Sonos sound cutting out

No, I wouldn't return it to the store. What I would do is submit a system diagnostic within 10 minutes of experiencing this issue, and call in to Sonos to discuss it.

They'd likely be able to see something there in the diagnostic that would identify what's causing the cutout, and help you fi your system so it works as designed.

I'm unable to call Sonos in my country - but I can submit a diagnostic report - how do I get in touch with customer support?

Just post the number here. Depending on the volume of posts and folks they're currently dealing with, it might be 10 minutes, or several days before they have a chance to get back to you. They're a good group, these forum monitors, but they're often swamped.

There's always a benefit to a direct conversation. If there were a need to remote into your computer to check settings, that can't be done using a forum post. You may want to try the 24/7 twitter support, which is also on that page I linked.

Hi,

I'm had some drop-outs within the last 10 minutes, I've submitted a diagnostic report

The confirmation number is: 1592334456

If Sonos could please look into and let me know how I can resolve these sound drop-outs?

Thanks

Hi there, Naekyr. Thanks for the diagnostic report. Typically, audio dropouts point to a problem getting the data to the players in time. This can be due to wireless interference or network latency. Based on the diagnostic report you submitted, it seems the Playbar is having a hard time talking to the router. In fact, it drops about 6 - 21% of the data at any given time forcing the data to be resent multiple times before moving on. This would certainly cause audio dropouts.

That being said, is it possible to plug one of the Sonos devices into the router directly with an Ethernet cable?

Hi Keith,

Thanks for looking at the report, firstly I do not have the option of plugging in any of the devices directly to the router
So I'd like to look at options that don't require this

For the interference part, I'm having a hard time believing my wireless network is to blame

My router is a Netgear Nighthawk X8 and I have a gigabit fibre internet connection, it's the 2nd most expensive router sold by Netgear and it's never given me any issues. In the room with my playbar/sub/play1s I also have my PC, my iPhone X, PS4 and Samsung KS8000 TV - all these devices connect wirelessly to the router and have never had any issues - my PC connects using the 5ghz frequency at 850mbps and I'm able to stream 4k video from Netflix without a hitch on the TV and PS4 (I've never had any stuttering or lag streaming 4k video). I have the router producing 1 2.4ghz signal and 2x 5ghz signals, the 2.4ghz signal should be picked up by any devices within a 200 foot radius, that's how powerful the router is. The room with all my devices is 10 feet from the router and passes through 2 walls

I don't see why the Playbar should be dropping so much data when I've got a very strong wireless network and I've never had issues with any of my other devices in this room

Please advise on the next steps - I really like the Playbar, but if these dropouts continue I will take it back to the store for a refund

Thanks

Understood. First, your connection to the outside internet does not have an impact on how quickly data is routed along your local network. This is determined by the network setup itself. Sonos specifically connects to your network over the 2.4 GHz band, but talks to your other Home Theater components (Sub and surrounds) through 5GHz. Because of this, it's important to address any wireless interference or latency on the network.

Looking closer at the Playbar, it seems that it is specifically dealing with physical electronic interference and a fluctuating noise floor. Both of these normally point to an electronic device that is broadcasting a wireless signal and physically close to the Playbar interfering with it's communication to the other components. Can you describe the immediate location around the Playbar? What devices are located nearby?

Thanks in advance.

Thanks for the photo, Naekyr. Seems like there is a lot of wireless communication right in that corner, not to mention being surrounded by a couple large electronic devices like your computer and WiFi TV. Is it at all possible to test by plugging the Playbar into the router? This will keep the PLAYBAR from needing to broadcast through the wireless traffic and instead give it a hardline connection. We could try another hardwiring another Sonos unit, but ultimately the Playbar will still need to wirelessly talk to the other Sonos units giving us the same problems.

Alternatively, if you remove the power from both the computer and TV are you able to play audio without interruptions?

Hi Keith, to plug the playbar into the router via cable would require lots of wiring through the house (as I don't own the house this will not be an option).

I could try disconnecting those devices - however the sound drop-outs are so sporadic that I cannot predict when they will happen, its like one day I may get sound drop outs for 10 minutes and then the next 3 days I get no drop outs, it's just random and I only use the soundbar with the TV and/or PC on as well (because I use my Sonos setup for movies/games - I don't listen to music on it)

But if I look past the issue of trying to do isolation tests (because the sound cut outs are unpredictable) then even if that fixes the issue, that means I can't use my TV and PC which is not going to work at all

It feels like this is heading towards the path that involves me returning this to the store for a refund - I will unfortunately lose the money I paid for the play 1 floor stands 😢