Sonos Arc loud pop then audio loss

I am on 14.12, and I just had it happen again.  Was getting excited for a minute there because I hadn’t had the issue in over a week and a half

Sigh :(

This is ridiculous really I had 2 loud BANGS over the course of an hour and finally decided to submit an email with diagnostics and literally while TYPING THE EMAIL and my apple tv was on Screensaver BAM....ANOTHER loud bang...it's seemingly worse with this update not better.  Being told to disable the number one touted feature of this $800 device is unacceptable.

I too experienced the issue yesterday between Sonos 14.12 and tvOS 16 Beta.

Strangely, the rears also cut out this time, where as they've been playing previously. Typically seems to be the centre channel that falls out.

I’m not sure if people are experiencing more static between the preview auto-plays, but even my wife commented on how annoying the little static blip was after flicking through the Netflix app as the auto-playing preview abruptly stops between navigation. 

Well I am deeply disappointed in Sonos at this point.  The reply I got was simply that they know of the issue and it is not their fault so I should just disable Atmos.  If that's the case then I want them to update their Arc product page to say NOT COMPATIBLE WITH XBOX/APPLETV/ROKU.  I feel cheated right now and even though I know it most likely isn't ALL Sonos fault here, other manufacturers have seemed to push out firmware updates that fix Atmos issues with these devices. If nothing else it seems only the Sonos gives the loud BANG whereas other manufacturers just have crackles.

Totally agree. Sonos needs to publish a disclaimer that these devices are not reliably compatible with Arc and could produce very loud popping noises and audio loss.
 

At the very least Sonos should offer those who are having this issue an opportunity to return their Arc. It’s false advertising to say Dolby Atmos content is available using these devices. 

The problem is that they were compatible, and it's not all Atmos sources that are affected.

I bought my Arc in December 2020 and had absolutely no issues until I updated the OS of the Arc, Apple TV, and/or my Bravia XH92 in September 2021. They were all updated around the same time, with seemingly no downgrade path, so it's impossible to deduce which.

If Sonos are saying it’s not their fault - I can’t ever see them going onto make an announcement that it’s some other companies fault - that’s certainly not the way to build on a relationship between partner companies.

Sonos are doing the correct thing and saying nothing about whoever is responsible here, they’re simply just saying it’s not their issue. If changing the ‘other’ connected hardware solves the issue then maybe that helps to go some way to maybe confirm what Sonos says.

I can perhaps partly help on that point, as I don’t have an Xbox nor an Apple TV 4K, but I do have an Arc connected to an LG C9 TV together with a FireTV 4K and a Nvidia Shield (amongst other things) and I’ve not once experienced the popping or crackling issues mentioned in this thread. So maybe some inferences can be drawn from that fact 🤔?

They don’t have to say it is someone else’s fault, but just like when buying computer parts, there is a compatibility list as to what motherboard works with what processors.  AppleTV/Xbox etc are NOT some random Chinese “media box”, they are top tier mainstream products from the highest grossing companies in the world.  If the Arc doesn’t work with them, customers should be notified.  The fact that other companies that are “cheaper” had no issues pushing out a firmware fix to work around the issue tells me that Sonos is simply not trying to deal with the issue.

As a customer that spent thousands on this equipment, it is a slap in the face to be told that your main reason for buying an expensive new product needs to be disabled because they can’t fix it.

Perhaps the partner(s) too, have acknowledged that they plan to investigate/fix the issue with an update from their side, but just haven’t got around to doing that yet?

We can only guess at such issues. I’m pretty sure these big companies do not ever like to wash their dirty-linen in public, plus they likely have their own chosen list of priorities.

Meanwhile Sonos has tried to assist you by suggesting a workaround, for now, at least. Any work/update to be done by a partner is clearly outside of their control.

It’s difficult, as we do not know the full facts here, but as I’ve mentioned before in posts on the forum, this issue appears to happen mostly with Xbox and Apple TV 4K and there are reports online of it happening with other branded soundbars aswell.

I don’t have either of those peripheral products attached to my TV/Arc and have never (ever) experienced the popping or crackling sounds mentioned in this thread.

Maybe the Arc is just playing what it is being sent and that ‘approaches’ perhaps should be being made to those that manufacture the source device instead. If that manufacturer is not being notified of the problem by their own customers, then they are not going to be in any hurry to fix the issue.

Xbox Series S connected to LG C1 connected to Arc. I guess I am not alone in this. Had this happen months ago, I thought one of my kids smashed the wall with something. I forgot about it, and just as I was watching a show on the Xbox Series S, heard the pop. Looking through all the posts, looks like a lot of people are having this issue with a Xbox connected. I don’t think the quality degraded or any damage to speakers. Of course it will be in my head that they are damaged now. Hoping someone comes with a solution someday!