What Atmos Test Videos are you using? From what source? Have you confirmed that you are actually playing Dolby Atmos audio in the Sonos app? What model TV do you have?

All valid questions. And I would add ‘Have you called Sonos Support directly to discuss it?”

I didn’t call Sonos support yet as I wanted community feedback first. What has my TV to do with that? Of course i have eArc as I already had an Arc with Sub 3 and 2 eras running in my home and upgraded to Arc Ultra, so Atmos worked perfectly fine and works fine.

the test videos are official Dolby ones and the Sonos App confirms Atmos is Running. Again, I directly compare my old Arc with the ultra one. Even when I compare both on Atmos Music only the Ultra sounds horrific. Also when I stream Airplay to it from my Apple Music it sounds thin.

Mine didn’t sound great either until I turned off all connected speakers and the router. After reconnecting again sounded fine. Better than the Arc but not a huge difference tbh. Set up 2 x ERA 300’s and gen 3 sub with LGCX3. 

Honestly i think that also worked for me a bit. I feel the Ultra sounds a bit better after I de-grouped everything and reconnected. But IMO it is still far away from sounding like a 100 year breakthrough and certainly I hear no double time bass etc… And honestly it’s again just a hustle….guess the customer experience team is not yet in place and the misery continues…at this stage it feels like the 16.4.4 software does not get the Ultra to its supposed level (like back in the days when the infamous update killed the arc and sub) or my unit is faulty. But if this what I hear in direct comparison to Old Arc is supposed to be the greatest thing done in 100 years music engineering, I guess i schedule an ENT appointment… 

Nowhere did I see any Sonos marketing which states or implies that the Arc is “a hundred year breakthrough” or “the greatest thing done in 100 years music engineering”.  Do you have a cite for that claim? 

How about right on the product page ?

Are you serious? It’s on their main website on the Ultra Arc introduction:

1. „One of the most significant breakthroughs in audio engineering in nearly 100 years, Sound Motion packs unprecedented performance in an unbelievably flat, compact design.“

2. „Sound in a whole new dimension“

3. „…for an entertainment experience that feels out of this world.“

Should I quote more to make the point 

Edit: sorry @EbayYellow: just seeing your post now

I asked for a cite because I hadn’t seen it.  You provided it.  Thank you.  And yes I agree, like most marketing, that is utterly absurd.

Totally agree and it would be beneficial for me as well not seeing this as it feeds expectations you cannot meet, or you actually launch a product what the customer plugs in, setup and then in factory settings it’s like booooom!!!

But when I hear that „ok it’s more subtle changes“ or „you have to change settings and you have to add a sub and eras“ that is obviously far from what you want to hear after they announce with such bolt words a new product. Don’t get me wrong, I love my Arc/Sub 3/ 2 eras 300 setup, that’s why I bought the Arc Ultra and Sub 4 to be ready for the next years to come. But I am beyond believe that what I get out of the Ultra standalone at the moment is what they believe they can push out after such an app Desaster and such an announcement…so i still hope that that could be a technical/software issue and the true potential is there…somewhere…

Two questions:

 Did you turn off your sub when comparing the Arc’s? If the sub is still on, it offloads lower frequencies to the sub and you probably won’t hear a difference. One of the first things I noticed with the Ultra was the deeper, louder and fuller bass. I was actually quite surprised that it was only coming from the Ultra so I verified that my sub was set to off.

​​​​​​​Do you use True Play? If so, have you run it yet on the Ultra set up? Try toggling it on/off if you are using it. In my two setups, True Play tuning sounds horrible, so I don’t use it. When on, it sounds like what you are describing.

Thank you for the suggestions. Yes I run the Ultra only standalone for now, no Sub and also no Trueplay.

 I think the 100 year thing applies to the Mayht speaker driver tech which was re-badged by Sonos as “Sound Motion”.  For me the jury is still out until I hear that driver tech applied to a small book shelf speaker.

 Some of the Arc Ultra reviews stating loss of bass when bonded to a sub as well as those comments that refer to “thin” sound are a non-started for me.  Yes, I’d love better dialog intelligibility, but not with the sacrifice of high frequency accuracy for music reproduction.  Exaggeration of the high frequencies is the bane of so called high end audio.  At first you say “Wow…I’ve never heard that before in this song!”.  Then after a few minutes you find yourself turning it down or off.

I’m waiting to hear feedback from ARC ultra owners on music listening---has it improved the experience of listening to music and how much. Yes I’m interested in the ARC Ultra with rears and a sub/sub mini.

I have an ARC with rears and a sub mini and it’s just not been really good with music. It’s been great for movies and TV listening. 

I would consider the ARC Ultra if it notably improves music---otherwise I’ll stay put and perhaps consider 5’s as rears up the road with my existing ARC setup.

You are correct..voice is clear and pronounced...but same tinny voice issue of original arc continues with ultra too....horrible to listen conversation....tinny voice

@Cravemoreconfigurability yes music is notably better, but still not great. Sounds better than 1 era 300, but far behind 2 eras 300 in stereo setup.

I would say 15-20% increase in soundstage probably 40% in bass. 

Rather than the Fives as surrounds consider a pair of them up front as a dedicated Stereo Pair, that is going to be a big improvement in your music. Add a Sub if you really like source material that delivers on the low end.