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.
I might as well add my experience here too.
Been using Sonos products for > 10 years.
I have an Arc, with two Play:1s and a sub hooked up to an LG TV via eARC and use the latest 4K AppleTV for all streaming.
This set up has worked flawlessly for ages. Suddenly about 2 weeks ago I started getting intermittent very loud and increasingly frequent electrical sounding bangs and then loss of audio that was only restored with a reboot.
I disabled Atmos on the AppleTV so it only outputs Dolby 5.1 and the bangs have stopped.
Whilst this is a workaround it’s absolutely unacceptable. Why should I settle for suboptimal Dolby 5.1? I paid extra for an Arc (and upgraded my TV to get eARC also) so I could experience the best quality sound.
This is a massive issue and Sonos need to figure this out as a matter of urgency.
Bingo! I captured and submitted an Xbox pop as well.
I’ll stop now as this is quite time-intensive work. I’m looking forward to hearing what insights come out of this process.
On behalf of the user community, thank you for all your hard work on this
Especially if it is not a Sonos issue, but something upstream sending a ‘pop’ signal to Sonos, which is just playing it as instructed to by the CEC system / decoder in the TV set, or the MAT encoder in the device itself.
Come on, Sonos, you have control over all the other companies in the world that are part of the CEC alliance, and control their engineering time, right?
Stop making excuses for them.
Sonos released a product that isn’t capable of handling a format of Atmos that is used by two or more of the largest devices on the market. We’re not talking about some off the wall streaming box but rather an Xbox and Apple TV. If Sonos is going to sell an Atmos enabled product they must work as an Atmos enabled product as a whole.
You are defending a company that hasn’t even come out and said what is going on. They won’t say if it’s on their end or someone else’s publicly. They released Atmos speakers (Era 300) knowing all about these issues yet still no mention as to what’s going on.
This is on Sonos. As a home theater installer I’ve had several clients call me regarding their Atmos system making a loud popping noise. Every single one of them is using Sonos. Not one of my clients using Bose, Samsung, Sony or LG have complained and many have an Xbox or Apple TV. I’ve also never heard from clients with high end receivers running an Atmos setup.
+1
I have been told my Sonos support that “at this moment we are having an issue with that, so it is something that we are investigating.” I went through all their “troubleshooting recommendations” re: new cords, CEC disabling, resetting the TV, resetting Apple TV, resetting Arc, etc, and obviously no changes. I was told “the workaround we have so far is to Disable Dolby Atmos and use Dolby Digital 5.1 instead. I know that is not what you expected, but we are working hard to solve it as soon as possible.” I was told today that the case was escalated to a Level 3 engineer, but they could not give me the name or contact information of anyone in specific who is working on the issue - I was promised that someone would reach out via email. I think anyone dealing with this issue should continue reaching out to Sonos regularly, as it is clear that this is an ongoing common problem with the way the Arc handles Atmos content - it seems to mainly affect Atmos content coming from a Xbox or ATV and suspect it may have something to do with the processing of a MAT container. At $900 for a sound bar with Atmos advertised as a main feature, this should NOT be an issue that has been allowed to languish for two years.
Joining you in your experience, I had the same, including replacing my Arc to a new Arc - and the pop did happen again with the new speaker. When reaching out ro support again was yold, like you were, to disabling Atmos.
After purchasing additional 300's, disabling Atmos isn't an option for me. I hope this gets resolved. I have and over 2000$ set. This is unacceptable.
As a new Sonos user, I thought I would add my voice to the choir concerning the “popping” issue. I had just bought a new Sony TV and an Apple TV for one of my bedrooms and I wanted to add a soundbar. I decided to do some research before dipping my toe into the Sonos ecosystem. I already had a dedicated home theater/game room in my home. This would be just a bedroom TV.
I originally intended to buy a Sonos Arc. Researching the Arc was when I first learned of the popping issue. I certainly believed it was real, but I kept thinking that I’m sure Sonos has sold a ton of soundbars. Maybe I was just reading the comments from a relatively small vocal group that was having an isolated issue. After all, no one is going to complain about how great their soundbar is working.
Ultimately, because of the bedroom size and sound needs, I decided that maybe a Beam Gen 2 would be a better fit. It was also in the back of my mind that most of the popping complaints seems to be from the Arc.
It’s now been about 3 weeks since I bought the Beam Gen 2 from the Sonos website. Setup was a breeze. It sounded good, looked great, and I liked the software. I liked it so much that I ran out and bought a Sonos Amp to power two pre-existing built in speakers as surrounds. The ability to use those speakers via the Amp was another reason I went with Sonos. It all worked great.
Now, here we are, several weeks later, and I’ve had the “pop” happen five times while streaming Atmos content. It’s a loud pop and then the Beam goes dead. The video keeps playing and the Sonos Amp keeps playing the surround sound. If I press pause and then play on the Apple remote then the Beam sound resumes.
I contacted Sonos support. I didn’t really expect a solution. I just wanted to officially log the issue.
After a few questions about my TV model and software version, the tech just came out and said it. It’s a known problem with the Beam 2 and Arc. I appreciate the candor, although I do find it a bit disingenuous of Sonos to sell a premium Atmos soundbar with a known issue whose solution is to disable Atmos. Of course, he said that other manufacturers are also having similar issues with their Atmos soundbars. I don’t know. I haven’t tried them. I guess it’s possible.
He provided a couple of possible solutions. The first was the disable CEC/power cycle idea. The second was the aforementioned, disabling of Atmos. By the way, the Apple TV 4K is the only device connected to this TV. No other device has ever been connected to it. I’m using the Sonos provided HDMI cable connected to the TV’s eARC port. Every device is on Ethernet. Every device has been updated. It’s pretty much a basic setup. Everything works perfectly, except for the popping.
There are so many things that I really do love about the Sonos Beam. I might try disabling Atmos since it’s just a bedroom TV. It’s not like the Beam really produced any noticeable Atmos effect anyway. If I’m satisfied with the non-Atmos sound then I’ll probably just keep it.
Having said that, if I were looking to build an “Atmos” home theater system, then I don’t think I would go with current Sonos Atmos soundbars. This is just my experience and opinion. Your milage may vary.
If you're experiencing a loud pop followed by audio loss on your Sonos Arc soundbar, it could be due to a few different factors. Here are some troubleshooting steps you can try:
1. Ensure the Sonos Arc is properly connected: Check that all cables are securely plugged into their respective ports, both on the soundbar and the TV or audio source.
2. Check the audio source: Verify that the audio source (TV, streaming device, etc.) is set to output audio to the Sonos Arc. Check the audio settings on your device and ensure it is correctly configured to send audio to the soundbar.
3. Restart the Sonos system: Power off the Sonos Arc and any other Sonos components you have, including the Sonos app. Wait a few seconds, then power them back on. This can help resolve temporary software or connectivity issues.
4. Update Sonos software: Ensure that your Sonos system is running the latest software version. Open the Sonos app on your mobile device or computer, go to Settings, and check for any available updates.
5. Reset the Sonos Arc: If the issue persists, you can try performing a factory reset on the Sonos Arc. Keep in mind that this will erase any custom settings or configurations you have made on the soundbar.
6. Contact Sonos support: If none of the above steps resolve the issue, it's recommended to reach out to Sonos customer support for further assistance. They can provide specific troubleshooting guidance or determine if there may be a hardware issue with your Sonos Arc that needs to be addressed.
Remember to consult the Sonos user manual or support resources for detailed instructions specific to your model and setup.
Regards;
David Johson.
Man really? Are you a bot? Have you actually read this thread? Do you really think this post added any value to this conversation at all?
Tom’s Guide article is up:
https://www.tomsguide.com/news/sonos-arc-has-a-dolby-atmos-problem-what-you-need-to-know
So for now, proceed with caution before buying a Sonos Arc soundbar. Again, we had no issues in our testing, and Sonos claims the issue is limited to a small number of customers, but there’s no way to guarantee that your Arc soundbar wouldn’t develop this issue — possibly after it's too late to return the soundbar. Which is a shame, because when the Arc works, it’s a great soundbar.
Still not one single word from the Sonos rep ?
I emailed the CEO and one of the escalation team picked it up. Unfortunately the response was not great.
============================
Hey Yusuf,
Thank you for taking the time to reach out. My name is Justin, I’m a member of the Escalation Team here at Sonos Support.
Your initial email has been shared with our CEO. Patrick, however, cannot reply to all the contacts he receives, and as such a case was created in our customer care system and escalated to a Senior Technician to address your feedback.
I understand you’re experiencing troubles with loud pops with Dolby Atmos, I’ll be more than happy to take ownership of your case and see you through to a resolution.
I completely understand how frustrating it is when you face issues for a longer period and it's still not fixed. We are aware that this takes a while, but let me assure you that other soundbar manufacturers are facing the same issues as we do. There are multiple TV brands and models known for this issue, and we are all working together to get the issue resolved but when it finally will be resolved is still unknown.
The only workaround at the moment is indeed to use Dolby Digital 5.1 instead of Atmos, and I know that Atmos is way nicer to experience, but with DD 5.1 you will not hear the pops.
If you are able to reproduce the issue consistently, are you willing to help us garner more information about the root cause? If you are interested in this I will escalate your case to our higher technical department and they will reach out to you for more information.
Looking forward to your reply.
With best regards,
Justin
Sonos | Escalation Team | Contact Us
Ask questions, find answers, and share your thoughts on the Sonos Community.
============================
No timescale as to when this will be fixed, kinda saying well it’s affecting everyone, and can you help us so this takes more time….
Genuine question, how hard can it be for the Sonos team to Get an AppleTV, hook it up with an Arc and play some atmos content? Surely this cannot take a year. Why should the consumers risk damaging their Arcs with pops when Sonos probably have a few test ones lying around that can provide a far more verbose diagnostic output. Also sad they’re saying this affects multiple TV’s and brands when it’s well documented the common denominator is the ATV4K and or XBox. Sad.
Can more people email the ceo too so more cases get escalated perhaps?
Just wanted to post here that I was researching some info on beam vs arc, and then stumbled onto this thread. I will postpone buying anything Sonos, and it looks like this thing reached escape velocity in internetland and is about to turn into a significant PR issue.
This is one involving LG soundbar making ‘horrendous’ popping noise…
It seems to me to have been going on for a while - so I (still) wonder if it’s a codec problem?
Hi Ken, I cannot see anything recent on other soundbars whereas you can find lots of reports on the Arc. When this first happened on mine it was a really loud bang so not crackling/popping.
I emailed the CEO and one of the escalation team picked it up. Unfortunately the response was not great.
============================
Hey Yusuf,
Thank you for taking the time to reach out. My name is Justin, I’m a member of the Escalation Team here at Sonos Support.
Your initial email has been shared with our CEO. Patrick, however, cannot reply to all the contacts he receives, and as such a case was created in our customer care system and escalated to a Senior Technician to address your feedback.
I understand you’re experiencing troubles with loud pops with Dolby Atmos, I’ll be more than happy to take ownership of your case and see you through to a resolution.
I completely understand how frustrating it is when you face issues for a longer period and it's still not fixed. We are aware that this takes a while, but let me assure you that other soundbar manufacturers are facing the same issues as we do. There are multiple TV brands and models known for this issue, and we are all working together to get the issue resolved but when it finally will be resolved is still unknown.
The only workaround at the moment is indeed to use Dolby Digital 5.1 instead of Atmos, and I know that Atmos is way nicer to experience, but with DD 5.1 you will not hear the pops.
If you are able to reproduce the issue consistently, are you willing to help us garner more information about the root cause? If you are interested in this I will escalate your case to our higher technical department and they will reach out to you for more information.
Looking forward to your reply.
With best regards,
Justin
Sonos | Escalation Team | Contact Us
Ask questions, find answers, and share your thoughts on the Sonos Community.
============================
No timescale as to when this will be fixed, kinda saying well it’s affecting everyone, and can you help us so this takes more time….
Genuine question, how hard can it be for the Sonos team to Get an AppleTV, hook it up with an Arc and play some atmos content? Surely this cannot take a year. Why should the consumers risk damaging their Arcs with pops when Sonos probably have a few test ones lying around that can provide a far more verbose diagnostic output. Also sad they’re saying this affects multiple TV’s and brands when it’s well documented the common denominator is the ATV4K and or XBox. Sad.
Can more people email the ceo too so more cases get escalated perhaps?
This is absolutely crazy. Sonos is trying to say that this is an industry-wide issue that’s plaguing other sound bar manufacturers, too. That’s a real “pass the buck” kind of response. I certainly haven’t seen these issues mentioned on forums for other manufacturers sound bars (and I’ve read a lot the last several months researching high end/premium sound systems).
In addition, the whole thing simply makes NO sense. Sonos is attempting to lay the blame elsewhere, with the statement about other sound bar manufacturers. But that would mean they are blaming Dolby themselves for having two incompatible technologies. So, now, they are just saying one can’t use Dolby Vision with DOLBY Atmos? I’m shocked. It’s bad enough that the full Arc/surround setup remains 5.1.2 and not 7.1.2 but now, you can’t even get full Atmos support and are limited to just 5.1. This shatters any hope I once had for Sonos enabling DTS:X support.
I have a Sonos setup for our bedroom that we’ve temporarily used in our main living area to try out. We were planning on moving that back to the bedroom and upgrading to a full Sonos setup with Arc, Sub, and surrounds. But with it taking 3 months for them to fix the recent firmware debacle (a problem they created by forcing the profile/sound change without warning & breaking TruePlay w/Sub) and seeing that this Dolby Vision/Atmos issue has been going on for more than a year now with no resolution, I’m seriously rethinking investing so much with Sonos. I also can’t believe they are having their customer base do their testing. As other members have said, why can’t Sonos test this out with an AppleTV?
Disappointed.
As you probably know, I have, many times. For a long time they didn’t acknowledge the problem, made me go through very time consuming steps like buying other HDMI cables (and I was using what came with the hardware!) as well as factory resets and building the system back up. They also wanted video taping of the problem occurring as proof. Now, they have been at the “we are looking into it” stage for 6+ months. That’s it. That’s all direct support is doing.
I respect that you are a superfan that wants to defend Sonos. But there are real customers who have been affected for a year+ and we are not even getting communication.
I have been told my Sonos support that “at this moment we are having an issue with that, so it is something that we are investigating.” I went through all their “troubleshooting recommendations” re: new cords, CEC disabling, resetting the TV, resetting Apple TV, resetting Arc, etc, and obviously no changes. I was told “the workaround we have so far is to Disable Dolby Atmos and use Dolby Digital 5.1 instead. I know that is not what you expected, but we are working hard to solve it as soon as possible.” I was told today that the case was escalated to a Level 3 engineer, but they could not give me the name or contact information of anyone in specific who is working on the issue - I was promised that someone would reach out via email. I think anyone dealing with this issue should continue reaching out to Sonos regularly, as it is clear that this is an ongoing common problem with the way the Arc handles Atmos content - it seems to mainly affect Atmos content coming from a Xbox or ATV and suspect it may have something to do with the processing of a MAT container. At $900 for a sound bar with Atmos advertised as a main feature, this should NOT be an issue that has been allowed to languish for two years.
Pop is an understatement. We tested again last week and BANG is a much more appropriate word for what happens.
I can’t believe after 2 years Sonos still hasn’t fixed this. I literally forgot about it because I usually don’t use my Appletv. I was watching an atmos movies and literally 10 seconds into it the loud POP OF DEATH and arc is done. I was reminded about how stupid the Sonos arc is. I usually just use my apps on the tv and not appletv and forgot. I’ve also never once in my life hear a single sound come out of the up firing speakers on the arc ever. Even when watching in atmos movie with them turned up full blast. The ARC to me is pretty disappointing to say the least and the lack on someone that actually works at Sonos to have a real answers is embarrassing.
We’ve had a few people chime in with nothing-plugged-in, native TV app pops in this thread. Common factor appears to be that those TVs use Dolby MAT Atmos. I suspect the Apple TV and Xbox get so much attention because they are hugely popular devices.
I have not seen any evidence of any other manufacturer having the pop. Any links that have been posted so far may have had users use words such as “pop” or “crackle”. But when you chase it down, it’s completely different. There might be a rhythmic clicking in the background, or static. It also affects very few users; probably specifically defective units, bad cables, etc.
I have not seen any other brand that has a loud bang that cuts out audio reproducibly, and where the problem seems to be specific to Atmos.
The two Home Theater Control settings for Apple TV and then the one master on/off for CEC on Xbox.
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, I did try a bunch of config changes to my setup and had the pop happen within 30 minutes again
I picked up an Apple TV 4k (3rd Generation), this issue still exists with it.
I haven't had much time to test the update yet. But if it really works now, I would be interested to know what the problem was and why it took 3 years to fix it.
Sonos rep Corry was pretty specific in his statement here:
+18
Hi
I appreciate that you want an update - I would too - but I’m afraid I have nothing to tell you, other than that we are still actively investigating.
At least we now know progress is being made and I will just be happy if ARC and Beam Gen 2 users can finally enjoy the Dolby Atmos system that they paid for.
Upgraded from a playbar to Arc a couple of weeks back. LG C1 and an Xbox one X. Had popping a number of times now.
Previously zero issues before the Arc. This must be a sonos Atmos issue.
Have they even acknowledged this as a bug? Not really acceptable for any product, let alone one that costs this much.
Sonos?
What is being done about this?
And then how about a Black Friday only 40% coupon for those of us who have had an open case number with this problem for years? :)
Yay, great news. Hopefully after almost 3 years of this we can finally put this issue to bed. Kudos to this great community which helped to get some temporary relief of the issue while the true fix was being worked on.
Just to add I also own an LG SN7Y which I have tested with and connected using the same hdmi cables using the same items for testing and there is no popping or sound dropouts with Dolby Atmos.
Reinstall the Sonos and back to issues.
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