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Sonos Arc Ultra Sound Issue

  • December 2, 2025
  • 7 replies
  • 145 views
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I wanted to gauge from the community as to whether or not people are experiencing bad sound quality through their arc ultra speakers as I have had two units and both have produced a slightly distorted/fuzzy sound specifically from the right side of the speaker. I don’t know if it’s bad luck or not but wanted to check with others to see if they’re also experiencing this and what they did to fix it?

 

My arc ultra is connected to my Samsung tv through the eARC port with the cable provided and use my Apple TV 4K Gen 1 to watch content. The fuzzy noise is present when watching any kind of media through the Apple TV as well as when I’m streaming music through the Sonos app and even when adding the product to my system through the chime it plays as well as during the trueplay tuning. 

I have even changed the settings on the Samsung tv such that sound is output via pass through rather than automatic

Any help would be much appreciated, I will try get the product replaced but wanted to see if this is a common issue. 

Best answer by User117655

I had exactly this issue from the right hand channel of an Arc Ultra too. It was specifically noticeable on the male voice and lower frequency sounds, at lower volumes. It was quite subtle but definitely present.

Support suggested it could be the source and asked for a recording. They listened to it and authorised a replacement.

Using sources that had triggered it to check (radio stream/local NAS) it was not present on the replacement so my conclusion is that it was a fault. I have not noticed the issue since.

Out of interest, a specific source was the BBC's Ed Reardon's Week... Ed's voice seemed to consistently hit the issue for me - not limited to but the start of s16, ep1 for example 🤓.

 

7 replies

Stanley_4
  • Stanley_4
  • Lead Maestro
  • December 2, 2025

Can’t help on common, but my Arc Ultra is not having issues.

P
  • PH17
  • Author
  • Contributor I
  • December 2, 2025

Can’t help on common, but my Arc Ultra is not having issues.

Thanks for responding. Can I ask if you experience any fuzzy/cracking noise from the right side of your speaker when you play any content or is the audio output the same from both sides of the speaker?

Stanley_4
  • Stanley_4
  • Lead Maestro
  • December 2, 2025

No issues, left, right and center all sound good. TV or streaming, both are good.

U
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  • User117655
  • Collaborator II
  • Answer
  • December 2, 2025

I had exactly this issue from the right hand channel of an Arc Ultra too. It was specifically noticeable on the male voice and lower frequency sounds, at lower volumes. It was quite subtle but definitely present.

Support suggested it could be the source and asked for a recording. They listened to it and authorised a replacement.

Using sources that had triggered it to check (radio stream/local NAS) it was not present on the replacement so my conclusion is that it was a fault. I have not noticed the issue since.

Out of interest, a specific source was the BBC's Ed Reardon's Week... Ed's voice seemed to consistently hit the issue for me - not limited to but the start of s16, ep1 for example 🤓.

 

br.
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  • br.
  • Lyricist I
  • December 3, 2025

I have the same issue. My Arc ultra had sound distortion from the right side after one day of use, I had it swapped and the replacement is even worse. Have to go back and swap it again. 

Stanley_4
A
A
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Hi, same problem for me: distorted sound on the right side of the soundbar, appeared right after purchase, maybe it was already broken when delivered.

Decided to return it and bought another one from a local store. So far the new one works really well, I get no distortions on the same tracks and so far the sound is crisp and clear on the new one.

 

Stanley_4
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Airgetlam
A
Forum|alt.badge.img+1

I have the same issue. My Arc ultra had sound distortion from the right side after one day of use, I had it swapped and the replacement is even worse. Have to go back and swap it again. 

Hi, did you finally get a good one?

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