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Sonos Arc Muddy/Bottoming out Bass

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S
Userlevel 4
Badge +4

Don’t think you need eArc for Atmos. Currently most services offering Atmos will work with normal HDMI Arc. I think eArc might be needed for some Blu-ray movies though, and in the future it might become more widely used. But by then you’ll have a new TV anyway! 

Lot’s of samsung TVS until 2019 or 2020 didnt pass atmos through ARC. And most TVs before 2017 didnt either. For example even if you have a high end model LG OLED from 2016 your tv will have ARC but no atmos through it. So it depends on the model

A
Userlevel 2
Badge +1

Ah ok. Think mine does but it’s a recent Philips one. Although at the moment I’m holding off on buying an Arc! 

A
Userlevel 6
Badge +6

Hello All,

I was going to place an order for Arc (my first Sonos device) but I am impressed by the negative with all this problem related to AUDIO in a device of this price.
My Samsung TV does not have HDMI eARC so I will not be able to enjoy the Dolby Atmos function by now.
For the price difference (€ 899 vs € 699) I would like to know your opinion\advice if I will be better served  by buying the Playbar + 2 OneSL instead of Arc (buying the Sub on a later stage).

Or probably wait until all this issues to be resolved, properly tested and then move to the Arc?

For all the discussion I have read here it seems to me that Arc does not seem to be mature enough as announced by Sonos (“featuring eleven high-performance drivers for crisp highs, dynamic midranges, and surprising bass”)  and it wouldn't be nice to have a device that looks “incomplete” and patch-dependent

 

Future-proofing, latest features, and sleek design are all appealing, but the primary function of the device i.e. audio is still not up to the mark IMO. Just because some people don’t notice it does not mean the issues are not there (as proven by the bass distortion). If possible, I would wait until the issues are ironed out. You should not have to pay the full price for a speaker that has been released half-baked. Having said this, I do believe Sonos will fix the issues. They hear us, unlike other companies (how many brands have such engaging and repsonsive community forums?). Arc is a new product and software improvements can bring out all the raw power it has got.

A
Userlevel 2
Badge

Hello All,

I was going to place an order for Arc (my first Sonos device) but I am impressed by the negative with all this problem related to AUDIO in a device of this price.
My Samsung TV does not have HDMI eARC so I will not be able to enjoy the Dolby Atmos function by now.
For the price difference (€ 899 vs € 699) I would like to know your opinion\advice if I will be better served  by buying the Playbar + 2 OneSL instead of Arc (buying the Sub on a later stage).

Or probably wait until all this issues to be resolved, properly tested and then move to the Arc?

For all the discussion I have read here it seems to me that Arc does not seem to be mature enough as announced by Sonos (“featuring eleven high-performance drivers for crisp highs, dynamic midranges, and surprising bass”)  and it wouldn't be nice to have a device that looks “incomplete” and patch-dependent

 

Future-proofing, latest features, and sleek design are all appealing, but the primary function of the device i.e. audio is still not up to the mark IMO. Just because some people don’t notice it does not mean the issues are not there (as proven by the bass distortion). If possible, I would wait until the issues are ironed out. You should not have to pay the full price for a speaker that has been released half-baked. Having said this, I do believe Sonos will fix the issues. They hear us, unlike other companies (how many brands have such engaging and repsonsive community forums?). Arc is a new product and software improvements can bring out all the raw power it has got.

Very well said, it’s a flaw and lets accept it, if some don’t hear it or feel it does not mean its working well, we have paid a premium price and there are lot of us who have similar issue and we are not bringing this up for negative PR, I am not working with any competitors brand etc. I am just another consumer.

I still believe in Sonos Technology and that’s the only reason I have not rushed my return. 

If you are planning to buy, I would say just hold a bit may be a month or so before deciding. If you decide to buy then just buy Arc as playbar may be sweet sounding device but it is a very old tech and probably in a year or so you may want to upgrade. So just wait for Arc to get sorted and then buy arc that would be my suggestion.

J

Looks like the issue was also noticed on techhive and the mentioned this Post - https://www.techhive.com/article/3562736/sonos-arc-soundbar-atmos-performance-evaluation.html

S

We have identified a bug that has potential to cause distortion when playing bass-heavy content at higher volume levels on Arc. Our team is working on the fix now. We expect the software release to be implemented as early as next week. I'll share any additional updates here.

Thanks. Will the fix be applied for the Sonos One too?

I don’t believe this particular bug affects the Sonos One, but I’ll raise it with the team just in case.


What about an Arc paired with Sub? Does the team believe the issue is only when the Arc is performing solo?

The Sub takes over most of the troublesome frequencies for Arc that cause the audio distortion to surface. So it may or may not be affected or apparent, but the fix will apply nonetheless.

i’m using it with a sub and two sonos:one speakers in the back and have the issue as well so i’m hoping this fixes that; i also get what feels like a tearing sound in speech or loud sounds when listening to atmos content via TV

S
Userlevel 3
Badge +2

Looks like the issue was also noticed on techhive and the mentioned this Post - https://www.techhive.com/article/3562736/sonos-arc-soundbar-atmos-performance-evaluation.html

Here is an article specifically talks about this and the community: https://www.techhive.com/article/3562702/software-fix-for-sonos-arc-soundbar-bass-bug-is-on-the-way.html

P

We have identified a bug that has potential to cause distortion when playing bass-heavy content at higher volume levels on Arc. Our team is working on the fix now. We expect the software release to be implemented as early as next week. I'll share any additional updates here.

Thanks. Will the fix be applied for the Sonos One too?

I don’t believe this particular bug affects the Sonos One, but I’ll raise it with the team just in case.

I have this too on my One’s and One SL worse. Very easy to replicate by playing any sound below 50hz, you hear the speaker pop and struggle. The volume changes up and down frantically to cope. This is at low to mid volume too.

A
Userlevel 6
Badge +6

We have identified a bug that has potential to cause distortion when playing bass-heavy content at higher volume levels on Arc. Our team is working on the fix now. We expect the software release to be implemented as early as next week. I'll share any additional updates here.

Thanks. Will the fix be applied for the Sonos One too?

I don’t believe this particular bug affects the Sonos One, but I’ll raise it with the team just in case.

I have this too on my One’s and One SL worse. Very easy to replicate by playing any sound below 50hz, you hear the speaker pop and struggle. The volume changes up and down frantically to cope. This is at low to mid volume too.

Something must be up with the S2 OS.

M
Userlevel 1
Badge

Don’t think you need eArc for Atmos. Currently most services offering Atmos will work with normal HDMI Arc. I think eArc might be needed for some Blu-ray movies though, and in the future it might become more widely used. But by then you’ll have a new TV anyway! 

You need eARC for proper, lossless dolby atmos. Through regular ARC, you can get compressed Atmos, wrapped as dolby digital plus. This is what many streaming services support but it's lossy and not a patch on the sound you get from dolby atmos/truehd from a 4k bluray. 

M
Userlevel 3
Badge

Don’t think you need eArc for Atmos. Currently most services offering Atmos will work with normal HDMI Arc. I think eArc might be needed for some Blu-ray movies though, and in the future it might become more widely used. But by then you’ll have a new TV anyway! 

You need eARC for proper, lossless dolby atmos. Through regular ARC, you can get compressed Atmos, wrapped as dolby digital plus. This is what many streaming services support but it's lossy and not a patch on the sound you get from dolby atmos/truehd from a 4k bluray. 

Exactly. Dolby Atmos is nothing more than some sort of metadata. The audio can either be wrapped in Dolby TrueHD or in Dolby Digital Plus. TrueHD is the BluRay format (and also applicable for br-rips). DD+ is what streaming services use, as you mentioned before. Dolby states: ‘TrueHD is able to deliver audiophile quality equivalent to uncompressed PCM without impacting HD picture quality or limiting the value-added extras that content providers may wish to include on the disc.’

(e)ARC is the abbreviation of (extended) Audio Return Channel. Don’t make the wrong assumption that this is an input port on your Sonos, it’s actually an input port on your TV with a specific band through which audio is returned to your audio device, in this case your Arc.

eARC has more bandwidth in order to be able to stream TrueHD alongside 4K (and the ability to stream it backwards via eARC. ‘Problem’ could be that the TV needs to be able to passthrough this format and most tv’s aren’t able to. There have been a couple on the market since 2018 but they are still in the premium price class.

So, without eARC on your TV, no TrueHD Atmos sound on your soundbar. Sonos could have added an input HDMI with passthrough on the shoundbar (like competative brands do) but has decided not to. Not sure why, because the whole eARC thing is kind of futuristic, however, I believe that most customers would use streaming services anyway (and therefore only DD+ Atmos, which works fine). 
 

Hello All,

I was going to place an order for Arc (my first Sonos device) but I am impressed by the negative with all this problem related to AUDIO in a device of this price.
My Samsung TV does not have HDMI eARC so I will not be able to enjoy the Dolby Atmos function by now.
For the price difference (€ 899 vs € 699) I would like to know your opinion\advice if I will be better served  by buying the Playbar + 2 OneSL instead of Arc (buying the Sub on a later stage).

Or probably wait until all this issues to be resolved, properly tested and then move to the Arc?

For all the discussion I have read here it seems to me that Arc does not seem to be mature enough as announced by Sonos (“featuring eleven high-performance drivers for crisp highs, dynamic midranges, and surprising bass”)  and it wouldn't be nice to have a device that looks “incomplete” and patch-dependent

 

Remember people with negative feedback are ALWAYS more vocal than those satisfied and happy with their products. There’s MANY that got their Arcs played their music and movies and didnt push the volume or bass level too high and never noticed any issues. The Arc sounds great it does have a brighter sound signature than the Playbar but for movies and tv it sounds better IMO. The bass issue is going to be rectified.

 

I think it all depends on what you value if you want to future proof your system (* you will get an eARC TV in a few years probably) and you want alexa, airplay 2.0 and better looks (more modern). Or you dont care about atmos or any of that and just want a good soundbar


I don’t agree with you. You make the assumption that people with ‘negative’ feedback (I’d say critical but whatever) ​pushed their volume or bass too high. If you took your time in reading what people are actually giving feedback about, you would read that this issue occurs also at low sound volumes (yesterday I played Suicide Squad with bass -6, still the issue occurred). There is also a difference for some people between video (Let’s say eac3 DD) and audio (Spotify) playback, which may be managed by different balancing profiles. Not sure though.

Also, this video I believe says it all. It’s proof of a way the Sonos Arc processes a certain bandwidth, other than it should as you can see on a comparative device. 


Therefore, there is an urgency to fix this, as people want to enjoy their premium soundbar as they would expect. Above that, in case it’s not a software issue, people want to be able to return their product within the returning period.

P
Userlevel 4
Badge +4

Don’t think you need eArc for Atmos. Currently most services offering Atmos will work with normal HDMI Arc. I think eArc might be needed for some Blu-ray movies though, and in the future it might become more widely used. But by then you’ll have a new TV anyway! 

You need eARC for proper, lossless dolby atmos. Through regular ARC, you can get compressed Atmos, wrapped as dolby digital plus. This is what many streaming services support but it's lossy and not a patch on the sound you get from dolby atmos/truehd from a 4k bluray. 

Exactly. Dolby Atmos is nothing more than some sort of metadata. The audio can either be wrapped in Dolby TrueHD or in Dolby Digital Plus. TrueHD is the BluRay format (and also applicable for br-rips). DD+ is what streaming services use, as you mentioned before. Dolby states: ‘TrueHD is able to deliver audiophile quality equivalent to uncompressed PCM without impacting HD picture quality or limiting the value-added extras that content providers may wish to include on the disc.’

(e)ARC is the abbreviation of (extended) Audio Return Channel. Don’t make the wrong assumption that this is an input port on your Sonos, it’s actually an input port on your TV with a specific band through which audio is returned to your audio device, in this case your Arc.

eARC has more bandwidth in order to be able to stream TrueHD alongside 4K (and the ability to stream it backwards via eARC. ‘Problem’ could be that the TV needs to be able to passthrough this format and most tv’s aren’t able to. There have been a couple on the market since 2018 but they are still in the premium price class.

So, without eARC on your TV, no TrueHD Atmos sound on your soundbar. Sonos could have added an input HDMI with passthrough on the shoundbar (like competative brands do) but has decided not to. Not sure why, because the whole eARC thing is kind of futuristic, however, I believe that most customers would use streaming services anyway (and therefore only DD+ Atmos, which works fine). 
 

Hello All,

I was going to place an order for Arc (my first Sonos device) but I am impressed by the negative with all this problem related to AUDIO in a device of this price.
My Samsung TV does not have HDMI eARC so I will not be able to enjoy the Dolby Atmos function by now.
For the price difference (€ 899 vs € 699) I would like to know your opinion\advice if I will be better served  by buying the Playbar + 2 OneSL instead of Arc (buying the Sub on a later stage).

Or probably wait until all this issues to be resolved, properly tested and then move to the Arc?

For all the discussion I have read here it seems to me that Arc does not seem to be mature enough as announced by Sonos (“featuring eleven high-performance drivers for crisp highs, dynamic midranges, and surprising bass”)  and it wouldn't be nice to have a device that looks “incomplete” and patch-dependent

 

Remember people with negative feedback are ALWAYS more vocal than those satisfied and happy with their products. There’s MANY that got their Arcs played their music and movies and didnt push the volume or bass level too high and never noticed any issues. The Arc sounds great it does have a brighter sound signature than the Playbar but for movies and tv it sounds better IMO. The bass issue is going to be rectified.

 

I think it all depends on what you value if you want to future proof your system (* you will get an eARC TV in a few years probably) and you want alexa, airplay 2.0 and better looks (more modern). Or you dont care about atmos or any of that and just want a good soundbar


I don’t agree with you. You make the assumption that people with ‘negative’ feedback (I’d say critical but whatever) ​pushed their volume or bass too high. If you took your time in reading what people are actually giving feedback about, you would read that this issue occurs also at low sound volumes (yesterday I played Suicide Squad with bass -6, still the issue occurred). There is also a difference for some people between video (Let’s say eac3 DD) and audio (Spotify) playback, which may be managed by different balancing profiles. Not sure though.

Also, this video I believe says it all. It’s proof of a way the Sonos Arc processes a certain bandwidth, other than it should as you can see on a comparative device. 


Therefore, there is an urgency to fix this, as people want to enjoy their premium soundbar as they would expect. Above that, in case it’s not a software issue, people want to be able to return their product within the returning period.


 

if you set a volume limit of 50% the issue seem to disappear - and the bass can be set normally have you tried this?

S
Userlevel 4
Badge +5

if you set a volume limit of 50% the issue seem to disappear - and the bass can be set normally have you tried this?

 

Yeah below 50% volume this does not happen. But you’d maybe want to listen to something louder than 50% ;-)

P
Userlevel 4
Badge +4

On mine 50% is pretty loud although it’s not in the biggest room about 20sqm

F
Userlevel 2
Badge +1

On mine 50% is pretty loud although it’s not in the biggest room about 20sqm

This wouldnt be a work around for me as different sources require different volume levels on the arc.  

For example my sky box requires volumes over 60% to make soundbar loud, netflix is sometimes as low as 30%

P
Userlevel 4
Badge +4

Fair enough everything is either through the tv or Apple TV on mine both of which are pretty loud

M
Userlevel 3
Badge

Don’t think you need eArc for Atmos. Currently most services offering Atmos will work with normal HDMI Arc. I think eArc might be needed for some Blu-ray movies though, and in the future it might become more widely used. But by then you’ll have a new TV anyway! 

You need eARC for proper, lossless dolby atmos. Through regular ARC, you can get compressed Atmos, wrapped as dolby digital plus. This is what many streaming services support but it's lossy and not a patch on the sound you get from dolby atmos/truehd from a 4k bluray. 

Exactly. Dolby Atmos is nothing more than some sort of metadata. The audio can either be wrapped in Dolby TrueHD or in Dolby Digital Plus. TrueHD is the BluRay format (and also applicable for br-rips). DD+ is what streaming services use, as you mentioned before. Dolby states: ‘TrueHD is able to deliver audiophile quality equivalent to uncompressed PCM without impacting HD picture quality or limiting the value-added extras that content providers may wish to include on the disc.’

(e)ARC is the abbreviation of (extended) Audio Return Channel. Don’t make the wrong assumption that this is an input port on your Sonos, it’s actually an input port on your TV with a specific band through which audio is returned to your audio device, in this case your Arc.

eARC has more bandwidth in order to be able to stream TrueHD alongside 4K (and the ability to stream it backwards via eARC. ‘Problem’ could be that the TV needs to be able to passthrough this format and most tv’s aren’t able to. There have been a couple on the market since 2018 but they are still in the premium price class.

So, without eARC on your TV, no TrueHD Atmos sound on your soundbar. Sonos could have added an input HDMI with passthrough on the shoundbar (like competative brands do) but has decided not to. Not sure why, because the whole eARC thing is kind of futuristic, however, I believe that most customers would use streaming services anyway (and therefore only DD+ Atmos, which works fine). 
 

Hello All,

I was going to place an order for Arc (my first Sonos device) but I am impressed by the negative with all this problem related to AUDIO in a device of this price.
My Samsung TV does not have HDMI eARC so I will not be able to enjoy the Dolby Atmos function by now.
For the price difference (€ 899 vs € 699) I would like to know your opinion\advice if I will be better served  by buying the Playbar + 2 OneSL instead of Arc (buying the Sub on a later stage).

Or probably wait until all this issues to be resolved, properly tested and then move to the Arc?

For all the discussion I have read here it seems to me that Arc does not seem to be mature enough as announced by Sonos (“featuring eleven high-performance drivers for crisp highs, dynamic midranges, and surprising bass”)  and it wouldn't be nice to have a device that looks “incomplete” and patch-dependent

 

Remember people with negative feedback are ALWAYS more vocal than those satisfied and happy with their products. There’s MANY that got their Arcs played their music and movies and didnt push the volume or bass level too high and never noticed any issues. The Arc sounds great it does have a brighter sound signature than the Playbar but for movies and tv it sounds better IMO. The bass issue is going to be rectified.

 

I think it all depends on what you value if you want to future proof your system (* you will get an eARC TV in a few years probably) and you want alexa, airplay 2.0 and better looks (more modern). Or you dont care about atmos or any of that and just want a good soundbar


I don’t agree with you. You make the assumption that people with ‘negative’ feedback (I’d say critical but whatever) ​pushed their volume or bass too high. If you took your time in reading what people are actually giving feedback about, you would read that this issue occurs also at low sound volumes (yesterday I played Suicide Squad with bass -6, still the issue occurred). There is also a difference for some people between video (Let’s say eac3 DD) and audio (Spotify) playback, which may be managed by different balancing profiles. Not sure though.

Also, this video I believe says it all. It’s proof of a way the Sonos Arc processes a certain bandwidth, other than it should as you can see on a comparative device. 


Therefore, there is an urgency to fix this, as people want to enjoy their premium soundbar as they would expect. Above that, in case it’s not a software issue, people want to be able to return their product within the returning period.


 

if you set a volume limit of 50% the issue seem to disappear - and the bass can be set normally have you tried this?


example:

Netflix - Stranger Things S03E01

bass / treble 0

volume 30%
 

Check out the opening scene. Right around the explosion it’s all distorted sound (in my setup)

N
Userlevel 1
Badge +1

I have this issue too. Hope its fixed soon.

M
Badge +1

Okay so I thought I didn't have this issue but it looks like I do I just played a 40hz test tone song by Bass Junkie through Spotify and once the volume gets louder the bass wobbles

S
Userlevel 4
Badge +4

Don’t think you need eArc for Atmos. Currently most services offering Atmos will work with normal HDMI Arc. I think eArc might be needed for some Blu-ray movies though, and in the future it might become more widely used. But by then you’ll have a new TV anyway! 

You need eARC for proper, lossless dolby atmos. Through regular ARC, you can get compressed Atmos, wrapped as dolby digital plus. This is what many streaming services support but it's lossy and not a patch on the sound you get from dolby atmos/truehd from a 4k bluray. 

Exactly. Dolby Atmos is nothing more than some sort of metadata. The audio can either be wrapped in Dolby TrueHD or in Dolby Digital Plus. TrueHD is the BluRay format (and also applicable for br-rips). DD+ is what streaming services use, as you mentioned before. Dolby states: ‘TrueHD is able to deliver audiophile quality equivalent to uncompressed PCM without impacting HD picture quality or limiting the value-added extras that content providers may wish to include on the disc.’

(e)ARC is the abbreviation of (extended) Audio Return Channel. Don’t make the wrong assumption that this is an input port on your Sonos, it’s actually an input port on your TV with a specific band through which audio is returned to your audio device, in this case your Arc.

eARC has more bandwidth in order to be able to stream TrueHD alongside 4K (and the ability to stream it backwards via eARC. ‘Problem’ could be that the TV needs to be able to passthrough this format and most tv’s aren’t able to. There have been a couple on the market since 2018 but they are still in the premium price class.

So, without eARC on your TV, no TrueHD Atmos sound on your soundbar. Sonos could have added an input HDMI with passthrough on the shoundbar (like competative brands do) but has decided not to. Not sure why, because the whole eARC thing is kind of futuristic, however, I believe that most customers would use streaming services anyway (and therefore only DD+ Atmos, which works fine). 
 

Hello All,

I was going to place an order for Arc (my first Sonos device) but I am impressed by the negative with all this problem related to AUDIO in a device of this price.
My Samsung TV does not have HDMI eARC so I will not be able to enjoy the Dolby Atmos function by now.
For the price difference (€ 899 vs € 699) I would like to know your opinion\advice if I will be better served  by buying the Playbar + 2 OneSL instead of Arc (buying the Sub on a later stage).

Or probably wait until all this issues to be resolved, properly tested and then move to the Arc?

For all the discussion I have read here it seems to me that Arc does not seem to be mature enough as announced by Sonos (“featuring eleven high-performance drivers for crisp highs, dynamic midranges, and surprising bass”)  and it wouldn't be nice to have a device that looks “incomplete” and patch-dependent

 

Remember people with negative feedback are ALWAYS more vocal than those satisfied and happy with their products. There’s MANY that got their Arcs played their music and movies and didnt push the volume or bass level too high and never noticed any issues. The Arc sounds great it does have a brighter sound signature than the Playbar but for movies and tv it sounds better IMO. The bass issue is going to be rectified.

 

I think it all depends on what you value if you want to future proof your system (* you will get an eARC TV in a few years probably) and you want alexa, airplay 2.0 and better looks (more modern). Or you dont care about atmos or any of that and just want a good soundbar


I don’t agree with you. You make the assumption that people with ‘negative’ feedback (I’d say critical but whatever) ​pushed their volume or bass too high. If you took your time in reading what people are actually giving feedback about, you would read that this issue occurs also at low sound volumes (yesterday I played Suicide Squad with bass -6, still the issue occurred). There is also a difference for some people between video (Let’s say eac3 DD) and audio (Spotify) playback, which may be managed by different balancing profiles. Not sure though.

Also, this video I believe says it all. It’s proof of a way the Sonos Arc processes a certain bandwidth, other than it should as you can see on a comparative device. 


Therefore, there is an urgency to fix this, as people want to enjoy their premium soundbar as they would expect. Above that, in case it’s not a software issue, people want to be able to return their product within the returning period.

Oh, don’t misunderstand my comment. The bass issue is there! And should get fixed URGENTLY. But besides that many are happy with their Arc i’ve noticed this issue on my setup but only with some content at some volumes. I am happy with the arc otherwise. I will wait for the fix sonos already said they are working on. I do notice the brighter sound signature, but to me it’s not offensive. All I am saying is this is subjective (sound signature) BUT the bass issue is there and that’s not what I am commenting on. I am commenting on many people on Reddit and here saying the Arc sounds like TRASH. My comment is just saying theres a good chance this person gets his Arc and is satisfied, like many (we know theres a bass issue but honestly in 90 percent of content I don’t notice it, and even when I do I know a fix is coming. I personally wouldnt opt for a Playbar at the moment just because of the bass issue. But that’s up to every person

S
Userlevel 4
Badge +4

Okay so I thought I didn't have this issue but it looks like I do I just played a 40hz test tone song by Bass Junkie through Spotify and once the volume gets louder the bass wobbles

This is what I am referring to. Many received their arcs and thought theres no issue! until you read go on this song at this level o rplay this frequency at this volume and then oooh! there it is! 

A
Userlevel 6
Badge +6

Hey @Ryan S I am getting severe bass distortion (crackling/farting) at 35% volume. Ozark S2E4 Stag @ 58:07. Bug isn’t only affecting higher volumes. Crackling noises are coming out of the center speaker.

A
Userlevel 6
Badge +6

Don’t think you need eArc for Atmos. Currently most services offering Atmos will work with normal HDMI Arc. I think eArc might be needed for some Blu-ray movies though, and in the future it might become more widely used. But by then you’ll have a new TV anyway! 

You need eARC for proper, lossless dolby atmos. Through regular ARC, you can get compressed Atmos, wrapped as dolby digital plus. This is what many streaming services support but it's lossy and not a patch on the sound you get from dolby atmos/truehd from a 4k bluray. 

Exactly. Dolby Atmos is nothing more than some sort of metadata. The audio can either be wrapped in Dolby TrueHD or in Dolby Digital Plus. TrueHD is the BluRay format (and also applicable for br-rips). DD+ is what streaming services use, as you mentioned before. Dolby states: ‘TrueHD is able to deliver audiophile quality equivalent to uncompressed PCM without impacting HD picture quality or limiting the value-added extras that content providers may wish to include on the disc.’

(e)ARC is the abbreviation of (extended) Audio Return Channel. Don’t make the wrong assumption that this is an input port on your Sonos, it’s actually an input port on your TV with a specific band through which audio is returned to your audio device, in this case your Arc.

eARC has more bandwidth in order to be able to stream TrueHD alongside 4K (and the ability to stream it backwards via eARC. ‘Problem’ could be that the TV needs to be able to passthrough this format and most tv’s aren’t able to. There have been a couple on the market since 2018 but they are still in the premium price class.

So, without eARC on your TV, no TrueHD Atmos sound on your soundbar. Sonos could have added an input HDMI with passthrough on the shoundbar (like competative brands do) but has decided not to. Not sure why, because the whole eARC thing is kind of futuristic, however, I believe that most customers would use streaming services anyway (and therefore only DD+ Atmos, which works fine). 
 

Hello All,

I was going to place an order for Arc (my first Sonos device) but I am impressed by the negative with all this problem related to AUDIO in a device of this price.
My Samsung TV does not have HDMI eARC so I will not be able to enjoy the Dolby Atmos function by now.
For the price difference (€ 899 vs € 699) I would like to know your opinion\advice if I will be better served  by buying the Playbar + 2 OneSL instead of Arc (buying the Sub on a later stage).

Or probably wait until all this issues to be resolved, properly tested and then move to the Arc?

For all the discussion I have read here it seems to me that Arc does not seem to be mature enough as announced by Sonos (“featuring eleven high-performance drivers for crisp highs, dynamic midranges, and surprising bass”)  and it wouldn't be nice to have a device that looks “incomplete” and patch-dependent

 

Remember people with negative feedback are ALWAYS more vocal than those satisfied and happy with their products. There’s MANY that got their Arcs played their music and movies and didnt push the volume or bass level too high and never noticed any issues. The Arc sounds great it does have a brighter sound signature than the Playbar but for movies and tv it sounds better IMO. The bass issue is going to be rectified.

 

I think it all depends on what you value if you want to future proof your system (* you will get an eARC TV in a few years probably) and you want alexa, airplay 2.0 and better looks (more modern). Or you dont care about atmos or any of that and just want a good soundbar


I don’t agree with you. You make the assumption that people with ‘negative’ feedback (I’d say critical but whatever) ​pushed their volume or bass too high. If you took your time in reading what people are actually giving feedback about, you would read that this issue occurs also at low sound volumes (yesterday I played Suicide Squad with bass -6, still the issue occurred). There is also a difference for some people between video (Let’s say eac3 DD) and audio (Spotify) playback, which may be managed by different balancing profiles. Not sure though.

Also, this video I believe says it all. It’s proof of a way the Sonos Arc processes a certain bandwidth, other than it should as you can see on a comparative device. 


Therefore, there is an urgency to fix this, as people want to enjoy their premium soundbar as they would expect. Above that, in case it’s not a software issue, people want to be able to return their product within the returning period.


 

if you set a volume limit of 50% the issue seem to disappear - and the bass can be set normally have you tried this?


example:

Netflix - Stranger Things S03E01

bass / treble 0

volume 30%
 

Check out the opening scene. Right around the explosion it’s all distorted sound (in my setup)

Agreed. I am getting bass distortion in Ozark at 35% volume. Crackling bass. It’s not just higher volume levels.

BMF
Userlevel 5
Badge +13

Ozark has some pretty intense bass going on, when listening with Beam, Sub and Play 1 surrounds I thought the tv cabinet was in danger of collapse due to the bass in some scenes.

A
Userlevel 2

 

 

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