Audio suddenly dropping out intermittently

It could be any of several things, unfortunately. Can you define what you mean by ‘turning off and on again’, please?

Since we don’t have access to the hard data, I would recommend that you submit a system diagnostic within 10 minutes of experiencing this problem, and call Sonos Support to discuss it. Don’t post the resulting diagnostic number here, they get sensitive about GDPR.

There may be information included in the diagnostic that will help Sonos pinpoint the issue and help you find a solution.

When you speak directly to the Support staff, they have tools at their disposal that will allow them to give you advice specific to your network and Sonos system.

By turning it off and on again I meant unplugging the system from the wall.

The issue is the audio drops out completely for less than a second Intermittently. Happening on all devices and ports.

I’ll get in touch with sonos today after it happens again! 

Bumping this as still need help.

I spoke to sonos chat who advised me to remove the switch 2 hdmi cable and see if it’s still happening. Well, I did that and alas audio still cutting out intermittently. 

Now, I knew that made non sense but went along with it anyway. They told me they were no issues when they ran system diagnostics.

Today, I changed the HDMI order back to what it was when it was working (except, Switch 2 for 1) but still the problem is here. 

Should add that I’ve doubled checked my webos settings and can’t see anything amiss.

Any ideas? ​@Airgetlam or anyone else 🙏

I’m not a fan of “chatbots’, so I’d want to actually speak to a support person verbally, even though sometimes they’re not as familiar with networking and the way Sonos works as I am. But their access to diagnostic data is better than mine.

I’m going to hazard a guess here that there may have been an update to your LG’s CEC system that is now interrupting output to your Sonos. So, I’d suggest a couple of things, some of which you’ve already done, but would need to be done again.

First, check your TV for updates, and apply them. Second, check your Sonos for updates, and apply them. Then do the whole ‘unplug from the wall’ thing, for two minutes at least, to both the TV and the Sonos. Make sure you leave this Switch 2 disconnected, we don’t know if this device is causing a conflict in the CEC system in your TV, at least yet. Our primary goal for now is to get your Sonos working properly, then introduce other variables, so we can figure out where the issue is. Finally, I think, reseat all your cables, to ensure their all at least HDMI 2.1 and seated in their respective ‘sockets’ properly.

Rather than talking to ‘chat’, I’d also call in, and speak to a human. As good as AI can be, it isn’t always perfect. Of course, we humans aren’t, either.

Not that it’s much help, but I’m not having any issues with my LG at this time. But I haven’t been messing with its connections, either. Or updated it recently. But it’s connected to an Arc, not a Beam, but they both operate the same software, and both connect via HDMI-ARC. 

What are the source devices?

Have you tested with a single source connected directly to the TV?

​@Airgetlam I will try your suggestions. Will try turning off CEC on Switch 2 as I never had that on with switch 1.

I don’t have my tv connected online, so I will update it, later and see if that makes a difference.

Thank you for all your help.

I have not tried single source, yet.

I have apple tv, ps5, Xbox series X and Switch 2 connected. Switch 2 and xbox are connected via a hdmi switcher. Which, has not caused any issues in the past.

I have an update!

After further investigation, it looks like the audio drop out is happening on Apple TV and not other devices hooked up to the tv. It started to happen when I got switch 2 and moved apple tv off the switcher I had it in and put it in another port. 

Seems crazy that I would have less problems while it’s was plugged into a HDMI switcher rather than directly in the TV. 

Any ideas on what could be causing the audio to drop out on apple tv? It’s happening with dolby atmos. Around every 20 mins, there will be a quick drop out of audio. Not 100% if it’s happening on other sources, yet. 

I’ve double checked settings on Apple TV and TV and nothing seems amiss.

I did not say earlier but my tv is an LG C2 that has not been connected to the internet for months. So, I did that today and updated.

I’ve also switched HDMI ports. I’ve put the Switch where the Apple tv was, so I can rule out if it’s a problem with just that port. I’ll report back on that.

​@Airgetlam ​@buzz or anyone got any ideas for what else I could try?

I think that one or more of your devices wants to be in charge and will send an occasional CEC (Consumer Electronics Control) command over its HDMI connection. Maybe it’s an extraneous command and one or more units react poorly to the command. The CEC goal is for the operator to simply drop a disc into a player (or similar) and the system will power up and select necessary inputs. Standardization of the CEC commands is fair at best and there is opportunity for mayhem. Also, signal transport of CEC commands on the HDMI cables is not very robust. In your installation of multiple HDMI switches there are additional HDMI cables and “boxes” that could result in enough CEC signal degradation to cause trouble. Your observation that moving a connection point changed the symptoms reinforces my suspicion.

You can continue to experiment with shuffling the connections. Maybe this will result in good behavior. Another approach is to insert one or more CEC blockers to isolate the poorly behaving device(s). I would start with the AppleTV.

And, in addition, I’d still call in. We just don’t have access to the data in a diagnostic.