I have a Arc Ultra with which I am experiencing some volume disparities.If I play Sonos radio (ABC Classic) on Arc Ultra the volume has to be up around 55% to be able to hear it at a reasonable level. With my ERA300 it would be at about 45% to get same volume If I stream music from Apple or Qobuz the volume level has to be dropped to about 35% on the Arc to be the same “reasonable level”. The worst problem is that when we turn the TV on it uses the previous volume level ie 56% and just about blasts us out of the house. Needs to be dropped to about 35% to be about right.Is this really correct behaviour for either the ARC - shouldn’t the TV kick in at a default lower volume rather than previous level. Shouldn’t ARC and ERA act similarly with same source. And why is Sonos Radio so much “lower” - I have tried various stations and they are all the similar.Very annoying behaviour.Moderator edit: Changed Plus to Ultra for clarity

Hi @GlockersThanks for your post!Sorry to hear you are having issues with your Arc Ultra.There is no guarantee that a particular volume percentage is the same volume across different models. If there were, it would mean no speaker we make could get louder than the “quietest” one we make.Apple Music plays louder - this is Apple Music’s choice. I can only recommend sticking to one service if this is an issue for you. We apply the REPLAYGAIN tag during decoding - if Apple Music tag theirfiles in such a way as to be played louder, that is what will happen. It may well be deliberate - I don’t know. In the 80’s, sound producers starting pumping up gain and compression to sound louder than other artists on the radio, so it has been done before.I can only recommend turning it down before you turn the TV on (or before turning it off)- if we did not go back to the previously set volume level, we’d get a lot more complaints.Some TV’s - like mine - will mute an attached soundbar before ramping up the volume at power-on. It does not do it every time, however, and I still have not figured out the pattern. I know it’s not Arc Ultra doing this as with my previous TV (from the same manufacturer as the current) this did not happen.Different sources are almost bound to be different levels, and even different channels/stations from a single source (TV/Radio) can vary too. Not to mention movies and YouTube videos, and older music versus newer. It’s an annoying fact of life, and any attempt to correct it in real timeoften sounds far worse than a mere volume difference. Personally, I find myself adjusting the volume all the time.I hope this helps.

G

Glockers

Avid Contributor I

Answered

Arc Ultra volume varies depending on source

12 replies
922 views

I have a Arc Ultra with which I am experiencing some volume disparities.

If I play Sonos radio (ABC Classic) on Arc Ultra the volume has to be up around 55% to be able to hear it at a reasonable level. With my ERA300 it would be at about 45% to get same volume
If I stream music from Apple or Qobuz the volume level has to be dropped to about 35% on the Arc to be the same “reasonable level”.
The worst problem is that when we turn the TV on it uses the previous volume level ie 56% and just about blasts us out of the house. Needs to be dropped to about 35% to be about right.

Is this really correct behaviour for either the ARC - shouldn’t the TV kick in at a default lower volume rather than previous level. Shouldn’t ARC and ERA act similarly with same source. And why is Sonos Radio so much “lower” - I have tried various stations and they are all the similar.

Very annoying behaviour.

Moderator edit: Changed Plus to Ultra for clarity

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Corry PAnswer

Sonos Staff

Hi @Glockers

Thanks for your post!

Sorry to hear you are having issues with your Arc Ultra.

There is no guarantee that a particular volume percentage is the same volume across different models. If there were, it would mean no speaker we make could get louder than the “quietest” one we make.
Apple Music plays louder - this is Apple Music’s choice. I can only recommend sticking to one service if this is an issue for you. We apply the REPLAYGAIN tag during decoding - if Apple Music tag their files in such a way as to be played louder, that is what will happen. It may well be deliberate - I don’t know. In the 80’s, sound producers starting pumping up gain and compression to sound louder than other artists on the radio, so it has been done before.
I can only recommend turning it down before you turn the TV on (or before turning it off) - if we did not go back to the previously set volume level, we’d get a lot more complaints.

Some TV’s - like mine - will mute an attached soundbar before ramping up the volume at power-on. It does not do it every time, however, and I still have not figured out the pattern. I know it’s not Arc Ultra doing this as with my previous TV (from the same manufacturer as the current) this did not happen.

Different sources are almost bound to be different levels, and even different channels/stations from a single source (TV/Radio) can vary too. Not to mention movies and YouTube videos, and older music versus newer. It’s an annoying fact of life, and any attempt to correct it in real time often sounds far worse than a mere volume difference. Personally, I find myself adjusting the volume all the time.

I hope this helps.

"Common sense is the collection of prejudices acquired by age eighteen." - Albert Einstein

Show previous replies

buzz

Grand Maestro

You could use AirPlay to send Apple Music to the SONOS system.

It would be difficult for SONOS to develop a Sound Check capability for music in general because the whole album would need to be scanned before beginning to play any track from the album. Apple Music has the advantage because they can scan the album (once) and set a field in their metadata before adding it to their library.

A

accelerator

Avid Contributor I

This could easily be fixed by one of, or both of these toggles:

Set the volume to 0 (or desired level) when switching from another source to TV.
Remember last volume level for TV, instead of the last volume level in general.

These options could be where the TV autoplay toggles are. I think number 2 makes the most sense, and would expect it to be the default, but you can have it off to not alter the functionality automatically. In time maybe introduce this to other source types also, but I agree that the TV volume is the main issue.

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