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.
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Userlevel 3
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.
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.
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?
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.
Are you going to answer any of my questions? No one can assist you without specific details about your setup.
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!!!
Userlevel 3
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.
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.
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?
Userlevel 3
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.
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
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.
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?
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.
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.
Userlevel 7
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?
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.
Userlevel 7
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.
Are you going to answer any of my questions? No one can assist you without specific details about your setup.
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.
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.
Are you going to answer any of my questions? No one can assist you without specific details about your setup.
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!!!
Yes, there’s a comment about it here from Staff (see below link). but I get the impression it’s not only a Sonos issue, as it happens with other manufacturers hardware too…
See this link:
Userlevel 7
+18
Hi
Welcome to the Sonos Community!
The issue that we are aware of does not result in the Arc shutting down - though it is, for some, necessary to reboot it in order to get it playing again after the pop.
If your Arc shuts itself down after making this popping noise (if the white light goes off or starts flashing immediately afterwards), I recommend you get in touch with our technical support team, who have tools at their disposal that will allow them to give you advice specific to your Sonos system and what it reports. Please be sure to emphasize the fact that the Arc shuts down or reboots. I don’t think the issue you are experiencing is related to the known issue if indeed this is the case.
Userlevel 7
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.
Are you going to answer any of my questions? No one can assist you without specific details about your setup.
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!!!
The “song and dance” just revealed to me that you are using two streaming devices that rely on a Dolby MAT encoder to deliver Dolby Atmos audio. I’m willing to guess that this factor in combination with your TV model is causing the problem. What specific TV model do you own? Is your Apple TV 4K a 1st Gen or 2nd Gen model? Have you ever tested another streaming device that uses Dolby Digital Plus to deliver Dolby Atmos instead of Dolby MAT like an Nvidia Shield, Roku Ultra, or Fire TV Stick? Does the loud pop only happen when playing Atmos content from the Apple TV and Xbox or does it happen when also playing Atmos content from the TV’s native apps?
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.
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:
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/
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.
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