Any fix yet for Dolby ATMOS Popping when using Xbox Series X?

  • 20 June 2023
  • 16 replies
  • 1615 views

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Hi All,

Is there a fix or workaround to enjoy Dolby Atmos gaming on my Xbox Series X? As others have reported there is a loud Popping noise that occurs when playing Dolby Atmos on my Xbox.

Is the only solution to turn off EARC or Atmos on the Xbox?

Any fixes or news on this?

I just purchased Era 300’s and would like to enjoy them when gaming on the Xbox.

Corry P 5 months ago

Hi @Technical Recruiter 

Good news! We are pleased to share that our team has identified a fix for the popping sound on Arc and it will be shipped to all customers as part of a software release today, Thursday Nov 16 at 09:30 ET, 14:30 GMT, 15:30 CET. Please note that some app stores may take an extra hour or two for it to become available.

During our investigation we uncovered a rare bug that impacts how Sonos Arc and Beam (Gen 2) in certain home theater configurations process Dolby MAT, a streaming technology which is used to deliver Dolby Atmos audio over HDMI. Occasionally a Sonos product will receive a corrupted audio segment from an external source and needs to filter out unwanted audio data. The bug we identified was allowing our Dolby decoder to play audible errors on certain home theater setups rather than concealing them. The solution we’ve built and tested improves our Dolby decoder so it better filters out corrupt audio data that can manifest as a popping sound. We’ll continue to monitor customer feedback closely after the fix has been released and ship additional updates if necessary.

We strive to deliver the best listening experience possible and work to address major issues that impact our customers. We apologize for the disruption this bug has caused and want to thank you for your patience while our team developed a fix.

We would also like to thank our community users for their detailed setup information and steps to reproduce the issue, which were helpful to us in uncovering the cause of the bug.

 

If you have any questions, please post them on the main related thread and I’ll do my best to answer them.

This thread will be closed to keep all queries in that one place.

 

 

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16 replies

Userlevel 7

What model TV do you have?

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LG C2

I’m wondering the exact same actually.  I have a Sonos arc/LG C2 and just unboxed a pair of Era 300s last night.  I have Atmos turned off on my Xbox because the popping was just too loud and awful to hear all the time.

I hope a fix is in works.

Userlevel 2
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Dolby MAT issue sadly causing popping and sound dropouts, Popping and dropouts on the ARC and dropouts on the Beam Gen 2. Both the Apple TV and the Xbox Series X use Dolby Mat for Dolby Atmos. All you can do currently is just use Dolby Digital 5.1. Not acceptable I know when we have bought Dolby Atmos soundbars but we are stuck with it until Sonos fix the issue.

How can we escalate this issue so it gets the proper attention from Sonos??

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I have recently turned of HDMI CEC on my Xbox and have yet to have any issues with Atmos enabled now. Sucks I have to remove a feature, but will continue to monitor. 

Userlevel 2
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You can try turning off CEC on the Xbox, some have found this works.

Hi all,

I thought I would update you all as I reached out to Sonos about this issue.  As expected they are well aware.  Here’s the response I received:

“Apologies for the inconvenience. But it's correct that we really have an ongoing issue with this loud popping noise. Apparently, there is still no fix for that issue, and what I can do best is to include your account in our report of affected customers so that our Engineers will be further notified”

They did suggest disabling HDMI-CEC but this did not resolve the issue for me.  Dolby digital is their alternative format for now.  

I was provided with a case ID so possibly in the future we will get an update.  I’ll share any updates on this forum.

Userlevel 1
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Interesting.  I recently had this popping issue with my Samsung frame tv, Apple TV paired with HomePods, & Xbox X.  Also had a terrible lag as well which I had to turn ATMOS off on the Xbox and only use 5.1 instead.  

Just recently replaced the HomePods with a Sonos Arc and paired Sub of which I was was worried about further issues with my Xbox.  I am very happy to say though that this actually fixed my issue.  Xbox now works great with ATMOS content. No popping, no lag, and sounds excellent.  
 

I wonder if this is an issue with certain TV’s in the mix?

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Still no fix, switched to “Dolby Digital” within the Xbox Audio Settings.

Very frustrating experience as I cannot enjoy the Full Potential of my Era 300’s for Gaming on the Xbox which has Dolby Atmos.

Userlevel 1
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Still no fix, switched to “Dolby Digital” within the Xbox Audio Settings.

Very frustrating experience as I cannot enjoy the Full Potential of my Era 300’s for Gaming on the Xbox which has Dolby Atmos.

Curious what your tv is?  Also, are you only using Era 300’s or are you using a full surround set up such as an arc, sub, and 2 Era 300’s?  Just trying to get a better idea as to your set up.  Reason I ask is that I have an arc and sub along with a Samsung frame tv and all works great.  Wonder if it’s an issue with the eras specifically, the tv, or something else?

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Still no fix, switched to “Dolby Digital” within the Xbox Audio Settings.

Very frustrating experience as I cannot enjoy the Full Potential of my Era 300’s for Gaming on the Xbox which has Dolby Atmos.

Curious what your tv is?  Also, are you only using Era 300’s or are you using a full surround set up such as an arc, sub, and 2 Era 300’s?  Just trying to get a better idea as to your set up.  Reason I ask is that I have an arc and sub along with a Samsung frame tv and all works great.  Wonder if it’s an issue with the eras specifically, the tv, or something else?

Lg c2 with Arc, sub, and two Era 300 for surround. It works fine except on my Xbox Series X. When I put the settings of Xbox audio to Dolby Atmos the sound will cut out and sometimes a loud pop will occur. 

They haven’t fixed this yet, switched out hdmi cables to audio quest cinnamon and in loud scenes with high bit rate the audio keeps popping/cracking. Movie Top Gun Maverick, all other functions within TV app to sonos arc bar in atmos etc work fine. It’s just my Xbox with atmos content only. The DTS not passing through is an LG issues. 

Userlevel 1
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I just recently added 2 era 300’s as surrounds and have not experienced this specific issue with my Xbox.  I wonder if it’s the Lg’s as I am using a Samsung frame.  That being said the one issue I have been having is that audio drops out for about 1 second or less sometimes every 15 - 45 minutes or so when playing from Apple TV.  Xbox seems to be doing just fine.

Who knows… I believe part of the issue is that multiple codecs are being pushed through and the TV my 77CX LG just gets confused on what is what. I believe finally the 23-24 TV models years are getting DTS pass through. Annoying if I am watching an older BluRay title that uses DTS master audio and even that doesn’t get pushed through. 

Userlevel 7
Badge +18

Hi @Technical Recruiter 

Good news! We are pleased to share that our team has identified a fix for the popping sound on Arc and it will be shipped to all customers as part of a software release today, Thursday Nov 16 at 09:30 ET, 14:30 GMT, 15:30 CET. Please note that some app stores may take an extra hour or two for it to become available.

During our investigation we uncovered a rare bug that impacts how Sonos Arc and Beam (Gen 2) in certain home theater configurations process Dolby MAT, a streaming technology which is used to deliver Dolby Atmos audio over HDMI. Occasionally a Sonos product will receive a corrupted audio segment from an external source and needs to filter out unwanted audio data. The bug we identified was allowing our Dolby decoder to play audible errors on certain home theater setups rather than concealing them. The solution we’ve built and tested improves our Dolby decoder so it better filters out corrupt audio data that can manifest as a popping sound. We’ll continue to monitor customer feedback closely after the fix has been released and ship additional updates if necessary.

We strive to deliver the best listening experience possible and work to address major issues that impact our customers. We apologize for the disruption this bug has caused and want to thank you for your patience while our team developed a fix.

We would also like to thank our community users for their detailed setup information and steps to reproduce the issue, which were helpful to us in uncovering the cause of the bug.

 

If you have any questions, please post them on the main related thread and I’ll do my best to answer them.

This thread will be closed to keep all queries in that one place.