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Arc - Loud pops with Atmos on Xbox Series X

  • 16 August 2023
  • 4 replies
  • 198 views

I’ve been enjoying my Sonos Arc and Sub with Xbox Series X for 28 months with awesome sound and no issues.

 

This month, I upgraded to a new TV that supports Atmos, and added a pair of Era surrounds. Since enabling that, I hear frequent (daily) loud pops from my Arc. This happens while playing Atmos games; it hasn’t occurred while using streaming apps. After each pop, all audio is lost. Normal sound is restored after restarting the Xbox Series X and TV.

  • Is this causing or risking damage to my equipment?
  • How can I prevent this while still enjoying Atmos sound?

 

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4 replies

G
Userlevel 7

This is an ongoing issue with some users who have an Xbox or Apple TV 4K. Both of these devices use Dolby MAT to play Dolby Atmos audio which may be part of the issue. This issue has been well documented on these forums. You can read about it here:

 

What model TV do you have?

"Receive with simplicity everything that happens to you." - Rashi
P
Userlevel 6
Badge +5

As mentioned, come join us in the main thread and share your experience. Just recently this issue has also been picked up by the tech press.

https://www.theverge.com/2023/8/10/23824258/sonos-arc-dolby-atmos-problems-loud-audio-pop

A
Badge

Thanks for linking to the topic. I see +1,000 replies and +50,000 views, so clearly I'm not alone with the issue. I'll keep an eye on that thread.

I went with a Sony A80K. I added Era rears because I wanted more immersion. Streaming spatial content from Apple Music through the Sonos app is fantastic. Even in 5.1 lossless or Dolby Digital (I'm not sure which is the next-best setting after Dolby Atmos), adding the rears to my Arc and Sub is a noticeable upgrade.

Corry P
Userlevel 7
Badge +18

Hi @af206 

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.

 

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.

 

"Common sense is the collection of prejudices acquired by age eighteen." - Albert Einstein
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