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.
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 s…] or cannot be a…], 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.
This is some farcical BS. The onus for comprehensive and useful logging is not on the end user. Sonos has a submit diagnostic feature for a reason that has been used countless times by the users in this thread.
Re: “keep
Not really, I’ve been part of solving some other difficult issues (I won’t mention company names) and I’ve been aware of this issue from the first post. Since I’m not able to observe this issue, I can’t contribute any data. From my seat it mostly seems like barking at the wall.
One case the I was involved with was interesting. I came across an intermittent issue. It could present a few times an hour, days, or weeks. It was a few millisecond mute in the audio output, barely perceptible by many users. It was real easy to blame something that had no relation to this issue, but could exhibit similar symptoms. I became aware of a few people unsuccessfully attempting to get a handle on the issue. The manufacturer was not able to help. I built a little hardware monitor and was able to observe some erratic activity that usually culminated in an “event”. I suspect that relative humidity was part of the package. I contacted the manufacturer and they were aware that some users had reported an issue, but the issue could not be observed in their service shop. When I described my monitor they were excited and suggested a potential fix. They couldn’t verify the fix in their shop because they didn’t have any misbehaving units and If I am correct that relative humidity was in the mix, I don’t think that they would ever have had a misbehaving unit in their shop (due to their location). Anyway, I applied the proposed fix and had an immediate positive response from my monitor. A couple days later the manufacturer called to check in and I reported that my monitor had logged zero events. It was an easy, cheap fix and lot of people were happy.
I mention this because we may not yet have figured out which end of the ‘POP’ dog to bark at. It seems to be a multi-dimensional issue. The common dimensions seem to be PS5, X-Box, AppleTV, and versions of Atmos. The shutdown is easy to understand. The ‘POP’ is at maximum output and ARC is designed to shut down in order to protect itself.
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:
He said it’s not official guidance but it seems they’re aware that it makes a difference.
I understand where you’re coming from. I really want to upgrade my rears from Sonos One to Era 300.
But if Sonos won’t even put a disclaimer or FAQ on the Arc so that buyers can know about the potential problem with Dolby MAT sources, how can I trust them to buy more equipment?
Product mistakes happen. However, when I’ve had an affected Apple product (widespread MacBook mainboard problem back in the day) or Microsoft product (red ring of death), there was public communication and they offered repair or replacement programs to make it right. That’s part of the reason I continue to buy Apple and Microsoft hardware.
New Arc owner here. With Sony now rolling out the PS5’s Atmos update, should I be cautious of using that mode for audio output?
Based on what I have read on reddit, yes. The PS5 uses Atmos via MAT as well, which appears to be the cause of the problem.
Possibly MAT processing sets a bit(s) somewhere outside of its bounds that sometimes causes issues for something else. Once there was a Mars lander crash because one routine got its one/zero origin mixed up,
---
For non programmers: Array (list) elements are reverenced by a number. Some schemes start the element ID’s at zero (#0 is the first element), other schemes start the ID’s at one (#1 is the first element). There are advantages and disadvantages to each scheme and ultimately it does not matter much which scheme is used -- unless the ‘other’ scheme is used somewhere along the line. For example Programmer ‘A’, using one origin, will call for element #1 (the first element), but this will be the second element in Programmer ‘B’ scheme of zero origin.
In this case an invalid reference could sometimes modify a single pixel in a graphic, but other times could result in output volume set at beyond infinity -- resulting in a ‘thump’ and amplifier shutdown. These things can be extremely transient and hard to track down. I’m glad that I’m not working for SONOS, tasked to fix this, and I sympathize with users who are suffering.
Anyone with pops: I encourage you to test this hypothesis, especially if you can make the pops happen in a predictable way
If anyone is willing to reset to factory, set up again and then see if the pops continue, post your results.
I’m using a Beam Gen 2 with an Apple TV 4K 2022. I haven’t had pops like people in this thread describe, but have suffered audio dropouts every 5-10 mins when using Netflix with Dolby Atmos enabled. If I select Dolby 5.1 the pops go away, so I suspect this is the same issue.
we watched three episodes of a show last night and there were regular audio dropouts throughout. So I’ve taken your advice and have reset the Sonos and set it up again without Truplay and so far so good. We watched two more episodes and had no dropouts at all.
Obviously early days but seems promising so far. I’ll test for a few more days and report back.
i also encourage others to give this a go and report your findings here.
we watched three episodes of a show last night and there were regular audio dropouts throughout. So I’ve taken your advice and have reset the Sonos and set it up again without Truplay and so far so good. We watched two more episodes and had no dropouts at all.
What would really be a good test if you can stand it is watch the same 3 episodes again (or at least put them on and listen for the same audio dropouts). That would have every one of the very same variables in place EXCEPT Trueplay. If there are no audio drops with the exact same signals, this concept of “blame AppleTV” or “blame ATMOS” or “Dolby MAT” etc starts getting more meaningfully undermined. And the confidence that perhaps it is something in the Trueplay algorithm that needs Sonos attention would rise.
Thanks for going to the trouble of at least trying my guess. Hopefully a few more with such issues do too and we begin to see a pattern that could lead to an actual remedy vs. expecting a bunch of other players to do something and/or “don’t use ATMOS” and/or “turn off CEC.”
we watched three episodes of a show last night and there were regular audio dropouts throughout. So I’ve taken your advice and have reset the Sonos and set it up again without Truplay and so far so good. We watched two more episodes and had no dropouts at all.
What would really be a good test if you can stand it is watch the same 3 episodes again (or at least put them on and listen for the same audio dropouts). That would have every one of the very same variables in place EXCEPT Trueplay. If there are no audio drops with the exact same signals, this concept of “blame AppleTV” or “blame ATMOS” or “Dolby MAT” etc starts getting more meaningfully undermined. And the confidence that perhaps it is something in the Trueplay algorithm that needs Sonos attention would rise.
Thanks for going to the trouble of at least trying my guess. Hopefully a few more with such issues do too and we begin to see a pattern that could lead to an actual remedy vs. expecting a bunch of other players to do something and/or “don’t use ATMOS” and/or “turn off CEC.”
Not actually that difficult as I was watching The Good Place on Netflix and each episode is only 20 minutes long. Watched them through again today and no audio drop outs. Fingers crossed you’ve stumbled across something here. We’re also watching Stateless on Netflix which also gives lots of audio dropouts. Will probably watch a couple of episodes tonight so will report back.
To be honest, I no longer know whether to laugh or cry. The mere fact that the error has been going on for much longer than the entire Covid19 pandemic…
The error will then be fixed shortly with the release of Arc 2
Thanks. I have double bug, I have the pop from Atmos and the Sony bug that drops audio completely. At this point, I wish I would have gone with two different solutions.
I’m not so sure there is that much of a difference between Atmos (compressed/uncompressed) audio, compared to either Dolby Digital Plus 5.1 (compressed) or McPCM 5.1 (uncompressed) surround sound audio to warrant going out and selling the Sonos HT devices. I admit I’ve not got the popping issue, but if I had, I would certainly prefer to just switch off Atmos and shift the height audio to other channels, rather than sell up. I’m personally quite okay with 5.1 surround audio, to the extent I would not personally sell.
That’s otherwise perhaps a case of "cutting off your nose to spite your face" if you’re seriously considering selling all as a viable option.
Your loss in that situation, would just be someone else’s gain IMHO, as they may not experience the issue with their TV setup, particularly if they are not using the LPCM codec, which seems to be a key component in many of the reported cases in this thread.
I would just wait and see if there is a fix …and just enjoy the 5.1 surround sound in the meantime.
I’m living with the CEC-off solution at the moment. The least annoying compromise for me.
I still expect Sonos to acknowledge the issue in an FAQ or disclaimer though. New customers should be warned about the potential problem so that they can make an informed decision.
I really wonder why this problem occurs with so many different patterns. For me, for example, it doesn't do any good to turn off CEC. I turned it off on the Xbox and the TV and the bang still comes with Dolby Atmos. The only thing that works for me is switching to Dolby Digital 5.1
Have you tried factory reset and not to trueplay?
FYI: now many weeks later since prior posts and this (reset to factory but don’t run Trueplay when setting back up) completely solved the problem with Arc + twin 300s.
Nutshell version: executed initial setup to the “run Trueplay” step but couldn’t Trueplay for a few hours due to uncontrollable noise in the environment. Enjoyed the speakers for those few hours: they sounded as great as we all expect of Sonos speakers. When the noise ceased, ran Trueplay and the Pop-fest immediately followed (only variable changed was running Trueplay)… not just from ATMOS sources but even Sonos HD Radio and when touching the buttons on top of the Arc. Any source whether simple stereo to ATMOS was popping in a way that made us worry about the speaker. We initially believed it was blown speaker(s).
Reset to factory but bailed on the setup process again at the “set up Trueplay” step. No pops since. No other variables changed (same source, same cables, same kinds of content). CEC is on and ATMOS playback, Dolby playback, Stereo & Mono playback, sounds from the interface (button pushes on Arc) yield NO pops at all.
Gut says that if we ran Trueplay again, the pops would return… which would be a verifying step if we repeated it and got the same (popping) results. But they play and sound great now and we don’t want to re-stir this pot.
While only a single instance and thus not ideal from which to draw broad conclusions, those frustrated with no other remedy may want to give this one a try. Given the variety of hardware sources, cables, audio types, etc in play, it seems common ground variables like internal software would be much more likely to be the cause than select implementations of ATMOS, CEC, Dolby MAT, cables, AppleTV, Xbox, et all. Since Trueplay is something most people automatically run soon after pulling these out of their boxes, if it is the cause or plays a role, obviously most/all(?) of the speakers with the problem likely ran Trueplay.
If it’s everybody else that must change their tech to work with Sonos, it seems this will NEVER get resolved. But if it’s internal software, that could be a bug(s) for Sonos to find & fix. Those willing: test & report. If there is something here, it will give Sonos an area on which to focus and maybe a fix for up to everyone.
Tick Tock and still we wait for the fix to arrive.
I have owned my arc since release and never had an issue. I use my Apple TV every day with Dolby atmos. Never had a pop. Noticed the other day that Atmos was now available on ps5 so enabled it.
played Jedi survivor for a whole week with no issues.
soon as I started playing Spider-Man 2 tonight I get a huge pop and no audio. Have to change inputs to get audio back. Play for 45 seconds huge loud pop and no audio.
tv is a Sony A80J.
Spider-Man 2 is running at 120hz with HDR and VRR.
Now ever since the pop has happened I have a massive audio delay on my Apple TV with atmos.
this is awful all of a sudden my arc is stuffed
Now ever since the pop has happened I have a massive audio delay on my Apple TV with atmos.
this is awful all of a sudden my arc is stuffed
Wish we had some good news for you chief. Sadly Sonos do not give a **** about fixing this. Now now, not for the past 3 years.
Hi, I have used Sonos ARC for 2 years with Apple TV 4K without any issues connected via old Samsung UE65HU7505 from 2014 which downsampled everything to Stereo PCM.
I have changed TV (finally) to Samsung OLED S90C a couple of weeks ago with the same Apple TV 4K from 2017 and have experienced this Bang-pop-knock couple of times which was a horrifying experience.
I really hope that Sonos will fix this issue soon...
Details, please?
$700 or so for a privacy issue with the microphones in Sonos devices. Despite being done by a large class-action legal company, it a confidential settlement, though a few posted it on reddit ths last week.
Hi all,
We've seen the need to remove some posts from this topic as they're breaking the Beta NDA, which we take very seriously. With that said, yes, there is progress on a fix for the Arc popping that some users have experienced, so we kindly ask you to continue to be patient while we’re working to give you a better experience.
We will of course let you know if there is any news around this topic that can be shared.
Thank you for respecting our terms and conditions for participating in both this forum and our Sonos Beta program.
I appreciate the posts might technically break the beta NDA that Sonos enforces on people, but this is an ideal time to be a little more transparent here after years of silence. Folks have been waiting 3 years for a fix on this issue, for hardware they’ve spent thousands of dollars on. The fix isn’t to provide a “better experience” it’s to provide the Dolby Atmos experience that Sonos customers thought they were getting when they purchased a Dolby Atmos soundbar.
Well put. The call for patience while they “work to give us a better experience” is extremely grating language. You guys sat on this for three years and then magically started making progress after a bunch of articles dropped calling attention to the fact that many of your customers aren’t getting the base experience that they paid for.
Can anyone affected by this issue join the beta?
Given the huge amount of users with these issues it seems like it would be a good idea to have as many people testing in as many different setups as possible.
You can always ask to join the Beta team, it is not a small commitment and may have consequences not related to the bug you are interested in.
I was in the beta program for several years but it got to be more effort and inconvenience than enjoyment so I dropped out.
Doing it again I’d likely split my Sonos into two households and only put one in the beta program to minimize spousal aggravation and always have some Sonos working as expected.
When I ran beta programs for software, there were several cohorts, each testing a specific ‘fix’. There was no way to guaranty that you were going to be in a specific cohort, testing the fix you wanted. I don’t know if Sonos does this, but I’d be willing to bet that just offering yourself to join the beta program is no guaranty that you’ll get that particular fix.
We also never promised a roadmap, or dates for when things would roll out. Especially for bug fixes, since they may or may not work once they got in the hands of the beta testers. I can’t tell you how often I heard ‘but it fixed things on my computer’ from engineers, once we got feedback from a statistical representation of the beta testers. Plus, there’s the fact that a ‘bug’ that expresses itself in one fashion may indeed be more than one, so the engineer may be correct, in X% of cases, it fixed ‘that’ problem. It was just that X was not 100%. We learned in the 90s that promising a fix to be out by a certain date was a lie, since it hadn’t been fully tested internally, and then sent to the testers for approval. And if we missed a date, boy, were the complaints twice as much. We ended up announcing the fix, much like Sonos does, when it had gone through all of those rigors, and was released to all the users.
If Sonos has a ‘fix’ for this issue, rest assured they’ll release at the earliest date possible.
Continuing on the beta NDA discussion: If there are multiple potential causes of the issue and tester ‘A’ is sent a beta that fixed issue ‘1’, but tester ‘A’ had issue ‘2’ not ‘1’, when tester ‘A’ squabbles publicly “they said it was fixed, but it’s still an issue!” an unnecessary public relations issue is created.
Also, there may be slightly different hardware builds involved. The fix must be verified on all builds and early releases might not be ready for this. Further, a beta release might not be intended to fix anything because it only has enhanced data logging — attempting to help better understand the issue.
With respect to these “pops” I can imagine that a module licensed by SONOS is causing the issue by corrupting memory outside of its own boundary. This greatly complicates identifying and resolving the issue. Multiple 3rd parties could be involved. A temporary fix might be to rearrange modules such that a seldom used memory area is at risk. Another temporary workaround could be to reboot the system every few hours or days.
There is no need to discuss these details publicly. This reminds me of the child who needs to proudly prove to everyone that it knows a secret, but the only way to do this is to divulge the secret.
With respect to these “pops” I can imagine that a module licensed by SONOS is causing the issue by corrupting memory outside of its own boundary. This greatly complicates identifying and resolving the issue. Multiple 3rd parties could be involved. A temporary fix might be to rearrange modules such that a seldom used memory area is at risk. Another temporary workaround could be to reboot the system every few hours or days.
Whatever the root cause ends up being, I hope (but doubt) we get some kind of postmortem once a patch goes live. Genuinely curious as to what this was and why it took so long to nail down.
Fantastic news! Just in time for Black Friday too. Excited to update and test it out. Hoping to complete my setup with a sub gen 3 tomorrow too. Huge thank you to @tomwarren for raising awareness and helping push this issue
Thank you for pointing me in the right direction, this is the first time I seek support from Sonos, I didn’t know the Chromecast didn’t support MAT as the behaviour is identical to the issue that everyone else was experiencing. I’m now in contact with someone from Sonos and I hope that I can get this sorted.
Maybe see this link too:
https://hometheateracademy.com/google-chromecast-work-with-a-projector/
Particularly note the section that mentions HDCP (high-bandwidth digital content protection) as that could be a potential cause of your issue (perhaps?), which is solvable with an audio extractor/splitter, like the Arcana and similar products, for example. However, I would see what the Sonos Staff can discover first from your report/contact.
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