Sonos Arc Muddy/Bottoming out Bass

Just noticed this as well.  My hardware is updating now… I’m hopeful there are some additional fixes for the bass issues with this.  

I want to comment here as well. right after the update to my ears the arc sounded worse than before. However, I re-truplayed and I NOTICE IMPROVEMENT in the arc alone. I think the highs arent as bad anymore I can feel bass improvements as well. Now, I only tried a couple of songs. But I think they are addressing these issues people are having. Let us know what you think.

After I played a couple of songs with the bar solo I readded my subs and surround and I am very happy with how it sounds with music and movies :) . 

Note: I do not push my volume past 60% because I am in an apartment so maaaaaybe there still are issues with very high volumes.

Another comment: 

For those comparing to homepods and the Move. Please reframe your way of thinking. There is no way a soundbar with this dimensions will have bass as deep as a circular speaker with a much bigger woofer. It is just the way physics work. You cant play EDM on this and say OMG my move sounds better… come on. This soundbar even though is capable for music it is not and EDM or basshead setup (without sub) and is tuned for cinema and movies first. That is after all the main use of a soundbar. I know i know it is $800 bla bla bla that doesnt change physics. Theres only so much processing can do. 

To further comment on this I just got a homepod (will gift it to someone soon) and tried some songs and I do not prefer the homepod alone to the Arc. The main reason is maybe the arc spoiled me but I feel like the voices in the homepod are underwater and muddled. Bass is stronger and felt throughout with the homepod that is true. But for something other than hip hop or EDM i prefer the arc or even a sonos one to the homepod.

To @RensAFX : Hey adding the surrounds can improve things in the music department especially if you turn up the surround music level higher and set it to full. The ones have adequate punchy bass so it will increase the volume level of your music and add some bass to it. Of course we are not talking about cinematic rumble bass that the sub would provide but still can be felt in movies just think of it as a speaker bass and not a sub bass. If that makes sense

Updated the app to 12.0.3 and confirmed the hardware build changed to 58179200 from 58178180. 

Tested a few of the problematic clips noted in this thread and what I previously noticed the issue with and did not notice any changed to the muddy bass sound.  Not sure what changed in this update but for me at least, the issue still continues. 

I’ll re-true play tune again and see if I notice anything better.  I did turn true play off and on after the update and had the same experience that it sounded better without true play.   I rarely go above 30% volume on my Arc.  If I go higher than that, I just find that it’s too loud for normal listening myself.

did you retune? I noticed a big change after retuning. Also are you talking about movies or songs when you mean muddy bass? I honestly think that was greatly improved in the previous update

I will have to re-tune and see.  I mean muddy bass as it was originally reported in this thread.  The only time I heard improvement was after the initial release of the Arc with the beta update that was then released to the public shortly after.  I agree it was greatly improved a while back but I don’t hear any adjustments in the most recent update that makes me say, ‘Wow, that sounds significantly better’.  Personally I don’t hear any real adjustment in the movie clips I’ve watched to where I think to myself...’They fixed it 100% now’.  

I have tested with Netflix 6 Underground, The Greatest Showman, John Wick 3 to name a few.  Each of which I’ve sent multiple diagnostic reports to Sonos and filled out their Google Form that @Scott - Sonos had asked us to do.

I still plan to keep the Arc myself as I know Sonos will improve the product but I personally did not hear that much of a difference after updating to build 58179200.

Yeah I meant that original update. After that I havent heard any issues maybe because I dont go as loud or tune the bass up in EQ. Also, retuning made a big difference for me even in music. Maybe they ironed out the truplay issues that some were reporting?

After the July 28th update the Arc delivers a more balanced sound. I am happy so far.

Argh, re-tuned and think it sounds worse.  Maybe it’s just that my ears were listening to the EQ adjusted so it didn’t bottom out as much as it did previously in certain scenes and now the EQ is reset and TruePlay is back on.

Once I turned TruePlay off and adjusted the EQ back, things sounded like they had before though so it doesn’t seem like to me that this update has adjusted anything drastic. 

I’m hoping that at some point we get an update where I can say, ‘there we go, that’s what I was expecting’ but I haven’t had that feeling since owning the Arc unfortunately. 

It would be great to see some release notes on 12.0.3 and the firmware update nonetheless.

Still sounds horrific on Drive at 35:00 at 50% volume up.

daft punk weeknd- starboy sounds marginally better.

eminem - without me sounds bad still