I had an update from one of the support contacts (the one that responded to my email to the CEO):
My apologies for my late response. I reviewed the case that you provided and it looks like it has been escalated to our Level 3 support to check the issue further.
So I am back waiting for contact from level 3.
Its been 2 weeks now after performing hours of on the line tests/diagnostics which could not be resolved (or pin-pointed) during that call. This is on top of fully wiring the speakers, several factory resets, controlled power-downs/power-ups, Wi-Fi Scanning for interference, Router config changes, TV config changes, complete cable replacement, installing SVC, speaker repositioning, boost/no boast testing and general network diagnostics to ensure STP/loops are not a problem. (And I work in technology for a living, so I am not trying this as a novice).
But if there’s a real issue here, I’d have thought that the Sonos team could have recreated it based on the information they’ve been handed. The fact that they haven’t is somewhat telling, although it’s certainly possible they just don’t have enough information yet. I don’t know, one way or another, but can certainly express that this issue has not appeared on either of my Arcs, both of which have Subs and Surround speakers set up.
I do agree that there are multiple avenues to finding this problem. And it is possible that it is not caused (directly or indirectly) by the software update. But so many people in different parts of the world with different kit can pin point April as the start time of the problem, and a lot of them have not had problems before. So something has changed - and I can't hear any other suggestions on a resolution despite the myriad of testing that has been completed by the community.
Quite frankly, I have tried everything, not getting much of a response from Sonos Support so don't know what to do to progress to resolution. It's a really depressing situation for something that was rock solid in stability before April.
I went ahead and added to your spreadsheet, although I don’t get the issue, and I doubt my info is useful, as my setup is rather uncommon, but it’s there.
Actually, it just led me to the HD Fury Arcana page and I’m really close to buying a new toy. That’s helpful, right?
Edit: It may actually be helpful since some have suspected CEC. The Arcana may mitigate whatever CEC issue is there for you, if there is one.
Well, yes, it could resolve issues if it’s related to CEC, but it absolutely would not if the issue has to do wit network interference, bandwidth, or something of that nature. It certainly shouldn’t be thought of as blanket solution.
I got Arcana primarily because it is eARC, while my TV is not, and it eliminated the possibility of my TV having a firmware upgrade that screwed up audio. My setup also has the same source capable of being sent to 4 different TVs...so yea, it’s uncommon and not exactly useful for a control group example.
I went ahead and added to your spreadsheet, although I don’t get the issue, and I doubt my info is useful, as my setup is rather uncommon, but it’s there.
Actually, it just led me to the HD Fury Arcana page and I’m really close to buying a new toy. That’s helpful, right?
Edit: It may actually be helpful since some have suspected CEC. The Arcana may mitigate whatever CEC issue is there for you, if there is one.
Well, yes, it could resolve issues if it’s related to CEC, but it absolutely would not if the issue has to do wit network interference, bandwidth, or something of that nature. It certainly shouldn’t be thought of as blanket solution.
I got Arcana primarily because it is eARC, while my TV is not, and it eliminated the possibility of my TV having a firmware upgrade that screwed up audio. My setup also has the same source capable of being sent to 4 different TVs...so yea, it’s uncommon and not exactly useful for a control group example.
Yes, obviously the Archana is only a factor if the issue is in fact with CEC, or something similar.
Oddly enough, your setup is somewhat similar to mine. I also have the ability to send sources to other tvs and the additional equipment that goes with that. My setup is such that I need to strip it down to the basics for troubleshooting first before I call support. My life and mental energy are not there for it right now. I have a work around, so I move on for the moment.
My tv does not have eARC either so the Archana intrigues me. I’ll save the info for when I have the time and the guts to mess with my fairly stable system.
I've had two incidents where the sub and surrounds stop playing since that update. Things were rock solid prior to that. It's not happening often enough to replicate easily, so I appreciate this isn't easy for Sonos engineers to figure out. But I would urge them to keep at it - this is definitely real, something has changed.
In my case, unplugging and restsrting the Arc gets me back on track.
As requested by Sonos support I tried to test if the issue remains on optical. My tv is mounted so I pre ran an optical cable in case I ever needed one. In order to test, I had to buy a female/female toslink adapter so I could connect tv->optical cable->female/female toslink adapter->Sonos toslink/HDMI adapter->HDMI cable→ Arc. I don’t have a lot of faith in that connection obviously but my results were interesting. I had to hold the toslink adapter just right for it to work but I was able to test. While experiencing an audio dropout, I stopped the content, unplugged HDMI connection, plugged in the toslink connection, changed tv output settings to optical out and restarted the same content. The sub and surrounds were still missing. The flakiness of the toslink connection gives me pause as to whether there’s any value in this test. It also seems like I should power cycle some equipment when changing audio connection type but that would most likely restore the audio anyway which wouldn’t tell me anything. I did all this outside of Sonos support hours and will do it again when I can do it live on a support call to see if they have any instructions for order of operations/power cycling, etc. and submit diagnostics. Interested if anyone else has tried this optical troubleshooting elimination test?
I had an update from one of the support contacts (the one that responded to my email to the CEO):
My apologies for my late response. I reviewed the case that you provided and it looks like it has been escalated to our Level 3 support to check the issue further.
So I am back waiting for contact from level 3.
Its been 2 weeks now after performing hours of on the line tests/diagnostics which could not be resolved (or pin-pointed) during that call. This is on top of fully wiring the speakers, several factory resets, controlled power-downs/power-ups, Wi-Fi Scanning for interference, Router config changes, TV config changes, complete cable replacement, installing SVC, speaker repositioning, boost/no boast testing and general network diagnostics to ensure STP/loops are not a problem. (And I work in technology for a living, so I am not trying this as a novice).
But if there’s a real issue here, I’d have thought that the Sonos team could have recreated it based on the information they’ve been handed. The fact that they haven’t is somewhat telling, although it’s certainly possible they just don’t have enough information yet. I don’t know, one way or another, but can certainly express that this issue has not appeared on either of my Arcs, both of which have Subs and Surround speakers set up.
I do agree that there are multiple avenues to finding this problem. And it is possible that it is not caused (directly or indirectly) by the software update. But so many people in different parts of the world with different kit can pin point April as the start time of the problem, and a lot of them have not had problems before. So something has changed - and I can't hear any other suggestions on a resolution despite the myriad of testing that has been completed by the community.
Quite frankly, I have tried everything, not getting much of a response from Sonos Support so don't know what to do to progress to resolution. It's a really depressing situation for something that was rock solid in stability before April.
Absolutely, second that. My 2 cents on this - What changed in 14.6 that made the Arc, sub and surrounds susceptible to wireless interference? @Airgetlam rather than pointing it on our own network, please see the level of troubleshooting we have already performed. My case is with Level 3 engineering team since 5-6 weeks now. They won’t just entertain if you haven’t tweaked or setup your network, so that goes out of the window. I have posted so many articles with the tweaking I did - including disabling band steering, setting WiFi dedicated channels for 2.4 and 5Ghz from Auto to channel that doesn’t interfere with Sonos network, factory resetting each speaker, hardwiring arc and making the system a complete Sonos net ecosystem. Regardless of whatever we have performed, the issue resurfaces. So, please allow the troubleshooters to continue doing what they are as we are in a problem and please be content and feel fortunate that you aren’t affected by the problem.
Part of the update process is the speakers rebooting, which causes them to ask for new IP addresses from your router. If the router is in a “bad state” and handing out duplicate IP addresses, then your speakers will be compromised due to that. That’s just one scenario. There’s also outside influences that affect wifi, as suggested in the wifi interference FAQ.
There’s no “it’s just one thing” fix to some of these issues, from what I can tell. There’s a wide variety of reasons why a particular symptom may be displayed. Sure, it’s easy to blame a software release, but if Sonos has, as they have, that they’re unable to duplicate that issue, it’s up to us, as users to give them examples, by submitting diagnostics and telling them about them.
As some may not know, just submitting a diagnostic does no good, it’s explained in Diagnostics - How do they work? thread that you must tell Sonos the number of the diagnostic, and why you’ve submitted it, so they know both to look, and what to look for. Many people in this thread have done that already, I honestly don’t know if everyone has or not.
But if there’s a real issue here, I’d have thought that the Sonos team could have recreated it based on the information they’ve been handed. The fact that they haven’t is somewhat telling, although it’s certainly possible they just don’t have enough information yet. I don’t know, one way or another, but can certainly express that this issue has not appeared on either of my Arcs, both of which have Subs and Surround speakers set up.
I would be curious to know what your equipment is in each Arc group and whether you have Voice Control enabled. Info from people NOT having this issue is as helpful as those who do. If you haven’t already, please consider filling out the spreadsheet with your system info.
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1Q6Iq2xXXZ--RmnsGnbZhujxJj1BcwJlvqSzj5iZXz2U/edit?usp=sharing
With most of the normal Sonos issues calling in and going through their troubleshooting usually fixes it long term. I don’t think that’s happening with this issue. As far as I know even those who have made it to Level 3 Engineering are still stuck in the process waiting for a resolution. I certainly don’t envy Sonos trying to troubleshoot a problem that they can’t reproduce. Those are always the worst.
I went ahead and added to your spreadsheet, although I don’t get the issue, and I doubt my info is useful, as my setup is rather uncommon, but it’s there.
Actually, it just led me to the HD Fury Arcana page and I’m really close to buying a new toy. That’s helpful, right?
Edit: It may actually be helpful since some have suspected CEC. The Arcana may mitigate whatever CEC issue is there for you, if there is one.
Im using the Arcana and getting the same issue.
So I just was using the system. Action scene...loud booms and not...sub working great. Someone at the door. I pause. Five minutes later, unpause and sub is out. I submit a report, I call sonos and try and get then on the phone to look while the issue is happening. After being on hold for five, the sub is back when I unpause it. After about twenty minutes of the usual of blaming the wifi, it actually cuts I out while I have support on, but he keeps wanting to explain to me the basics of a sub and bass, while telling me when I'm on a scene with no action or loud noises, I wouldn't notice sound from the sub anyhow. When I explain I know how the sub works and it's not working right then, he goes into a lecture about the wifi. Like an idiot I pause and unpause it and it comes back. I tell him this occurred after the uodate and I get the second lecture that updates don't cause this, poor wifi causes this. I am about done. I'm glad everyone's wifi/router setup decided to take a crap all at the same time as the update. I'm also glad that apparently my router has decided that this system is the only thing I own that it is choosing to cut out.
Let me ask this. If this is a wfi issue, why does it just never happen when we are in the middle of watching something? It only happens when first powering on, pausing and unpausing, changing services and/or shows, or changing inputs. That alone debunks that line of BS.
So I just was using the system. Action scene...loud booms and not...sub working great. Someone at the door. I pause. Five minutes later, unpause and sub is out. I submit a report, I call sonos and try and get then on the phone to look while the issue is happening. After being on hold for five, the sub is back when I unpause it. After about twenty minutes of the usual of blaming the wifi, it actually cuts I out while I have support on, but he keeps wanting to explain to me the basics of a sub and bass, while telling me when I'm on a scene with no action or loud noises, I wouldn't notice sound from the sub anyhow. When I explain I know how the sub works and it's not working right then, he goes into a lecture about the wifi. Like an idiot I pause and unpause it and it comes back. I tell him this occurred after the uodate and I get the second lecture that updates don't cause this, poor wifi causes this. I am about done. I'm glad everyone's wifi/router setup decided to take a crap all at the same time as the update. I'm also glad that apparently my router has decided that this system is the only thing I own that it is choosing to cut out.
Remember... They are not going to fix this. They are now walking away saying we did something wrong. Start tweeting, post on Facebook, Insta, whatever. The only way they are going to fix this is a public shaming. What a joke of a company.
So I just was using the system. Action scene...loud booms and not...sub working great. Someone at the door. I pause. Five minutes later, unpause and sub is out. I submit a report, I call sonos and try and get then on the phone to look while the issue is happening. After being on hold for five, the sub is back when I unpause it. After about twenty minutes of the usual of blaming the wifi, it actually cuts I out while I have support on, but he keeps wanting to explain to me the basics of a sub and bass, while telling me when I'm on a scene with no action or loud noises, I wouldn't notice sound from the sub anyhow. When I explain I know how the sub works and it's not working right then, he goes into a lecture about the wifi. Like an idiot I pause and unpause it and it comes back. I tell him this occurred after the uodate and I get the second lecture that updates don't cause this, poor wifi causes this. I am about done. I'm glad everyone's wifi/router setup decided to take a crap all at the same time as the update. I'm also glad that apparently my router has decided that this system is the only thing I own that it is choosing to cut out.
This is why I’ve been done submitting diagnostics and calling sonos. I did it 4 times and gave them the benefit of the doubt and wasted many hours on the phone with their patronizing support… at some point we just become the fools wasting more hours doing this and nothing ever fixing. For me the last couple weeks, the workaround of disabling and enabling the Wi-Fi of the arc brings sub and surrounds back online in 2.5 minutes and I don’t have to get off the couch. I have audio from only the arc during this process except for the few seconds after disabling and enabling the Wi-Fi of the arc.
Let me ask this. If this is a wfi issue, why does it just never happen when we are in the middle of watching something? It only happens when first powering on, pausing and unpausing, changing services and/or shows, or changing inputs. That alone debunks that line of BS.
Not quite right. It happened to me two nights ago (echoing rears and sub) half way through a TV programme. No change of anything prior to starting to watch.
The common factor was the release of 14.6
Something to share. I had the same isseus as you Guys. I replaced my audioquest HDMI Cable for the original HDMI cable from Sonos thats included in the box. I have it now 2 days running whithout Any issues anymore. Maybe its Lucky and temporary. But it is 2 days fore sure Stable and stil it is.
tv is Sony a84j
Just an update to anybody who thinks this may be a Wifi/ISP fault, today I moved into a new place and I now have both a new ISP and a wireless router (Asus RT-AX86U). I decided I would factory reset all of my Sonos equipment and delete the app from my phone for a completely fresh start. I set up the new Wifi equipment, downloaded the Sonos app and proceeded to set up my Arc, Sub and One SL surrounds. I also have a new TV (Sony A80J 77”) Everything was working fine for a couple of hours, I changed input then bam, the sub and surrounds dropped. FFS.
Anyone who thinks this is anything other than a Sonos Firmware issue is kidding themselves, Sonos denying the problem or being unable to replicate the problem is a complete joke. It’s no coincidence these issues occurred after 14.6.
Just an update to anybody who thinks this may be a Wifi/ISP fault, today I moved into a new place and I now have both a new ISP and a wireless router (Asus RT-AX86U). I decided I would factory reset all of my Sonos equipment and delete the app from my phone for a completely fresh start. I set up the new Wifi equipment, downloaded the Sonos app and proceeded to set up my Arc, Sub and One SL surrounds. I also have a new TV (Sony A80J 77”) Everything was working fine for a couple of hours, I changed input then bam, the sub and surrounds dropped. FFS.
Anyone who thinks this is anything other than a Sonos Firmware issue is kidding themselves, Sonos denying the problem or being unable to replicate the problem is a complete joke. It’s no coincidence these issues occurred after 14.6.
I have the same setup, the Sonos HDMI cable resolved the issues for 2 days and still. Try reset the tv and look at Youre tv settings. Turn off av synch off the tv. Earc auto, maybe this Will help, only my arc is wired connected.
Just an update to anybody who thinks this may be a Wifi/ISP fault, today I moved into a new place and I now have both a new ISP and a wireless router (Asus RT-AX86U). I decided I would factory reset all of my Sonos equipment and delete the app from my phone for a completely fresh start. I set up the new Wifi equipment, downloaded the Sonos app and proceeded to set up my Arc, Sub and One SL surrounds. I also have a new TV (Sony A80J 77”) Everything was working fine for a couple of hours, I changed input then bam, the sub and surrounds dropped. FFS.
Anyone who thinks this is anything other than a Sonos Firmware issue is kidding themselves, Sonos denying the problem or being unable to replicate the problem is a complete joke. It’s no coincidence these issues occurred after 14.6.
@RBSnake,
I’m just trying to assist here, as I don’t have the dropout issue, but…
Presumably you have no Sonos devices wired in your new setup, but what happens if you setup your system on SonosNet instead with the following …
- The WiFi credentials removed from the Sonos App.
- The ‘wired’ device is set to more than one metre away from the router
- The routers 2.4Ghz channel set to fixed channel 1, 6 or 11 with a channel-width of 20Mhz only and the 5Ghz band limited to say a width of 40Mhz
- The SonosNet channel is set to the ‘least-used’ channel in your environment and is 5 or more channels away from the chosen routers 2.4Ghz channel.
- Reboot all and let the system settle for an hour or so.
My thoughts are to at leat perhaps initially try to reduce the chances of interference being part of the issue.. also moving the devices to SonosNet will side-step the Asus router, which have been shown to be somewhat problematic in the past with a Sonos setup on their WiFi.
@Bentjonk
I have tried with both the Sonos cable and a certified HDMI 2.1 eARC cable. I don’t see how the TV settings would matter, I’ve had the same dropout issue with my LG CX and now with my Sony A80J.
I should also mention the old router was a Nokia 5G. Previously I also tried an old D-Link AC3200 router, all of them have had the exact same issue, which is why I Just don’t see this being a wifi issue.
@Bentjonk
I have tried with both the Sonos cable and a certified HDMI 2.1 eARC cable. I don’t see how the TV settings would matter, I’ve had the same dropout issue with my LG CX and now with my Sony A80J.
Turn off av synch. EARC auto. Passthrough auto. Dolby digital plus. Thats my setting
@Sonos, just release 14.5 as 14.9. In the release notes call it Bug fixes and performance enhancements. Let it sit out there/be available for 2 weeks giving people a chance to roll back and turn off “Update Automatically” then re-release 14.8 as 15.0 so you get back your SVC etc… You frustrate your SVC users for 2 weeks but get us off your backs. Pipe dream, I know but with 2 more drops yesterday simply switching inputs/going between built in TV apps (Netflix/Amazon/YouTube) - I just sit there stewing on my couch. TV watching experience has severely been impacted when it was once something to look forward to when the SONOS system worked.
Could 14.5 not just be put on their site and let those who want it have at it???
Just an update to anybody who thinks this may be a Wifi/ISP fault, today I moved into a new place and I now have both a new ISP and a wireless router (Asus RT-AX86U). I decided I would factory reset all of my Sonos equipment and delete the app from my phone for a completely fresh start. I set up the new Wifi equipment, downloaded the Sonos app and proceeded to set up my Arc, Sub and One SL surrounds. I also have a new TV (Sony A80J 77”) Everything was working fine for a couple of hours, I changed input then bam, the sub and surrounds dropped. FFS.
Anyone who thinks this is anything other than a Sonos Firmware issue is kidding themselves, Sonos denying the problem or being unable to replicate the problem is a complete joke. It’s no coincidence these issues occurred after 14.6.
Wish I could like this comment 100 times. All possible networking troubleshooting ideas have been attempted. Doesn’t fix anything. Happens on all possible networking configuration for those of us affected.
@Sonos, just release 14.5 as 14.9. In the release notes call it Bug fixes and performance enhancements. Let it sit out there/be available for 2 weeks giving people a chance to roll back and turn off “Update Automatically” then re-release 14.8 as 15.0 so you get back your SVC etc… You frustrate your SVC users for 2 weeks but get us off your backs. Pipe dream, I know but with 2 more drops yesterday simply switching inputs/going between built in TV apps (Netflix/Amazon/YouTube) - I just sit there stewing on my couch. TV watching experience has severely been impacted when it was once something to look forward to when the SONOS system worked.
Could 14.5 not just be put on their site and let those who want it have at it???
I think they might have to push out an old firmware over a support call which should be totally doable for us affected users. That’s what I would like to see happen
Wish I could like this comment 100 times. All possible networking troubleshooting ideas have been attempted. Doesn’t fix anything. Happens on all possible networking configuration for those of us affected.
Getting flashbacks to the v7.4 update fiasco 4 years ago (lost channels). At least then the response was “Oh maybe something is wrong” early on.
The story for everyone here seems to be : No changes made, no crazy configurations, recommended Sonos deployment/installation, everything rock solid for months, now BOOM. The only difference? What seems to be a turd of an update that walked into my living room and has caused nothing but annoyance for 3 weeks and counting.
It’s been a week since I enabled google assistant and I didn’t have a single drop (even with very extensive usage and countless tries to break it). I wish I knew what else what changed so I could tell you (there has to be something else because enabling voice assistant wasn’t the fix for everyone else).
I think they might have to push out an old firmware over a support call which should be totally doable for us affected users. That’s what I would like to see happen
@Freddy45764 - your comment actually brought something into my mind.
When managing technology in complex environments, change is the most probable cause of incidents. The normal procedure is that if there is an impact post a change, the default position is to roll back that change. To be frank, in the financial industry, you are not allowed to roll in a change you can't reverse - and it you know you can't reverse it (i.e it really is fix forward only due to data reasons) then you need appropriate contingency, support and playbooks in place to support that eventuality.
I am sure there is a way that Sonos could provide firmware to an affected user which could be used as a test bed to see if the issue is actually resolved on earlier code. It also provides a real test bed, in a non-lab environment to start working through the issues. i.e, Sonos could then release each subsequent code version (even the ones we don't get) to better isolate where the problem exactly started.
So, most of us know this sort of sensible industry approach already so why has it interested me? Its interested me because why would Sonos not perform this roll-back on an impacted device and test forward (in a structured approach) to isolate the problem?
I think that question is what is playing on my mind more than anything else. 3rd line is not responding, and there seems to be no willingness to roll-back the software and assess whether 14.5.x really was more stable at a code level - that would rule a problem in/out, and may even address an issue which is a sitting time bomb (potentially) for a much wider audience.
More then the problem itself, there is a process and cultural problem surfaced here which I don't understand. I can offer plenty of reasons why a company would do this, but I don't think it's fair to speculate on this forum. What I would like to see is stronger engagement between Sonos and just one affected user - working together in a solid cadence with a collective view to understanding what this issue actually is.
And I don't care if the problem happens to be lunar phases causing interference for 1 in 10. I don't care if the problem is my network or my implementation of the kit. What I do care about is Sonos providing a statement that this is really a trivial matter in the larger scheme of their customer base, suggesting a support process and then that process actually comes to a grinding halt.
Just update on my experience to add to this:
I tried to see if Sonos could add the diagnostics of mine to a bigger case, perhaps coordinating where they are seeing this happen. Of course, the L1 agent on chat could not help me. I was able to schedule a call, but that agent also could not help me.
She said she had no update on if Sonos was working on it (that was another team), but if I wanted to troubleshoot with her I could. Knowing the issue is sporadic and that I didn’t want to spend 6 hours just disconnecting and reconnecting components, I declined.
She did say she would pass it along to the development team, but I’m not optimistic that will lead to anything. She also said she was unaware of any threads in the community section on this and “couldn’t find” this thread, so definitely appears like Sonos is presuming the issue is not on their end.