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samro1094
Contributor I
December 8, 2020

Sonos Arc loud pop then audio loss

I was playing on my Xbox when the arc suddenly made an extremely loud pop sound and then lost audio completely. The app wouldn’t let me adjust the volume and Alexa wake up didn’t emit its usual tone. I had to remove the power from the arc and reapply which resumed the audio. I’m concerned that one of the speakers in the arc may have been damaged when this happened. Has anyone had this issue?

We have had no issues with the arc since purchasing it earlier this year.

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    Pinned Reply By Corry P

    Hi Everyone!

    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.

    We would also like to thank our community users for their detailed setup information and steps to reproduce the issue, which were helpful to us in uncovering the cause of the bug.

     

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    1202 replies

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    buzz
    buzz
    Grand Maestro
    August 17, 2023

    Which extractor? Are you sending HDMI-eARC to ARC or are you sending audio over TOSLINK (optical).

    blunderdome
    Enthusiast I
    August 17, 2023

    Anyone with eArc extractor and still having this issue?

    i have had this issue but when i used the eArc extractor, the issue is gone

    Using apple tv 4k 3rd gen + xbox x+ ps5 beta software, all tested with atmos, the issue is no more, no more pop

    KeithFromSonos over on Reddit actually recommended using the Arcana as a possible workaround:

    https://www.reddit.com/r/sonos/comments/14pupmm/extremely_well_done_post_on_the_nature_and_causes/jrevwxe/

    He said it’s not official guidance but it seems they’re aware that it makes a difference.

      Darkii89
      Lyricist III
      August 17, 2023

      Which extractor? Are you sending HDMI-eARC to ARC or are you sending audio over TOSLINK (optical).

      Its 2.0b eArc extractor 

      https://www.bungpung.com/products/4k-hdmi-earc-audio-adapter

      bought this one to see if it fixed the issue before buying an expensive 2.1 extractor and it fixed it

      now ill save up for 2.1 arcane🥹 as i need it for gaming consoles for vrr and 120

      bromos
      Lyricist III
      August 17, 2023

      I haven’t experienced the issue. I suspect that SONOS licensed a chipset and decoder software that are included in ARC and other manufacturers using the chipset or decoder are at risk too. This would explain why a few other devices are experiencing the ‘POP’. The pop could be some sort of software overrun or perhaps a variable (from chip to chip) sensitivity to voltage or temperature and AMP’s environment is at an edge.

      Since I cannot observe the issue, is there any dependency on the movie? For example, if you replay a ‘POP’ movie, does the event tend to repeat? Does it repeat at the same spot? Does one movie tend to predispose a following movie to ‘POP’?

       It would help if ‘POP’ victims kept good logs. The log should be verbose, keeping track of time of day, temperature, play time into the movie, ARC Volume setting, etc. It would be best to submit a diagnostic and include the confirmation number in the log. If you are regularly hit with these events, the developers could be able to provide special builds and access to enhanced diagnostic procedures.

      Everyone should keep an open mind. Once you decide that the problem must be […] or cannot be […], you are likely to be blindsided. One should not assume that there is a single cause. It’s possible that a string of events must occur in a certain order before there is a ‘POP’. This is why logging is important.

       

      I’m personally getting a little frustrated at this “other devices are experiencing the same ‘POP’”.  I will personally deliver $100 to the first person that records a NON SONOS device that produces a GUNSHOT BANG while playing ATMOS audio.  If you read comments on the various news sites finally covering this you will even see them say “I wasn’t too worried until I heard the video, but THAT was a GUNSHOT!”.  This issue has gone on far too long and as someone else who designs hardware for a fortune 300 I would NEVER ignore a blatant issue like this from my customers.

        ProfessorFrag
        Enthusiast II
        August 17, 2023

        A Sonos Pop Prayer:

         

        Sonos Pop doesn’t happen.

        And if it does, it’s not that bad.

        And if it is, it’s only one source.

        And if it’s many, other speakers pop too.

        And if they don’t, you can’t replicate it.

        And if you can, it’s not Sonos fault.

        And if it is, users should be patient.

        And if they are, then what’s the problem?

          blunderdome
          Enthusiast I
          August 17, 2023

          A Sonos Pop Prayer:

           

          Sonos Pop doesn’t happen.

          And if it does, it’s not that bad.

          And if it is, it’s only one source.

          And if it’s many, other speakers pop too.

          And if they don’t, you can’t replicate it.

          And if you can, it’s not Sonos fault.

          And if it is, users should be patient.

          And if they are, then what’s the problem?

          Amen, brother

            Paul Tsang
            Enthusiast II
            August 18, 2023

            Hey guys I have received back an email from Sonos Level 3 support team . It looks like they have more info about the POP and sounded promising . Will keep you guys updated soon once I receive more info from them 

             

            Moderator edit: removed case number from picture

              blunderdome
              Enthusiast I
              August 18, 2023

              Hey guys I have received back an email from Sonos Level 3 support team . It looks like they have more info about the POP and sounded promising . Will keep you guys updated soon once I receive more info from them 

              Golly, I wonder happened to kickstart the investigation??

                KrylonBlue
                Enthusiast II
                August 18, 2023

                Hey guys I have received back an email from Sonos Level 3 support team . It looks like they have more info about the POP and sounded promising . Will keep you guys updated soon once I receive more info from them 

                Golly, I wonder happened to kickstart the investigation??

                I’m certain it was Sonos good will and had nothing to do with The Verge putting them on blast by advising no one to support their products until there is a fix. 
                 

                On a side note I installed a full Arc+Sub+Era 300 system for a client yesterday. He loved it but I showed him the Verge video where he demonstrates the bang and he was startled. He was actually considering returning everything but I told him to wait up and let’s see how this progresses during his return window. 

                  alboz01
                  Lyricist I
                  August 18, 2023

                  Hi all,

                  I have a Sonos Arc and Sub Gen 3. 
                  They’ve been “exploding” on occasion… I’d say once in every ten times I use it. I have it connected to my PC via the eARC port on my LG 42” C2 which I use for gaming. I have Dolby Atmos selected in my PC sound options for the LG TV output. It’s very loud when it bangs. The TV screen flickers and Arc restarts when it happens. 

                  I just a got off the phone with Sonos support and like others have mentioned, they now seem to be taking the issue seriously. They acknowledge that a software issue exists and that their engineers are working on a fix but no timeframe at the moment. 

                  I can’t get CEC to disable on this TV… just keeps coming back on, so no workaround for me. I refuse to use Dolby 5.1… I didn’t spend £800 for audio I could get from my old Sonos PlayBase. 

                  Cheers

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