Bass distortion and popping since trueplay update

Hi all, since updating my Play:1 to the latest software and running trueplay I am getting strange bass distortion and sharp drum notes sound bloated. The first drum will be louder and distort and then it seems the play:1 pulls back the bass a little. There is also noticeable popping noise through the low notes of a song. Now I can turn off the trueplay eq but that doesn't sound anything like it used to before the update! So I'm stuffed! I have submitted a diagnostic (5273094).

This is exactly the same fault as the this post:
https://en.community.sonos.com/wireless-speakers-228992/trueplay-bass-distortion-on-play1-6733388
Hope this can be quickly sorted

Chris

Hello Chris, is your system experiencing the same audio problems on both PLAY:1s?

Hi all, since updating my Play:1 to the latest software and running trueplay I am getting strange bass distortion and sharp drum notes sound bloated. The first drum will be louder and distort and then it seems the play:1 pulls back the bass a little. There is also noticeable popping noise through the low notes of a song. Now I can turn off the trueplay eq but that doesn't sound anything like it used to before the update! So I'm stuffed! I have submitted a diagnostic (5273094).

This is exactly the same fault as the this post:
https://en.community.sonos.com/wireless-speakers-228992/trueplay-bass-distortion-on-play1-6733388
Hope this can be quickly sorted

Chris

Hello Chris, is your system experiencing the same audio problems on both PLAY:1s?

Hi yes on both. I've re tuned many times, tried all different services from flac via local NAS, online services and tunein radio. I've seen a few people are experiencing the same as well as blowing the speakers. Is there a beta software or can we roll back the software until this is resolved? Like I mentioned, turning of trueplay sounds awful so isn't really an option either

Thanks
Chris

I was thinking if you unpair or create a stereo pair then that will get rid of the true play settings. Which in theory should be the same as switching it off but as you mentioned the sound is now different I wonder if doing this makes any difference.

On my system true play increases the top end quite a bit, but doesn't seem to do much with the bass maybe dial it down a little. What does it do to yours?

Also have you another IOS device you can try it on? To see if that makes a difference again it shouldn't.

I have tried pairing and un pairing, The sound now without trueplay is very flat as mentioned. It can be bettered with some tweaking of the eq, but it's not back To how it was.
Lowering the bass helps to an extent, but it's still present. It's simply the trueplay eq/dsp is causing clipping at certain frequencies.

I will try another iOS device and re tune the speakers, good suggestions

We bought a Play 3 for our office and it has never sounded right. TruePlay hasn't ever been able to work, too much white noise around the office I guess. We have the bass turned all the way down and the loudness off and almost every song still has a horrible bass distortion. I'm wondering if our speaker is just broken or damaged as it has never sounded like a $300 speaker should. Diagnostic number is 6815978 and I would appreciate any help from Sonos support. So far we are extremely disappointed.

Hi, I'm sorry to hear that. That best would be to contact us by phone for this. A Sonos agent will be able to offer live troubleshooting and if needed start an RMA. Let us know how it goes.

Have you tried shutdown and restart of the IOS device you use to do Trueplay ? Might be a microphone issue that screw up the Trueplay tuning. Might be it.

It's very disappointing to find this is still and issue, and every time I see this topic come up on these forums there is always an engineer offering unhelpful advice, or denying the issue exists. I bought and returned multiple PLAY:1 and Sonos One speakers because they all had bass popping problems after TruePlay was enabled. No amount of re-tuning, restarting or resetting fixed it. The issue is inherent in the way TruePlay works, and Sonos engineers are still denying this is even an issue. Fix your software! Partly the reason I can no longer be a Sonos customer.[/quot[quote=jarrrp]It's very disappointing to find this is still and issue, and every time I see this topic come up on these forums there is always an engineer offering unhelpful advice, or denying the issue exists. I bought and returned multiple PLAY:1 and Sonos One speakers because they all had bass popping problems after TruePlay was enabled. No amount of re-tuning, restarting or resetting fixed it. The issue is inherent in the way TruePlay works, and Sonos engineers are still denying this is even an issue. Fix your software! Partly the reason I can no longer be a Sonos customer.

Did you have time to read my post at this link: https://en.community.sonos.com/wireless-speakers-228992/trueplay-bass-distortion-on-play-1-6733388/index7.html#post16207648

It’s actually in the Play 1 and Sonos One design because of its small size it can only produce a certain amount of bass. The distortion/popping is the limiter preventing the certain tones from damaging the speaker. It’s always been there but Trueplay tends to change the frequency of the bass in a lot of situations causing the certain tones that it can’t produce to be there around 25 - 50 volume levels instead of the around 75 volume levels that the Play 1 and Sonos One would start to detect these types of bass tones. My opinion is that Trueplay should have been left for the bigger speakers that can handle these tones like the Play 3 and Play 5.

Did you have time to read my post at this link: https://en.community.sonos.com/wireless-speakers-228992/trueplay-bass-distortion-on-play-1-6733388/index7.html#post16207648

It’s actually in the Play 1 and Sonos One design because of its small size it can only produce a certain amount of bass. The distortion/popping is the limiter preventing the certain tones from damaging the speaker. It’s always been there but Trueplay tends to change the frequency of the bass in a lot of situations causing the certain tones that it can’t produce to be there around 25 - 50 volume levels instead of the around 75 volume levels that the Play 1 and Sonos One would start to detect these types of bass tones. My opinion is that Trueplay should have been left for the bigger speakers that can handle these tones like the Play 3 and Play 5.

This is certainly concerning to hear. Particularly as Sonos continue to deny this issue exists. Now they have real competition (HomePod), they really need to fix these kinds of issues. If Apple can achieve a TruePlay technology without requiring the use of an external device for measurement (smartphone microphone in the case of Sonos), then Sonos should be looking to achieve something similar. Standards have got to be raised because Sonos no longer have the monopoly on this market.

Just for the records Sonos didn’t fully deny that this issue wasn’t there due to the limiter but they did seem to steer in other directions for a whole month before giving me a clear answer to what was happening here. I do agree that the market has some really good competition and that once this issue gets full exposure it might affect Sonos Sales in the Play 1 and Sonos One. My opinion is that they are just hoping that most people won’t hear this slight popping/distortion or do what most have already done on this forum: Live with it or don’t use the Trueplay feature.

Either way I feel it will bite them in the butt if they don’t address the issue with a fix or even at least acknowledge the issue and let their customers know what their speaker is trying to achieve with the limiter. You have to show up as yourself in this game because in this world of social media you will be exposed eventually.

Just do what’s right and be honest