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Sonos Arc - Metallic Sound

A
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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?

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Best answer by Scott - Sonos 3 July 2020, 00:56

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1017 replies

S

Can confirm. Sound issues come back if I change the arc pass through setting back to PCM. So the HDMI cable is definitely NOT the problem. Not sure why Sonos support prescribed it to a previous poster (maybe an extra precaution).

 

PCM just means stereo.  There’s absolutely no reason it shouldn’t sound good in stereo as well.  What a POS.

Right? Honestly, Changing it to PCM makes it sound like a $50 Bluetooth speaker.

Even with this solved, I still find the mids quite lacking compared to my older bookshelf speaker setup. Hoping for a software update that fixes this soon

C

I think a lot of the people who are happy with the Arc are coming from listening to tv speakers.  Which in most cases, a Bluetooth speaker would be an upgrade.  You don’t see many people on here coming from another soundbar, and definitely not a decent hifi setup, praising the arc.  Poor or limited reference points.  

I also think it can be source dependant too, for me it can sound ok on Netflix and movies but when I switch back to Sky it sounds awful

I’ve had a Playbar for 5 years and since setting it up the first day I’ve hardly had to alter any settings, with this thing it’s constant trying it with different settings or trueplay on or and then when you think you have it sounding right on a certain show or movie as soon as you watch something else it sounds terrible again and at a much higher volume.

 

P
Userlevel 2
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I read this forum since the arc premiere because I have the same problem. With no warmth in the sound, unbearable highs not to mention the sssss. After the update the problem is still there. This update has not fixed anything in my case. I'm going to exchange my arc for another one, I'm still on time. But if this is not fixed I return everything. By the way I have arc, sub and two sonos 1 rear and it still sounds just as bad. I come from the playbar, with sub and 2 one, no point of comparison.

Very well put and exactly how I feel.  


 

I was convinced mine was faulty as I was sure an £800 sound bar couldn’t sound worse than the beam. I exchanged it and the new one is EXACTLY the same. I don’t think it’s hardware, I think the arc is just rubbish. Mine is going back.

P
Userlevel 2
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It’s not the HDMI cable causing the issue people.

I would have a hard time believing that changing the hdmi would do anything as well.  The ARC is even worse with music, and I’m sending that over WiFi via Tidal and Spotify.  The HDMI plays no factor in music transfer for me.

Well said. I think all this ‘the update improved things’, moving the arc helped, adding the sub helped, replacing the hdmi helped, changing my tv setting help is essentially a placebo. I think it’s hard to accept that the sound bar you have been looking forward to is actually very poor. 

O
Userlevel 4
Badge +6

Is it possible to mark this as unanswered? I think Sonos is ignoring this thread as it is marked as answered. There is a problem with Arc (I believe it’s a firmware problem), and it should be addressed. Sonos should continue to update us that it’s being worked on. 

L
Userlevel 5
Badge +11

I think a lot of the people who are happy with the Arc are coming from listening to tv speakers.  Which in most cases, a Bluetooth speaker would be an upgrade.  You don’t see many people on here coming from another soundbar, and definitely not a decent hifi setup, praising the arc.  Poor or limited reference points.  

 

Not all, I had a Yamaha Ysp2700 previously, £900 soundbar, from what I have played so far I think the ARC sounds great.

 

D

When you look at other "cinema" systems, it almost always includes a sub, probably because the soundbar can not perform bass on its own.  It does not defend Sonos but could it be a bit like they thought here too?  Incredibly bad marketing then to say that Arc should have a base.  It may fix itself over time.  I will buy another system now for testing, both are on open purchase.

C
Userlevel 6
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From the above facts, here is what I think is happening:

  1. Sonos Arc was tuned at the factory to a certain room size and shape. Testing was probably done for a limited number of scenarios, and for them it works well.
  2. Trueplay also assumes certain factors about a room, such as (maybe) symmetry, wall material, etc. 
  3. Thus, there are problems if people have different room setups that cause distorted sound signatures. For example, in my TV room: the Arc is on a cerdenza near a reinforced concrete wall. Across from it ( about 4.5 meters) is another concrete wall. To its left (looking at it from the sofa) is a big glass doorway, and to its right is an empty space (for the dining area and kitchen). Ceilings and floor are both reinforced concrete, and there are no rugs or anything of the sort. This is very different to what you may find in North America, and perhaps differs significantly from the settings Arc was optimized for. 

@oriboaz Totally agree the room will affect the sound, lots of hard surfaces will make a bright speaker sound brighter. What is interesting is your room you describe above is similar to the picture of Arc on the Sonos home page, lots of hard surfaces, albeit sonos.com has a rug!

 

K
Userlevel 2
Badge +2

I think a lot of the people who are happy with the Arc are coming from listening to tv speakers.  Which in most cases, a Bluetooth speaker would be an upgrade.  You don’t see many people on here coming from another soundbar, and definitely not a decent hifi setup, praising the arc.  Poor or limited reference points.  

 

Not all, I had a Yamaha Ysp2700 previously, £900 soundbar, from what I have played so far I think the ARC sounds great.

 

I had the Yamaha 2500. The Arc l bought was terrible compared to it!! I got the beam and sub plus rear speakers and that was a good upgrade. I will return for the Arc once this business is sorted.

L
Userlevel 5
Badge +11

I think a lot of the people who are happy with the Arc are coming from listening to tv speakers.  Which in most cases, a Bluetooth speaker would be an upgrade.  You don’t see many people on here coming from another soundbar, and definitely not a decent hifi setup, praising the arc.  Poor or limited reference points.  

 

Not all, I had a Yamaha Ysp2700 previously, £900 soundbar, from what I have played so far I think the ARC sounds great.

 

I had the Yamaha 2500. The Arc l bought was terrible compared to it!! I got the beam and sub plus rear speakers and that was a good upgrade. I will return for the Arc once this business is sorted.

It’s so strange, why some have issues and some find it good.

K
Userlevel 2
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I did find the Arc so harsh and tinny. I had it a week and l just couldn’t get it right.l brought it back to the shop and exchanged for the Beam.

l am very happy with my set up at the moment.If the Arc can be improved-l certainly would consider purchasing again.l intend to audition it a bit more next time.

C
Userlevel 6
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It’s so strange, why some have issues and some find it good.

Some people have ‘issues’ with soft sweet wine, and prefer a crisp dry. Some prefer processed cheese, others a mature Stilton. Apply same logic to sound. 

 

L
Userlevel 5
Badge +11

It’s so strange, why some have issues and some find it good.

Some people have ‘issues’ with soft sweet wine, and prefer a crisp dry. Some prefer processed cheese, others a mature Stilton. Apply same logic to sound. 

 

True, but people have these harsh bright issues, my yamaha ysp2700 was I would say, warm sounding, the ARC to me is warm sounding as well.

 

C
Userlevel 3
Badge

It’s so strange, why some have issues and some find it good.

Some people have ‘issues’ with soft sweet wine, and prefer a crisp dry. Some prefer processed cheese, others a mature Stilton. Apply same logic to sound. 

 

True, but people have these harsh bright issues, my yamaha ysp2700 was I would say, warm sounding, the ARC to me is warm sounding as well.

 

For about a month it sounded fantastic to me… then earlier this week I performed a Trueplay after updating to the latest version and suddenly it sounded tinny, weak, and metallic to me.  I did another trueplay and suddenly it sounded fantastic again - warm with a nice middle.

I think this is not a simple answer.  The performance of the Arc is especially sensitive to position and shape of the room, and in addition trueplay obviously is sensitive to the device perception of what it’s hearing (a complex speaker array may be adding to this sensitivity, along with device mic characteristics).

There was a video posted above where a reviewer showed how much better the bass performance is with the arc without the sub when using the wall to push the sound back towards the listener… but many have the arc in front of the TV and so aren’t using the wall.  Bass may be dissipating. 

It would be great if the results of trueplay were displayed, and then the user had a band equalizer to make fine adjustments.  It doesn’t go along with Sonos ‘simple’ philosophy, however it would alleviate confusion.

D
Userlevel 1
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All these comments about moving things, changing settings or cables are all irrelevant. You shouldnt have to do any of that. I had an LG SK9Y sound bar mid range from a couple of years ago and i put sound bar and sub in the same position as the old equipment with same cables etc and it sounds no where near as good as my LG. I have had another Arc sound bar sent out to me and that is exactly the same. The issue is the bar nothing else, it needs an update to sort this or if that is not possible then this is a very poor sound bar from sonos.

Just to confirm my issue with the arc is the extremely noticeable and very bad sounding tinniness to the voices.

D
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All these comments about moving things, changing settings or cables are all irrelevant. You shouldnt have to do any of that. I had an LG SK9Y sound bar mid range from a couple of years ago and i put sound bar and sub in the same position as the old equipment with same cables etc and it sounds no where near as good as my LG. I have had another Arc sound bar sent out to me and that is exactly the same. The issue is the bar nothing else, it needs an update to sort this or if that is not possible then this is a very poor sound bar from sonos.

Just to confirm my issue with the arc is the extremely noticeable and very bad sounding tinniness to the voices.

This exactly, knowing that my old £130 Samsung sounded more bassy and clear but not totally enveloping like the Arc, I really would like to through my money at maybe the Samsung hw-q80r. I want good sounds and simplicity but I don't want speakers everywhere hence my purchase of the Arc in the first place. Its the same amount of cash, doesn't have the Sonos stamp but at the end of the day if it performs better then Sonos will be flying back to the Netherlands! 

K
Userlevel 2
Badge +2

It’s so strange, why some have issues and some find it good.

Some people have ‘issues’ with soft sweet wine, and prefer a crisp dry. Some prefer processed cheese, others a mature Stilton. Apply same logic to sound. 

 

True, but people have these harsh bright issues, my yamaha ysp2700 was I would say, warm sounding, the ARC to me is warm sounding as well.

 

For about a month it sounded fantastic to me… then earlier this week I performed a Trueplay after updating to the latest version and suddenly it sounded tinny, weak, and metallic to me.  I did another trueplay and suddenly it sounded fantastic again - warm with a nice middle.

I think this is not a simple answer.  The performance of the Arc is especially sensitive to position and shape of the room, and in addition trueplay obviously is sensitive to the device perception of what it’s hearing (a complex speaker array may be adding to this sensitivity, along with device mic characteristics).

There was a video posted above where a reviewer showed how much better the bass performance is with the arc without the sub when using the wall to push the sound back towards the listener… but many have the arc in front of the TV and so aren’t using the wall.  Bass may be dissipating. 

It would be great if the results of trueplay were displayed, and then the user had a band equalizer to make fine adjustments.  It doesn’t go along with Sonos ‘simple’ philosophy, however it would alleviate confusion.

I was told you don’t need to do a Retune after every update.ln fact you only need to retune when you move your set-up around (apparently)!

C
Userlevel 3
Badge

It’s so strange, why some have issues and some find it good.

Some people have ‘issues’ with soft sweet wine, and prefer a crisp dry. Some prefer processed cheese, others a mature Stilton. Apply same logic to sound. 

 

True, but people have these harsh bright issues, my yamaha ysp2700 was I would say, warm sounding, the ARC to me is warm sounding as well.

 

For about a month it sounded fantastic to me… then earlier this week I performed a Trueplay after updating to the latest version and suddenly it sounded tinny, weak, and metallic to me.  I did another trueplay and suddenly it sounded fantastic again - warm with a nice middle.

I think this is not a simple answer.  The performance of the Arc is especially sensitive to position and shape of the room, and in addition trueplay obviously is sensitive to the device perception of what it’s hearing (a complex speaker array may be adding to this sensitivity, along with device mic characteristics).

There was a video posted above where a reviewer showed how much better the bass performance is with the arc without the sub when using the wall to push the sound back towards the listener… but many have the arc in front of the TV and so aren’t using the wall.  Bass may be dissipating. 

It would be great if the results of trueplay were displayed, and then the user had a band equalizer to make fine adjustments.  It doesn’t go along with Sonos ‘simple’ philosophy, however it would alleviate confusion.

I was told you don’t need to do a Retune after every update.ln fact you only need to retune when you move your set-up around (apparently)!

I didn’t need to do it…. I was curious about the results.

I’m glad I did, however - I had no idea what the ‘metallic’ sound was about on this thread until I heard it myself.  Voices kind of sounded like they were talking through a tin can - like some irritating frequencies were suddenly kicked way up..

But… I’m also glad retuning brought it back to normal.  Not sure what I would have done if it stayed that way.  I will probably not do it again.

V
Userlevel 2
Badge +2

It’s so strange, why some have issues and some find it good.

Some people have ‘issues’ with soft sweet wine, and prefer a crisp dry. Some prefer processed cheese, others a mature Stilton. Apply same logic to sound. 

 

True, but people have these harsh bright issues, my yamaha ysp2700 was I would say, warm sounding, the ARC to me is warm sounding as well.

 

For about a month it sounded fantastic to me… then earlier this week I performed a Trueplay after updating to the latest version and suddenly it sounded tinny, weak, and metallic to me.  I did another trueplay and suddenly it sounded fantastic again - warm with a nice middle.

I think this is not a simple answer.  The performance of the Arc is especially sensitive to position and shape of the room, and in addition trueplay obviously is sensitive to the device perception of what it’s hearing (a complex speaker array may be adding to this sensitivity, along with device mic characteristics).

There was a video posted above where a reviewer showed how much better the bass performance is with the arc without the sub when using the wall to push the sound back towards the listener… but many have the arc in front of the TV and so aren’t using the wall.  Bass may be dissipating. 

It would be great if the results of trueplay were displayed, and then the user had a band equalizer to make fine adjustments.  It doesn’t go along with Sonos ‘simple’ philosophy, however it would alleviate confusion.

I was told you don’t need to do a Retune after every update.ln fact you only need to retune when you move your set-up around (apparently)!

I didn’t need to do it…. I was curious about the results.

I’m glad I did, however - I had no idea what the ‘metallic’ sound was about on this thread until I heard it myself.  Voices kind of sounded like they were talking through a tin can - like some irritating frequencies were suddenly kicked way up..

But… I’m also glad retuning brought it back to normal.  Not sure what I would have done if it stayed that way.  I will probably not do it again.

Now think of the people who can't get rid of that metallic sound and who read around here that if it's a problem of not having a carpet or if it's the HDMI cable ... I really appreciate that people contribute ideas, but the question is that i come from a play bar, sub and butts and i never made the real game and it sounded great. It was to put everything and ohhhh. But now the squeaky, metallic sound, especially on normal TV channels, is where they're most noticeable. The music only lasts 20 minutes, the voices are all ssss. Hope this has a solution. Now I listen to the music of my play 1. It feels warmer.
G
Userlevel 4
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Is there a Sonos conspiracy theory anyone has missed? Maybe we should play our records backwards and listen for secret messages about Sonos mind control?

P
Userlevel 3
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I’m leaning towards sources causing this issue and how they were recorded.

O
Userlevel 4
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I’m leaning towards sources causing this issue and how they were recorded.

Nope. Although some sources are better than others, with the Beam the same sources sounded less sibilant and less harsh. 

P
Userlevel 3
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Nope, lol. That’s my experience. I’ve used different sources and different speakers and it depends on what source to how much more the sound is projected. Don’t be the guy who tells other people what they hear.

S
Userlevel 4
Badge +4

I’m leaning towards sources causing this issue and how they were recorded.

Nope. Although some sources are better than others, with the Beam the same sources sounded less sibilant and less harsh. 

Because the speakers have different frequency responses. Tuning as well as environment will affect this. The arc also extends higher frequencies than the beam. It isn’t a mysterious cause it is understood. The issue is why are some reporting more perceived siblance? The explanation for this could be environmental or tuning. An issue with trueplaying could be creating peaks in certain frequencies 5k-10kHz that are jarring to the ear.  Sources depending on the mic used will also play into this.

Some people are more sensitive to this. So others might hear your speaker and either not mind or just their ears cant detect it. I think this can easily be fixed with DSP changes by SONOS. The issue is how do you make sure the changes are consistent and dont degrade the sound. The complexity of this bug might be the variance from different tuning/environments. Especially now that sonos supposedly increased trueplay complexity by taking height into account. Mayeb the algorithm for the Arc is changed etc.

So yes the speaker on the Arc for an unknown reason might be more succeptible to these frequencies peaking and causing discomfort. But sources and envrionment play a role for sure.

J
Userlevel 4
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What about all the people who said it sounds like crap even without Trueplay though?

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