Question

Ace & Arc Swap - Volume Way Too Low

S
Userlevel 1

Hi All 

 

After much frustration with the ‘buggy’ SONOS software on my iPad, I eventually got the Ace & Arc functionality working. While playing Dolby Atmos music tracks from Apple Music or Tidal, the max volume is too low to be useful. Movie soundtracks are louder but I would also like to be able to turn up the volume much more. 

When the SWAP takes place the volume on the Arc is disabled and I have turned up the volume in the SONOS app to the max so not sure if If there is anything else I can do to increase it

39 replies

D
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I have reached out to SONOS Higher Ups about this and they said they will be addressing the low volume issue regarding TV Audio Swap in a software update on June 4th before official release.

 

I too was very underwhelmed by the audio volume output when connected to the ARC soundbar. 

Bluetooth Audio is nice and loud and sounds amazing IMO.

Hopefully they do address this as it is a main feature they have marketed on.

Bumper

How do you like them so far?

D
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They are the best pair of Bluetooth headphones I have ever heard. The design is nice and sleek, not bulky like the AirPods Max, They are lighter than them also. But the fit and finish and sound quality are top notch. The Bose QC Ultra are no where near the quality of the ACE also

S
Userlevel 1

Thanks for letting us know and looking forward to that update because it's pretty handy switching to the Ace when everyone goes off to sleep. 

I have the Focal Bathys which is a higher quality and more balanced than the Ace which is slightly U shaped. I agree that the design and comfort is top notch but I returned my pair and will consider the next Sonos headphone once it offers WiFi integration to the Sonos ecosystem . 

 

Enjoy the Ace and the upgrade .

S

I am having the same Low-Volume Issue with my ACE & ARC even updating to the newest Version from June 4th.

D
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I have to check later to see if it has any effect for me

will update.

D
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Make sure you call Sonos and report it 

M
Userlevel 1

Hi All,

I’ve been playing with the Sonos Ace and Arc audio swap extensively for the last 3-4 days (I work for an electronics retailer) and I was initially taken aback by the low volume with audio swap.

I completed the update on the Ace which came out today, and it appears, to me at least, that the volume is now louder but only with certain content. In my experience, since the update, audio which is Stereo such as the YouTube app on a TV is indeed now louder. I also found that true for Atmos content from internal TV apps such as Netflix. I also tested a blu ray player playing atmos via HDMI and that also appeared louder than before. However, it seems to be that with 5.1 tracks in particular, the volume is still super low. I tried this on Netflix with shows with 5.1 tracks, and most appeared as quiet as before. I tried enabling and disabling earc to feed the Sonos Arc Dolby Digital and MAT 5.1 however this made no difference. I also tried toggling the 5.1 surround option on/off on a YouTube video, and again the Ace were significantly louder with 5.1 disabled. I can only imagine there is some kind of software bug causing lower volume with certain audio streams which have some particular type of data, although I can’t be sure…. 
 

Would be grateful if anybody out there can do some testing, I really want these to use for my late night Xbox sessions however this volume issue is holding me back for now.

 

 

D
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Thank you for that detailed explanation of everything you have found. 
I find it very disappointing also that with a product like this which it’s sole purpose is audio, that the surround sound home theatre function is broken. 
 

I will test tonight and see how it goes. 
I will update back. 
 

Please contact Sonos support and let them know what you have found. We can all talk about it here but they are the ones that can fix it. 
 

 

M
Userlevel 1

Well it’s a tricky one - I wouldn’t really describe the function as ‘broken’ (most reviews don’t mention the lower volume in audio swap at all, for example) but I would certainly say buggy. I’m sure they will update the ace and iron out the bugs - they haven’t even been released yet at the time of writing…

D
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I agree, I may have over reacted. I think what boggles my mind is that this TV Audio Swap feature you would think would have been nailed down by now. This is a premium set of headphones from a company that has deep roots in home theatre. I have almost every product they make and typically i have always been impressed with ALL features of those products.

I have updated the firmware on the ACE’s today and i can definitely tell there is a difference, but it just wasn’t what i expected. i would say they better act fast on increasing the volume output with the TV Audio Swap feature because i can see a lot of people buying them for this, and being disappointed. 

I just don’t get why they can’t figure this out. They have to know the volume output is just not there.

For example when i have the volume half way point, it’s like you could barely hear what’s being said. 

When I connect the headphones to my TV using Bluetooth, the audio is far better and until they fix this feature I plan to use them this way.

 

I

Same issue here. Have to crank headphone volume to 90-100% to produce reasonable levels with movie/tv content. Not the case for music streaming. 

D
Userlevel 2

ARC volume is so low.  I received the Ace today and was hoping with my large head it would provide more room than the Apple headphones - no luck.  If the low volume issue is not resolved I will return.  I will also call Sonos. Normal non-ARC volume is excellent.

M
Userlevel 1

I wonder whether they have limited the volume in swap mode to try and preserve battery life due to the power hungry line of sight wifi the Ace use to connect to the Arc… would seem like a massive let down if so given its of one of the most anticipated Ace features!

D
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Everyone please please pick up the phone and call Sonos. They are aware of this issue, I have spoken to the team about this and they promised an update would fix this. However the latest update only made a small change in the volume. 
the only way they will fix this is if people call in and complain. 

A

Can confirm that certain apps through my LG CX eArc connection are far more quiet than others when using the TV swap feature. The LG Apple Music app natively delivers Atmos to the Arc system so I was excited to try it, but it is far quieter than YouTube or Spotify, regardless of stereo or Atmos content being played. 

Also I swear I'm hearing occasional popping and static, but it may just be me being overly critical.

D
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Also I swear I'm hearing occasional popping and static, but it may just be me being overly critical.

 

You are not being overly critical, I have experienced the crackling and popping also.

Please contact SONOS and tell them your experience. 

J
Userlevel 1

For me, Arc-swap volume is unusably low with some sources.  For example, Dune on the Max app comes through as 5.1 MAT and it’s about 60% as loud as I’d like it to be at max. If I switch the Ace to connect to the TV via bluetooth, the volume is much higher, but that defeats the purpose of this feature we are paying a premium for. 

 

Hopefully it’s a bug that can get resolved via software, rather than a compromise they had to make to preserve battery, supposing the theory that Arc-swap consumes battery more quickly than bluetooth.

N

+1 on low audio when swapping Arc sound along with random popping. Fully updated. 

D
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Using the headphones in Bluetooth with a tv streaming app I believe is also pcm stereo, so I think you loose the surround sound aspect of them  

 

 

M
Userlevel 1

Is anybody able to test them out with a games console and test latency and volume with 5.1/7.1 lpcm? Would be interesting to see if LPCM from a console suffers from the reduced volume issue…

T

Tested content with the Apple TV box, PS5 & Panasonic bluray player, Atmos/5.1 volume is too low even at max. Yet stereo content from say Youtube has booming sound.

D

I had the same issue of low volume. Worked with Sonos tech support. We discovered that my Sonos system needed to be updated (specifically the ARC SL soundbar). Even though my app settings were “auto updates”, the app detected one or more speakers that needed new firmware. Once that was done, the volume increased significantly. Not saying is it optimal yet but much better than the 40-50% volume level it was when swapping connection with the soundbar. 

Good luck!

B

Hi All 

 

After much frustration with the ‘buggy’ SONOS software on my iPad, I eventually got the Ace & Arc functionality working. While playing Dolby Atmos music tracks from Apple Music or Tidal, the max volume is too low to be useful. Movie soundtracks are louder but I would also like to be able to turn up the volume much more. 

When the SWAP takes place the volume on the Arc is disabled and I have turned up the volume in the SONOS app to the max so not sure if If there is anything else I can do to increase it

I updated the app today, but like you mentioned I am experiencing low volume on Apps like Netflix and Amazon Prime specifically when watching video content.

S

I had the same issue of low volume. Worked with Sonos tech support. We discovered that my Sonos system needed to be updated (specifically the ARC SL soundbar). Even though my app settings were “auto updates”, the app detected one or more speakers that needed new firmware. Once that was done, the volume increased significantly. Not saying is it optimal yet but much better than the 40-50% volume level it was when swapping connection with the soundbar. 

Good luck!


Did you do anything special after the update? I manually updated the ARC, and no change at all. 

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