How many years till sonos fixes the loud pop and shutdown with Atmos???


Userlevel 3

I see this problem has been reported for over a year and no fixes still. I can’t even listen to Atmos music on my appletv or use it to play atmos movies because of the super loud pop and shutdown. This has been a know issue since back in 2021. I read no fixes at all on the forum. Just tried to listen to a new Atmos Remastered album and it sounded like my Arc blow up then shut down. On top of that I’ve never heard a single sound come out of the top firing speakers on it using atmos on any other app that plays atmos.  At this point I’m unsure if the Arc even plays atmos content at all. 

Corry P 5 months ago

Hi @Schlagdog 

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.

 

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39 replies

Userlevel 3
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Has anyone tested the Apple TV 4K 3rd-gen with this issue yet? Thinking about picking one up today or tomorrow to see if the issue exists with that combination of hardware

Has anyone tested the Apple TV 4K 3rd-gen with this issue yet? Thinking about picking one up today or tomorrow to see if the issue exists with that combination of hardware

Confirmed that the issue still exists with an Apple TV 4K via a Sony X90CH eArc to a Beam Gen 2. Random pops with Atmos content that shuts  off the Beam.

PS: The same Atmos content played from the built in Sony app does not have this issue. Makes me think that is an Apple TV Atmos decoding issue?

Userlevel 3
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Has anyone tested the Apple TV 4K 3rd-gen with this issue yet? Thinking about picking one up today or tomorrow to see if the issue exists with that combination of hardware

Confirmed that the issue still exists with an Apple TV 4K via a Sony X90CH eArc to a Beam Gen 2. Random pops with Atmos content that shuts  off the Beam.

PS: The same Atmos content played from the built in Sony app does not have this issue. Makes me think that is an Apple TV Atmos decoding issue?

Apple TV utilized Dolby MAT format, it seems that is the cause 

Userlevel 6
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Yeah, I and many others get the pop from both Apple TV and Xbox. Those two have in common that they use Dolby MAT. Sonos Arc originally shipped without support for MAT and is now producing these pops. Must be something hard for Sonos software/firmware to handle. 
 

Two things:

  1. Thanks for confirming that Beam also has this bug. So far we’ve mostly had Arc reports. 
  2. Please note that when your Beam stops playing sound and requires a reboot, it is not technically off or shut down. If you mention that your Beam turns off, Sonos support will make it seem like you have a special unrelated problem as opposed to the issue that hundreds(?) of us are reporting. 

Note that the Sonos Staff have openly acknowledged their awareness of the issue. It seems this does also affect other brands/makes of speakers too.. see here from a post earlier in this thread:

I do have the Arc and Sonos Beam, but don’t have an XBox, or Apple TV 4K …and all I can say is I’ve never encountered the ‘popping’ issue. I do have the older Apple TV 4HD and that’s been fine with Dolby Mat, but that older device doesn’t have Atmos (obviously) - so it seems to me to be related to the Atmos codec/metadata when encapsulated in uncompressed Dolby MAT format over eARC.

I suspect this is likely out of Sonos’ hands to therefore resolve, but whether it’s a Dolby issue, problems with the eARC standard, or the way that Dolby MAT is implemented on the Apple TV, Xbox, or other devices, it’s actual cause (still) remains outside of the public domain. 

What I’m not understanding here though, as an outsider looking in, is it not possible to switch off Dolby MAT on these peripheral products and use DD+ (plus) compressed Atmos instead? ..if not, then maybe just get a Nvidia Shield, or Fire TV etc; as they have no issues with either the Arc or Beam here …and DD+ Atmos does sound pretty damn good too on each of my Sonos HT setups.. plus there are Holidays Sales on right now on those type of products.

If everyone moved on from the issues encountered (if they can afford to take that step), I’m sure the likes of Apple, Microsoft, Dolby or whoever is responsible, would then be firmly pushed into resolving these issues perhaps a little more quickly.

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Is there a fix for this yet? It's happening on my Phillips OLED856 on both my Series X and native Netflix app. Connected via eArc.

Userlevel 6
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Unfortunately there is not fix yet. Sonos recommends turning Atmos off. 

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Unfortunately there is not fix yet. Sonos recommends turning Atmos off. 

Sorry only just noticed this reply when I came to check the forums because it's happened again.

 

I'll be in touch with Sonos this week, surely they must have some workaround or something with how wide spread the issue seems to be. 

Userlevel 6
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Sorry only just noticed this reply when I came to check the forums because it's happened again.

 

I'll be in touch with Sonos this week, surely they must have some workaround or something with how wide spread the issue seems to be. 

Please let us know what Sonos tells you in the main thread.

For the people out there who think its is a setup / TV brand issue I disagree.

I have had the exact same setup for around 18 months and everything has worked flawlessly until about 1 week ago …..a giant pop and loss of sound , then a smaller pop a few moments later and sound returns but this seems to get more frequent over time until I have to finally depower the ARC soundbar completely from the mains and then repower.

This looks more like a hardware failure inside the ARC.

Sonos in my opinion are just ignoring this issue because there would be a floodgate of returns under warranty if they admitted to a faulty component or design.

Userlevel 1
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I can add my experience here. Sonos Arc + Sony X90J onboard Google TV OS combination. Irrespective of the streaming app (Netflix, Disney+, Prime Video) or type of content (5.1, Atmos, etc) - few hours of usage and the Arc had started making crackling/popping/clicking (whatever we want to call it) noise as if one of the speaker driver is blown. Upon rebooting the Arc, the noise would disapper. However, few hours in and the noise would creep in. It became difficult to watch anything for more than an hour or so. It didnt not trigger any auto reboot or shut down though. Simply popping noise. I got in touch with the support team and they were very helpful. I was able to record videos while this was happening. They looked at the video, ran some diagnosis and confirmed that Arc had developed a fault. Got the replacment today so I am yet to verify that the new Arc is not going down the same path.

It's frustrating to experience issues with a product and not be able to find a solution. If you are experiencing issues with your Apple TV and Sonos Arc when playing Atmos content, there are a few things you can try to troubleshoot the issue.

First, make sure that your Apple TV is set up to output audio in Dolby Atmos. To do this, go to the Settings app on your Apple TV, select "Video and Audio," and then choose "Audio Format." Select "Dolby Atmos" to enable Atmos audio.

Next, check the audio settings on your Sonos Arc. Make sure that the Arc is set up to receive Dolby Atmos audio. To do this, open the Sonos app, select your Arc, and then choose "Audio" from the settings menu. Make sure that "Dolby Atmos" is selected as the audio format.

If you're still experiencing issues with the Arc, try resetting it to its factory settings. To do this, press and hold the Join button on the back of the Arc until the light starts flashing white. This will reset the Arc to its factory settings and may help to resolve any issues you're experiencing.

If none of these steps resolve the issue, it's possible that there is a hardware issue with your Arc. In this case, you may need to contact Sonos customer support for further assistanc

Userlevel 7
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.

If none of these steps resolve the issue, it's possible that there is a hardware issue with your Arc. In this case, you may need to contact Sonos customer support for further assistanc

You joined yesterday, and this is your first post. From where does your wisdom on this issue originate?

Userlevel 7
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Hi @Schlagdog 

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.