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.
+1
Every Sonos Arc is NOT affected. I’ve had one for maybe 4 years without a single POP.
And the blame game redirection implies that it’s not any one thing- like not just AppleTV or Xbox or PS5 or a television or a cable or ATMOS setting on or CEC setting on. There’s too many different third party potential catalysts while others have no issue for me to believe it’s any 1+ (external) thing.
I go back to the common denominator- the Arc itself- (me) guessing either a bad batch (if hardware) or something in on-board software is driving this issue. It’s easier to sling blame at other stuff but look at the example I offered:
If it’s ATMOS or CEC or TV or cable, it would consistently repeat by using that same tech and the same settings. But it seems that it is not replicable for many, which implies it is probably NOT much of the stuff getting the (redirection) blame.
I have to think it is some bugs in software or a bad batch of hardware production. Else, if it is any one thing, someone could:
Pinning it down like this would allow others to run the same test, generate the same result and then the blame game would have more credibility… and SONOS themselves could execute the same test to replicate it themselves. Instead, we have 45 pages of “my setup is generating pops” with others saying “my <different> setup is generating pops” and other people sharing their same setup does NOT generate pops or that their Arc- like my own- has NEVER popped.
Collectively find an absolute, repeatable cause & effect catalyst, repeated/repeatable on more than one Arc and it would give SONOS an absolute point of focus. As is, we’re all over the place with possible causes and possible remedies with others countering each guess.
I created a separate question in an attempt to help Sonos diagnose this issue, but have a feeling I will end up in this thread anyway. So let me jump in here.
I experience the same issue as OP.
There is a sudden very loud pop that sounds like a huge short circuit in the Arc, then some small pops crackling followed by a complete loss of audio. The led turns orange on the front.
Power cycling the Arc gets it out of the bricked state, but only until the issue happens again. Can confirm that it happened with Dolby Atmos audio content from media player on the TV itself.
Setup
System diagnostics collected while the Arc was not in zombie state did not reveil anything weird according to Sonos support.
These posts are going back 3 years that report this same or a similar issue, and I have found no clear solution other than maybe “disable Atmos”.
I've only had the problem with my Xbox Series X so far and I've had it a number of times. Today I was able to reproduce it every time I played Forza 5 and then went to the dashboard. A few seconds later there was a loud bang and the LED on the arc burned orange. So I decided to turn off Dolby Vision because I've also read this here in the chat that it's supposed to help. I couldn't believe it, but in the Xbox settings I just unchecked "allow dolby vision" and "dolby vision for gaming" and since then I haven't been able to reproduce the problem. maybe it's just a coincidence, but when I had Dolby Vision active, the bang came every time in connection with Atmos. But this means doing without Dolby Vision and “only” using HDR10.
This has worked for me without fail. Remember that there aren’t very many games that natively support DV, so to me most games really dont do much more than HDR does anyway. Atmos sound is far more valuable to have than DV at this stage
I’m glad it works for you. As I mentioned above it happens with HDR10 without fail every time in my case.
Sonos needs to fix this nonsense
Same issue here.
always on Xbox series x
my diagnostic code is 137046043
this happens 2-3 times a month.
I’ve experienced this problem with LG C9 OLED and XSX, I’ve just recently upgraded to an LG G3 OLED, not experienced the problem as yet but I’ve only had the G3 a few days so will report back if the problem persists with the G3.
I still have the same issues with Atmos, which involve audio loss every 15 minutes (for 1 second). The update didn’t yield results in my case.
Me too on Beam Gen 2 but approx every 19-20 mins for me
Further to this, wondering how many other sound bar / reciever users use their TV as a passthrough mechanism. When looking at the specs of them generally the devices connect directly to them opposed to using the eARC on behalf of all HDMI ports.
This obviously is a discussion we have never had with the Arc / Beam only having a single inout HDMI allowing only a passthrough configuration but it could be why other soundbars / receivers seem unaffected
I just tried disabling eARC and I can no longer reliably reproduce the audio pop. Re-enabling eARC hasn’t reproduced the issue either. Can anyone here who is able to reliably reproduce see if disabling and re-enabling eARC clears something? It might still come back, but it’s interesting that I can no longer reliably reproduce!
I’m going to try this tonight and report back . Disabling CEC on my Xbox series X did not fix the issue . Once outputting at 120hz with VRR then the pop occurs . Will try enable and disable eARC but it may just be a temporary fix . It may happen again after 15 mins to 30 mins after
Two different missions. One is to protect us users from the vagaries of posting inappropriate data online so that it might be used against us in some way, the other is being a spokesman for an entire company.
I was watching The Mandalorian on Disney Plus and same thing happened to me. A loud pop and i thought something inside the Arc blew. Loss of audio. Then restarted the episode and audio resume. I wonder if anything inside the Arc stopped working? Just submit diagnostics 254534713. This Arc is bought Nov 2020 so its only 4months + old.
Please help. Really.
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?
+18
Hi
Thank you! I have found your related case number and passed it directly to an engineer. You should hear from them soon.
Hi
FYI, I have not yet been contacted by Sonos. I continue to be interested in providing replication data in devmode.
Hi
Thanks for flagging - a mistake, I assure you. You will hear from someone imminently.
BTW, has anyone tested the Arc with Atmos content now that firmware 15.1 is out? I haven’t yet as it’s very new but curious if anyone else was brave enough to do so!
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
I hope this is leading up to the solution we’ve all been waiting for. Fingers crossed 🤞
Just happened to me. LG G1 and Series X. Just in the middle of playing Psyconaughts 2 and then loud bang followed by no sound. Switching input brought the sound back. Scary.
I just tried disabling eARC and I can no longer reliably reproduce the audio pop. Re-enabling eARC hasn’t reproduced the issue either. Can anyone here who is able to reliably reproduce see if disabling and re-enabling eARC clears something? It might still come back, but it’s interesting that I can no longer reliably reproduce!
I’ve tried this on a Sony 900H. Disabling eARC allowed Atmos to still function, but if you go into Sonos App → System → About My System, it will now show Atmos (Dolby Digital) instead of just Atmos. In this state, there will be no pop. The pop seems tied to Dolby MAT encoding.
I had some audio sync issues on some content without eARC, so I turned it back on. The pop came back.
Please note that different users have had success eliminating the pop by disabling various features. But there is no universal fix. I can get rid of it by disabling CEC, which is my current solution. Others can get rid of it by disabling Dolby Vision, which doesn’t work as a fix for me. For yet others, nothing works. :(
It would be nice if Sonos shared a little bit about what their testing shows. You can try pinging
I have eARC set to Off on my Sony A80J (it is plugged into the HDMI 3 / eARC port though) and when I play Atmos content from my Apple TV4K (2nd Gen) it says Atmos / Atmos (DD+) depending on what screen you look at.
Is there any benefit to turning on eARC to Auto from within my Sony A80J TV settings? Just to clarify, I’ve never heard this bang noise in my 1 year of ownership but it’s been Off…honestly afraid to turn it on at this point haha.
Every Sonos Arc is NOT affected. I’ve had one for maybe 4 years without a single POP.
And the blame game redirection implies that it’s not any one thing- like not just AppleTV or Xbox or PS5 or a television or a cable or ATMOS setting on or CEC setting on. There’s too many different third party potential catalysts while others have no issue for me to believe it’s any 1+ (external) thing.
I go back to the common denominator- the Arc itself- (me) guessing either a bad batch (if hardware) or something in on-board software is driving this issue. It’s easier to sling blame at other stuff but look at the example I offered:
If it’s ATMOS or CEC or TV or cable, it would consistently repeat by using that same tech and the same settings. But it seems that it is not replicable for many, which implies it is probably NOT much of the stuff getting the (redirection) blame.
I have to think it is some bugs in software or a bad batch of hardware production. Else, if it is any one thing, someone could:
Pinning it down like this would allow others to run the same test, generate the same result and then the blame game would have more credibility… and SONOS themselves could execute the same test to replicate it themselves. Instead, we have 45 pages of “my setup is generating pops” with others saying “my <different> setup is generating pops” and other people sharing their same setup does NOT generate pops or that their Arc- like my own- has NEVER popped.
Collectively find an absolute, repeatable cause & effect catalyst, repeated/repeatable on more than one Arc and it would give SONOS an absolute point of focus. As is, we’re all over the place with possible causes and possible remedies with others countering each guess.
I think it’s absolutely within their capability to fix this, but they’re far more driven by money and new products.
i would push back on just blaming the arc though as there’s other sound bars which have the issue
Did you submit a diagnostic, and contact Sonos directly?
I’ve submitted diagnostics 6-7 times on here, the phone & chat. Each time every support ‘tech’ is completely clueless and this has severely lowered my faith in Sonos. Quit frankly, I’m disgusted.
I’ve had to direct all of these support people to this thread just to prove that I’m not crazy and not alone. They all try and send me down the same rabbit holes, wanting me to go through their stock instructions on cable replacement, player rebooting and factory resetting. Which by the way, I had done all of them many months ago.
I agree with previous comments that if this was an AppleTV & XBox issue we’d be hearing about it effecting other sound bars. If anyone from Sonos is reading this, please comment on this thread to at least ease the minds of all of your great customers who are feeling abandoned on this issue. An issue that involves your most premium product purchased by your most premium customers.
Yes. eARC has major benefits over ARC. Better sound, better lip sync, the works.
If you get the bang, you can always turn it back off. We haven’t had any reports of the bang happening with Dolby Digital Plus compressed Atmos.
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
Tomorrow is the 3 year anniversary of the Sonos Arc. At this point, I’m chalking this up as an inherent design flaw of the Arc and that this issue won’t be resolved until the release of the Arc 2. If it hasn’t been fixed by now, it probably never will…
+1
Every Sonos Arc is NOT affected. I’ve had one for maybe 4 years without a single POP.
And the blame game redirection implies that it’s not any one thing- like not just AppleTV or Xbox or PS5 or a television or a cable or ATMOS setting on or CEC setting on. There’s too many different third party potential catalysts while others have no issue for me to believe it’s any 1+ (external) thing.
I go back to the common denominator- the Arc itself- (me) guessing either a bad batch (if hardware) or something in on-board software is driving this issue. It’s easier to sling blame at other stuff but look at the example I offered:
If it’s ATMOS or CEC or TV or cable, it would consistently repeat by using that same tech and the same settings. But it seems that it is not replicable for many, which implies it is probably NOT much of the stuff getting the (redirection) blame.
I have to think it is some bugs in software or a bad batch of hardware production. Else, if it is any one thing, someone could:
Pinning it down like this would allow others to run the same test, generate the same result and then the blame game would have more credibility… and SONOS themselves could execute the same test to replicate it themselves. Instead, we have 45 pages of “my setup is generating pops” with others saying “my <different> setup is generating pops” and other people sharing their same setup does NOT generate pops or that their Arc- like my own- has NEVER popped.
Collectively find an absolute, repeatable cause & effect catalyst, repeated/repeatable on more than one Arc and it would give SONOS an absolute point of focus. As is, we’re all over the place with possible causes and possible remedies with others countering each guess.
I think it’s absolutely within their capability to fix this, but they’re far more driven by money and new products.
i would push back on just blaming the arc though as there’s other sound bars which have the issue
Which soundbars and how often it occurs ?
Every Sonos Arc is NOT affected. I’ve had one for maybe 4 years without a single POP.
And the blame game redirection implies that it’s not any one thing- like not just AppleTV or Xbox or PS5 or a television or a cable or ATMOS setting on or CEC setting on. There’s too many different third party potential catalysts while others have no issue for me to believe it’s any 1+ (external) thing.
I go back to the common denominator- the Arc itself- (me) guessing either a bad batch (if hardware) or something in on-board software is driving this issue. It’s easier to sling blame at other stuff but look at the example I offered:
If it’s ATMOS or CEC or TV or cable, it would consistently repeat by using that same tech and the same settings. But it seems that it is not replicable for many, which implies it is probably NOT much of the stuff getting the (redirection) blame.
I have to think it is some bugs in software or a bad batch of hardware production. Else, if it is any one thing, someone could:
Pinning it down like this would allow others to run the same test, generate the same result and then the blame game would have more credibility… and SONOS themselves could execute the same test to replicate it themselves. Instead, we have 45 pages of “my setup is generating pops” with others saying “my <different> setup is generating pops” and other people sharing their same setup does NOT generate pops or that their Arc- like my own- has NEVER popped.
Collectively find an absolute, repeatable cause & effect catalyst, repeated/repeatable on more than one Arc and it would give SONOS an absolute point of focus. As is, we’re all over the place with possible causes and possible remedies with others countering each guess.
I think it’s absolutely within their capability to fix this, but they’re far more driven by money and new products.
i would push back on just blaming the arc though as there’s other sound bars which have the issue
It's not just about the Arc, but also about the Beam 2 (all Sonos soundbars that support Dolby Atmos)
Do you know of a soundbar that isn't from Sonos that produces the banging sound?
Fairly new sonos user, I've had an arc work flawlessly for two months using Disney plus, Amazon prime video and just standard Freeview viewing. Decided to dust off the old Xbox one s to give it a run out along with enabling dolby Atmos, less than an hour later - pop! I nearly fell off my chair it was so loud. I was convinced with a sound like the there must have been some damage done to the arc. This was followed by silence and I'm sure I saw a flash off orange/red on the top of the arc for a moment.
I submitted by diagnostic number via the Sonos live chat but apparently all looks good from what they can tell! It seems likes it's working fine again for my usual TV viewing but I will be following the advice from previous contributers to this thread and change the sound to Dolby 5.1 on the Xbox. Although I am reluctant to load up the Xbox for the time being.
Sorry to hear this had happened to you. Just another example of why there needs to be a warning issued by Sonos on the Sonos app. If you have an Apple TV or play any source that has Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos, your Arc is now permanently damaged thanks to that Xbox.
Please update Sonos on what you experience and how your Arc behaves when playing Dolby Atmos and Dolby Vision at the same time. I can’t believe they’re still telling customers, everything looks good on our end…when this is a 2 year old known issue.
They should have at least told you that it is a known issue: but the PR and subsequent loss of sales probably prohibits this.
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