There are hundreds of these posts all over different forums and on here. It’s not a tv problem. It’s a Sonos issue. We aren’t all using the same TVs or streaming devices but are all using Sonos Arcs or beams with atmos. 

To add to that, this is a wide spread problem that can be shown by a simple search of the forums for the phrase “arc pop”, its frustrating that this hasn’t been fixed via a software update by Sonos by now. Does technical support not track similar problems to determine if this is an issue they need to address?

I completely agree with the OP, it doesn’t matter what setup combination a person has, the only thing in common for anyone with this problem is having a Sonos Arc. I’ve spent at least a year looking for a solution and can’t believe there still isn’t one out there.

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.

Are you going to make every affected user go through this song and dance?

I have this problem with Apple TV and Xbox (two different devices, the problem is Sonos), using supplied HDMI cables in both cases. My Arc is hooked up using the supplied HDMI cable. We have had an endless array of users across popular TV brands with this problem, again, Sonos being the common element. Sony and LG TVs have been most common which is not surprising considering the Sonos userbase. We are people who are willing to pay a premium for a thing that works right.

It doesn’t matter if Sonos is just “faithfully playing the signal” or whatever. Which is a hypothesis for which no evidence has been presented by the way. Just posters reflexively carrying water. If Apple TV, Xbox, Sony, and LG are affected; it’s Sonos’ problem to fix.

Finally, Sonos support itself has acknowledged the issue on this forum!!!

279 TOPICS!!! I called technical support and they wanted me to take a video of the problem whenever it happens. Which is crazy to me. Then the guy had never heard it the issue. I told him to type in “Sonos arc pops atmos” and he will see hundreds of threads going back a year with the problem. This amazes me sonos has apparently done nothing about it or even bothered to acknowledge and issue after over a year. I hope the guys who keeps asking about the setup and act like it’s not an issues are busy asking the 300 people on here about their setups then telling them they have no issues at all. 

Yes, the issue only happens with Dolby MAT encoders, but across different manufacturers. You know this. We know this. Why are you pretending that this was an insight you gleaned from my comment?

My TV is a Sony 900H. There have been plenty of reports of the same thing happening on LGs. Again, with Apple TVs and Xbox being the source devices. 

Do you even use Apple TV or Xbox Atmos? Or are you just somebody who has an unaffected source yet somehow wants to snipe at huge amounts of the Arc user base (think about how popular Xbox and Apple TV are for a second) having a legitimate issue?

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.

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

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.

It’s only me. That’s why there are more posts on here from a year ago to just a few days ago with the same exact issues and no solutions with about 100 people posting they have the same problem on different TVs and streaming services and streaming  boxes.  Sonos support reply is they don’t know then just disappear. 

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.

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

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. 

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.

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

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.

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.

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. 

@Schlagdog If it’s just a Sonos issue, why are there so many users, including myself, who have never experienced the loud pop and shutdown and can clearly hear height channel effects from the Arc when playing Dolby Atmos content?

What model TV do you have? Are you using the Sonos-supplied HDMI cable? Is your Apple TV 4K a 1st or 2nd Gen model? Does the loud pop only happen when playing Atmos content from the Apple TV or does it happen when also playing Atmos content from the TV’s native apps?

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?

Apologies I was getting mixed up eArc not the issue. Only disabling Atmos on the ATV sorts the problem out. 
 

so frustrating 

Well I guess you have it all figured out and I am just wasting my time (and obviously your time). I’ll leave you alone. Enjoy the popping.

FYI… I use an Apple TV 4K (1st Gen) and have zero issues when playing Dolby Atmos content through my Arc. I’m actually enjoying Dolby Atmos music on the Apple TV as I type this, pop free.

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.