.

I’m wondering if Sonos is actually reading this topic..

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Rick

G

GuitarSuperstar

Lead Maestro

@rick.f Just curious… if you have a soundbar that you think has sounded “terrible” for four months, why are you still using the same soundbar?

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

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rick.f

Lyricist III

Because Sonos has also admitted that this problem has been recognised by themselves.

6 Months ago.

@Krishma M

“Hi folks! Just to let you know that we have received the reports and working on resolving this. We’ll surely let you know once the fix has been done. Appreciate all your patience. If you any other concerns, please let us know. Thanks!”

all the time I was hoping that this was indeed resolved by an update. I have multiple Sonos products. So still had confidence that it would be fixed….

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Rick

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rick.f

Lyricist III

@Ryan S @Jean C. @Scott - Sonos @

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Rick

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kojak35

Lyricist III

I am not sure if you have tried this or not. I had dialog issues too. I ran trueplay using my iPhone 6. When running trueplay I found that if you stay closer to your listening position it will boose the dialog. If you get too close to the soundbar it will limit the center channel. I would not recommend running trueplay on an iPad because of the dual microphone. Also make sure that you are getting dolby digital 5.1, or any dolby format other than 2.0 or pcm. You can check this by going into settings and then about system. It will show you what format is being provided by the Arc. I have the Arc and after following these steps I don't have any problems now. It sounds incredible.

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Bernado

Trending Lyricist III

@rick.f in case you were unaware Ryan S has 'retired' from here, along with others from Sonos support I believe.

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soesed

Lyricist III

@Krishma M

“Hi folks! Just to let you know that we have received the reports and working on resolving this. We’ll surely let you know once the fix has been done. Appreciate all your patience. If you any other concerns, please let us know. Thanks!”

So, what is status of this after 4 months and calling Sonos Support, indication is not on list of any problems known?

Thank you.

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