Sonos Arc - Metallic Sound

I am lending my voice to this too. I have a return expiring January 16. I am lending my voice to this issue too. I am experiencing some Sibilance or harsh timbre is speech with “S”, “Sh”, “t” etc. This is further ear-piercing at loud volumes. I am hoping a software update will fix this otherwise I’d look elsewhere. My Sonos arc is a week old.

Bought the Arc, but the thin metallic sound from vocals ruined normal tv shows with mostly talking. It was tireing on my ears. As if it was heavily compressed but still very thin sounding. Concerts, singing contests and parts of movies with heavy effects and score sounded great, but 80 percent of the time there is just talking on my TV, so I sold it and got a beam instead. Very happy with that choice. Warm and pleasant vocals.

...but I miss the wide soundstage in music from the Arc sometimes. Hope they make an upgraded Arc with the best from both worlds. 

Yes since the Dts update my arc is atrocious when using it for speech ie tv. It sounds like people are shouting into there mics and the sound is distorting. Music and background is fine but audio is definitely clipping. I have stopped using it until a software patch fixes it. I liked the sound before the Dts update.

@virgiltracy123 I have not read anywhere this update has doen anything to the sound of a Sonos device. I’d contact Sonos about this instead of waiting for an update that might not fix anything……

I also have an issue with the dialogues in movies, ARC sounds great playing music, but as soon as you add vocals or you watch a movie/show the vocals sound very compressed and as if the sounds are coming from a closed box! I bought 2 Sonos Ones too to see if that maybe helps with the quality but still no luck, I then went ahead and purchased a Samsung HW-Q950A, I like how the conversation sound on Q950A, very clear and front, but the music sounds shallow and without character. Since I am also reaching my return deadline, I wanted to see if there are any fixes/workarounds for the conversation sounding like this? Any suggestion helps.

Some suggestions that initially spring to mind from myself are…

• Have you Trueplay tuned the HT setup to the room? 
• Have you tried different EQ Settings? 
• Have you tried the ‘Speech Enhancement’ and ‘Night Sound’ features in the App?
• Have you spoken with Sonos Support Staff about the issue? 
• Have you provided the Staff with a diagnostic report to ensure that the Arc is operating within its limits and is setup/working correctly with your chosen TV? 

• I also have an issue with the dialogues in movies, ARC sounds great playing music, but as soon as you add vocals or you watch a movie/show the vocals sound very compressed and as if the sounds are coming from a closed box! I bought 2 Sonos Ones too to see if that maybe helps with the quality but still no luck, I then went ahead and purchased a Samsung HW-Q950A, I like how the conversation sound on Q950A, very clear and front, but the music sounds shallow and without character. Since I am also reaching my return deadline, I wanted to see if there are any fixes/workarounds for the conversation sounding like this? Any suggestion helps.

  Some suggestions that initially spring to mind from myself are…

  • Have you Trueplay tuned the HT setup to the room? 
  • Have you tried different EQ Settings? 
  • Have you tried the ‘Speech Enhancement’ and ‘Night Sound’ features in the App?
  • Have you spoken with Sonos Support Staff about the issue? 
  • Have you provided the Staff with a diagnostic report to ensure that the Arc is operating within its limits and is setup/working correctly with your chosen TV? 

   

• I’m an Android user, so no Trueplay
• Playing with the EQs affect the sounds more than the vocals. very minimal effect I’d say
• Speech Enhancer was on by default, turning it off makes the conversation sounds much dimmer, same as turning Night Sound on
• I have not, I just signed up here today to see if I can check with other users first
• same as above. Mostly bc the music itself sounds amazing, it’s just the vocals and conversations that sound like “coming out of a closed box” that bothers me 

unfortunately Sonos app doesn’t provide a more advanced EQ to play around. I bought 2 Sonos Ones over the weekend and even adding those in doesn’t help much with the conversations, if I take them out of “Ambient” mode and put them on “Full” it help, but then you lose the surround effects

I’m confused. Full and Ambient only change the sound when playing a music stream, and have no impact when playing the TV input, which is why it’s under the heading ‘Music Playback’. 

@hooman64,

There are still some things worth trying before contacting Sonos Support with your issue. I would first try to borrow an iOS device and see if TruePlay tuning the HT to the room helps to resolve your matter. Also as Bruce mentions, switching the sound option between Ambient & Full only applies to music audio, it has no effect on the audio out from your TV. 

If problems persist, then submitting a diagnostic report and contacting Sonos Support are probably the next best steps.

Correct, ambient and full only affect music, as I mentioned, part of my problem is also vocals in songs. I do change that to see if it affects the vocals, however, with all my testing I realized “talking” is the weak point here, whether in songs or movies. 

@Ken_Griffiths, you might find it funny, I definitely don’t have any iphones in my immediate friend/family circle. I can for sure find one and try what you suggest to, but if that’s the case, it sucks that the product is configured in a way to only cater to a certain group of users.