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.
This topic has been closed for further comments. You can use the search bar to find a similar topic, or create a new one by clicking Create Topic at the top of the page.
Page 1 / 2
Userlevel 7
+18
Hi
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.
Userlevel 7
+23
.
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?
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
Unfortunately there is not fix yet. Sonos recommends turning Atmos off.
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.
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.
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:
- Thanks for confirming that Beam also has this bug. So far we’ve mostly had Arc reports.
- 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.
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
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?
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
No apology necessary, at least from my side.
I’m working from a “this makes sense to me” aspect, which, at least in this case, lays the responsibility somewhere other than Sonos….which I assume is why they haven’t issued a “fix”, since they can’t, it’s something in the source that they’re receiving from elsewhere upstream.
But I could certainly be wrong, and there is always a chance that it is really a Sonos issue. That would be surprising to me, but I can’t completely discount the possibility.
It is frustrating, to be sure, because there’s so many things in the mix of this problem. From Dolby MAT to Apple TV/Microsoft XBox to the TV’s CEC/ARC component, to the Sonos as a fairly dumb “receiver of data”.
But that’s all my impression. I don’t have a lab in which to test any of this to point the finger at one part of that chain, merely what I consider to be “logic”.
Apologies I was getting mixed up eArc not the issue. Only disabling Atmos on the ATV sorts the problem out.
so frustrating
That doesn’t make a lot of sense, from my meager knowledge. The Atmos source is passed the the TV. The TV parses the data on its onboard electronics, and reflects it out via the ARC port to the Sonos Arc. In the grand scheme of things, there’s no direct connection between the Sonos and any particular source device, the Sonos is merely connected to the processing unit in the TV. That suggests that there’s something odd being sent by the source, which the TV isn’t able to handle properly, and is consequently being passed on to the Sonos to play…
It begs the question, what is different about the Apple TV’s and Microsoft’s XBox implementation of Atmos? Or is it that they’ve done a standard implementation of Atmos, and some TV manufacturers have done something different? Perhaps merely an older version, and not a bugged implementation?
Wish I could reproduce this, but I don’t seem to have this issue on my HD Fury Arcana.
I think the difference is that, at least for Apple TV, it is using Dolby MAT format. I expect playing a 4K Bluray on Xbox would work fine because that wouldn’t use MAT format but games and apps on Xbox might use MAT format.
That doesn’t make a lot of sense, from my meager knowledge. The Atmos source is passed the the TV. The TV parses the data on its onboard electronics, and reflects it out via the ARC port to the Sonos Arc. In the grand scheme of things, there’s no direct connection between the Sonos and any particular source device, the Sonos is merely connected to the processing unit in the TV. That suggests that there’s something odd being sent by the source, which the TV isn’t able to handle properly, and is consequently being passed on to the Sonos to play…
It begs the question, what is different about the Apple TV’s and Microsoft’s XBox implementation of Atmos? Or is it that they’ve done a standard implementation of Atmos, and some TV manufacturers have done something different? Perhaps merely an older version, and not a bugged implementation?
Wish I could reproduce this, but I don’t seem to have this issue on my HD Fury Arcana.
Exchanged my Arc because of this. Sonos technical team are very well aware of the issue. It’s a combination of AppleTV 4K 2nd and 3rd Gen / XBox and the Sonos Arc. The Arc isn’t handling the Atmos content correctly from those devices.
Sonos stupid workaround is to turn off Atmos. However turning of eArc for me is working currently.
Userlevel 3
Tried to watch Bullet Train last night and the arc popped and turned off again because it’s in Dolby Atmos. I switched to the appletv app on my tv set and didn’t have an issue so like most people a read it seems to be an issues with players like appletv, Xbox, or whatever. Or I just got lucky playing through the apple. It seems to be weirdly intermittent because the last time it did it I was listening to Apple Music on the appletv4k and then I just gave up listening to music. Then when I called tech support they wanted my to try and I guess sit around and film my arc until it blew out again. So I sat there and listened to the same stuff I was because an it played fine. That was until last night when it blew up during Bullet Train.
My thoughts are it’s either a codec issue, or a hardware issue in some TV models or connected peripherals, but that’s entirely a guess on my part. I’ve used Dolby MAT Multichannel LPCM via Apple TV to an LG OLED C9 TV, together with the Sonos Arc, surrounds and Sub and (touch wood) have never come across the ‘popping’ issue and I see why some forum users here think it maybe (just perhaps) a hardware component in the connected TV, or sending device.
If that is indeed the case, I also very much doubt Sonos would ever announce that publicly, as they are after-all partners in the industry and the last thing a company will do is hang another company’s dirty washing out to dry.
The sheer fact other branded products are also reporting the issue makes me think the matter may lie elsewhere and not at Sonos’ door.
Here are some examples of the ‘popping’ issue seen with other brands involved and so it shows it isn’t just a Sonos issue…
- https://www.reddit.com/r/Soundbars/comments/eth60q/lg_sl10yg_making_loud_popping_noise/
- https://www.reddit.com/r/Soundbars/comments/jcyf5l/cracklingpopping_sound_on_jbl_91_soundbar/
- https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/xbox/forum/all/xbox-one-made-a-loud-pop-noise-and-shut-down/40a59613-caec-4655-a3f0-ea71588cdcb8
- https://www.avforums.com/threads/strange-audio-popping-clicks-with-my-surround-sound-only-with-xbox.1548227/
I don’t understand why people on here are so defensive of Sonos, its like a cult.
I’ve used other Atmos systems with the same setup and this never happened; I’ve used the Arc with other TVs and devices and it still happens, I’m extremely confident it is an issue with the MAT format with the Sonos Arc. If using a 4K Blu-ray instead, the issue never comes up, Blu-ray uses TrueHD format.
There are links to other manufactures soundbars that have the popping issue posted in other threads here on the forum, so it’s not just limited to Sonos. If you search using Google you may see the reported issue with other brands and it is confirmed by Staff here:
I don’t understand why people on here are so defensive of Sonos, its like a cult.
I’ve used other Atmos systems with the same setup and this never happened; I’ve used the Arc with other TVs and devices and it still happens, I’m extremely confident it is an issue with the MAT format with the Sonos Arc. If using a 4K Blu-ray instead, the issue never comes up, Blu-ray uses TrueHD format.
I keep wondering if it’s not a Sonos problem, but a problem in the CEC devices in the TV sets, which are sending a valid “sound” to Sonos, then shutting down and not sending further information. If that is the case, then Sonos can’t really “fix” it, it’s something that has to be done with the Atmos specification, and how the “computer” in the TV set handles it.
And the fact that it is apparently affecting, from what I’ve read, other manufacturers in addition to Sonos seems to point to it being less of a Sonos specific problem, and much more of a “there’s a problem somewhere else” kind of thing.
I know it’s easy to blame the last thing in the chain...but I’ve not seen any definitive proof that it’s actually something Sonos can fix, yet.
Would I like them to be able to recognize the event, keep it from playing? You bet...if it’s an identifiable and filterable event, but that won’t likely fix the computer in the TV set that’s likely generating the event. Or, potentially, the device upstream from the TV, that might be generating the issue, and sending it to the TV which is struggling on how to deal with it.
Just not sure how much I can put this on Sonos’ plate, based on all the various things I’ve read in those many topics.
Page 1 / 2
Enter your username or e-mail address. We'll send you an e-mail with instructions to reset your password.