Well, I just ordered a new Arc. This will be my third . My original Arc I bought in June is still attached to my system. Sonos sent a replacement that acted up on the second and third day of being hooked up so went back to the original and sent replacement back. My new one( third try) will be here this week. If it acts up, I’m thinking it’s not the Arc. Don’t think three Arcs would be defective. I’ll blame it on the tv manufacturers. We shall see. 

I have got the same problem here. Currently using a Samsung 65Q950TS, updated to software version 1403.1 and the the Arc is updated to version 12.2. 
 

I am still experiencing sound cut outs every few days, not the experience I was hoping for with an €9.000 setup. Bad thing is, Sonos is blaming Samsung and Samsung is blaming Sonos.

It sure seems to be a design flaw in the Arc.  It’s happening across most of the brands of TVs, and stories like yours just confirm that it’s not a one off broken unit.  All 3 of your arcs may be ‘defective’ like the rest of ours in that bad design is the defect. 

There are far more people not having issues with their Arc. 

Well I think there are worrying signs this isn’t fixable and that Sonos will fix it in a subsequent batch of models and leave existing owners in the cold. I get initially they wanted to keep it quiet to rush a fix out so as not to tarnish a new products reputation. 
It has been long enough now for it to be the key issue in reviews and I have started emailing prominent review sites asking them to re review the product highlighting the fact that, in effect it does not work to do the thing it was designed and advertised to do.

I suggest others do the same and it may then get taken more seriously as reviews start reflecting the truth on the ground.

Sonos need to admit the issue and be open now, as treating people like fools when it’s across all TVs and then replacing units when it’s a known issue is a waste of time. One google and people will see the forums.

I have lots of Sonos products and have been happy with them all. I want them to fix it, but come on now Sonos you can do better than this!

Have a Samsung Q95 TV and also have the same problem with the arc sound cutting in and out.

But have found a way to solve the issue with out turning the power off and on. 

in the expert sound setting there is a Dolby Atmos compatibility toggle button.   By simply clicking this off and on it fixes the ARC problem and can even set the HDMI -eARC mode to auto which following this process.

so clearly the problem is fixable.    Just getting sick of having to do this every day.   

I have been monitoring this thread with interest for the last few weeks now as I have been experiencing these issues like everyone else. I can’r believe, like a lot of people, that Sonos can’t be bothered to keep us updated on the progress of the issue. I have today emailed the CEO of Sonos to get their view on the matter and if I get a response will post it on this thread.

I hope Sonos fix the issue quickly as it would be a shame for such an issue to tarnish what is otherwise a quality brand. Keeping my fingers crossed for a fix.

Same problem here - sound cutting out when streaming (music is fine). Samsung TV QE55 2019 and Sonos Arc.

Lately it is getting worse, having to alter the sound adjustments (toggling PCM, Dolby, Atmos settings) on the TV every day. No other HDMI devices connected

Anyone know how can I open a support case, I did not find a way to do it on the app or web?

Thanks.

During a call with Sony last week, the engineer admitted there is a problem with the eArc and they are working on it. A lot models are affected and they even introduce this bug with the last release of their 900H firmware. They enabled eArc and HDMI 2.1 for the 900H to support 4K 120Hz for the PS5. By the way, the sound issue doesn’t seem to be the only problem. You can see on reddit that there is a lot of people having problem with soundbars from different manufactures and Sony TVs with eArc capabilities.

I work in software development for a while and here’s what I think. Because many different brands having problem with eArc, I’m pretty sure there is a problem with the eArc protocol/standard itself. I hope this is a software issue and not a hardware issue. That’s my two cents.

More explanations from Sonos will be appreciated.

This problem seems to be pretty wide spread and now TV manufacturers are dealing with people complaining about it as well.  I assume you mention far more people not having issues because you only see a handful of us on the internet + Sonos has not put in a recall.

 As I mentioned earlier, both my friend and I did not have any issue for months only to one day run into it.  We both owned the old Sono Soundbar and Beam (to all same TVs) with no issues.  My problem still comes back frequently enough but my friend goes weeks before he has the issue and plugs out the plug and it works again.  He seems happy enough with the solution and asked me to keep him up.  Given it is already mounted and works well most of the time - he is more patient.  Either way, It definitely seems like the issue is something to do with how the Arc “talks” to the TV.  Also as previously mentioned, it seems like nobody can pinpoint the exact issue, which is making it harder to solve.  But I do firmly believe this isn’t a hardware defect (and is inherent in every Arc you will receive) but a problem that arises when two systems (your arc and your TV) tries to communicate and something all of a sudden, they start speaking different languages.

I think that the problem is occurring less frequently since the Sonos and Samsung software updates. However, I am seeing it happen now when just changing channels in Youtube TV. So it seems that in any circumstance where the sound is interrupted, the system is having trouble re-establishing an audio connection. Not app-dependent, not Atmos-dependent, but as simple as pausing and re-establishing the audio connection and/or output.

I just updated the firmware but when the update was over the audio was gone and i had to toggle eARC. So i guess the new firmware is not a fix.

I have spoken with Sonos and Samsung customer service in the last couple of days. After initially being fobbed off by both, I got to people who knew what was going on. And they gave the same answer, separately - that they acknowledge the issue between Sonos and Samsung and that their engineers are working on it together. Also that they have identified the issue and that it will be fixed soon through a firmware update on the TV end.

So, who knows how soon, or how hard they’re working on it but getting the exact same answer from both companies independently seems to be a cause for hope… 

Great news, thanks for digging!

@mrks That is great news.  I hope the news is for other TV makers as well given the issue isn’t just with Samsung but if they have identified the issue, and it’s truly accurate, this should give everyone hope.

But you would think that an announcement would have been posted from Sonos verifying this much sooner  and not just telling one person. Don’t you think they’d want to calm the waters and let everyone know that they know the issue and fix...I don’t believe it personally. I’ve talked to 3 Sonos customer service reps in the last 3 weeks about the issue. Not one said that a fix was on its way. They even sent a replacement Arc that acted up the second day so I returned it. Why send a replacement when a fix is coming. Doesn’t make sense. 

I’ve had the Arc for 10 days and the sound has just started playing up. I’ve tried different ways to sort out the issue and the latest “fix” was to unplug the HDMI cable into that goes into the tv ARC connection and then plug it back in. I’m hoping that Sonos can provide a permanent solution and will be monitoring things closely on this forum. 

So today my thoughts are different about the Sonos Arc issue many including myself are having. After doing a search for sound bar eARC issues, many brands are appearing to have issues ,not just Sonos. Im thinking it’s a flawed eARC system and not yet free it bugs. 

A little voice is whispering ‘remember that Betamax VCR you invested in?’   Sure hope not!

Hi guys.

4 months on and i’m still having this problem once in a while. additionally, now my arc + sub setup occasionally drop the sub and shows the sub as unconfigured. unplugging and replugging the sub doesn’t solve the problem, but unplugging the arc will fix it. 

I’ve submitted a diagnostic with ref no 1287225351. if somebody can have a look would be appreciated. 

thank you

musab

I note that some Sonos staff monitor the community chats … I wonder if one would get back to me and give me a good reason to keep the Sonos Arc?

Many of the various reasons to buy/own/keep a Sonos Arc are shown on the product purchase page here:

https://www.sonos.com/en-us/shop/arc-black.html

If that helps at all.

Sure, that page lists awesome features we all bought into when we handed over our $$$.  It’s all pointless waste of money though if it doesn’t work and needs a hard reset every time I go to use it.  That’s what Riphk meant.  A good reason to keep it would be something “we’ve identified the issue and a fix is planned to release on Dec 12” or something like that.

I’m using the Arc here with the LG C9 and not encountered any issues with that TV in the time I’ve had the Sonos product here. I have the Arc connected via HDMI-2 eARC (with audio pass-through), and have switched off CEC control on some of the other peripherals and the Arc has been performing fine, particularly since the last LG TV and Sonos updates, which catered for multi-channel LPCM that our Apple TV requires, amongst other things.
 

I’m wondering if some TV’s (particularly Samsung TV’s - which seem to get mentioned a lot) have issues with their eARC output, in which case, I guess Sonos cannot say anything about those other manufacturers, other than they are liaising with them to get any issues resolved. I think Staff here in the community have made those sort of comments, so I wouldn’t expect much more than that, if the matter is perhaps outside of Sonos control etc. 
 

As I say, whatever the issue was before with the LG C9 TV and Arc, that certainly seems to be sorted here, by all accounts, however I have had a couple of TV firmware updates (one recently) since I purchased the TV, so I’m not sure ‘who fixed what’, but the Arc is working okay here.

Anyone with LG CX had complete sound drops switching between sources?

Have you experienced any since 3.11.30 firmware?, It’s too early to tell but since installing 3.11.30 on the CX, apart from a minor audio dropout that came back on its own, I have yet to get a complete loss of sound when switching between sources.

But as said it's only been since yesterday, that the ARC has played nice.