Skip to main content

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.

Wait. If using the HDFury Arcana fixes the issue, doesn’t that mean the issue isn’t in the Sonos, but in the TV itself?


Wait. If using the HDFury Arcana fixes the issue, doesn’t that mean the issue isn’t in the Sonos, but in the TV itself?

I doubt it. The thread has people with all brands of TVs having the issue. Also, most people have their TV set to passthrough, so the TV shouldn’t really be doing anything (as I understand it at least). 


Heh, I hear you, but ‘should be’ and ‘are’ are wildly different. And if using the Arcana ‘fixes’ the issue, it sure seems to me to point the finger upstream from Sonos. What that does is effectively remove the TV set ( and the CEC computer in it) out of the equation. 


Just because some upstream devices don’t trigger the Sonos Pop in no way implies that the bug isn’t in the Arc/Beam 2. Two facts point strongly, to the edge of conclusivity, to Sonos:

  1. The vast heterogeneity of source devices triggering the Sonos Pop. Xbox and Apple TV passing through LG, Sony, and Samsung TVs. Some Samsung TVs even with native apps. The counterfactual hypothesis is that all of these makes are bugged while Sonos is blameless.
  2. Switching to any other brand soundbar eliminates the pop.

Considering that @Airgetlam and @Ken_Griffiths have never been affected by the pop, yet they spend extensive time in any thread discussing it trying to divert from Sonos, my hypothesis is that we are looking at an undeclared conflict of interest.


Please let me know how to get Sonos to pay me. I could use some additional income, or even product, instead of merely the satisfaction I derive from attempting to help my fellow humans, obviously a bad instinct that Ken and I share. 


In my experience, once one starts starts with the ad hominem accusations of others of being shills, they’ve lost the argument.  Shills or not, if you cannot dispute the facts, then you cannot dispute the facts.

I also find it highly ironic that in the same threads where people are asking for “official” updates or statements from verified Sonos personnel, others are vilified for being “shills” with absolutely no proof they are working for Sonos.


Please let me know how to get Sonos to pay me. I could use some additional income, or even product, instead of merely the satisfaction I derive from attempting to help my fellow humans, obviously a bad instinct that Ken and I share. 

If you say you don’t have a conflict, I will take you by your word.


I have tried, unsuccessfully, to apply to work at Sonos. I am a user, just like everyone else. All Sonos employees are required to identify themselves as such in their avatar. 
 


I have tried, unsuccessfully, to apply to work at Sonos. I am a user, just like everyone else. All Sonos employees are required to identify themselves as such in their avatar. 
 

I trust your word. But just to clarify to you, I wasn’t hypothesizing something as scandalous as you being a sock puppet for a Sonos employee.

It’s just, to me, your approach comes across as trying to latch onto any evidence that this might not be a Sonos problem while simultaneously encouraging affected users to not post about it publicly and instead reach out to Sonos one-by-one.

So the impression formed for me that you may have a friend that works at a store selling Sonos systems, or works for Sonos itself, or you have been a beta tester and want to maintain that status, or a similar conflict of interest.

Obviously, I was wrong. However, I think it is possible that you come across similarly to other posters. As such I think it is great and productive that could dispel any such concerns.


@ProfessorFrag 

I’m personally retired (15 years this July) and live with my Wife (Jane) here in the U.K. (Midlands area). Our children have flown the nest long ago … I am not, nor have I ever been, employed by Sonos.

I, and several members of our family & friends, are admittedly Sonos enthusiasts and between us all, own a fair amount of different Sonos products. My own reasons for hanging around various threads here are mostly two-fold… to try to help fellow Sonos users and to also keep abreast of the current hardware and software developments.

Amongst other things, I’m also a bit of a home-network enthusiast too these days and so hang around other forums with a similar purpose in mind, that’s mostly to improve me own knowledge in this areas and to keep up-to-date with home WiFi mesh networks.

I’m not sure how to begin to convince you that that is the truth, but it is what it is🤷‍♂️ …and you’re correct when you say I’ve not had the Arc popping issue here with our Sonos Arc/Surrounds/Sub, but as mentioned many times here, I do not own an Apple TV 4K, or an XBox - so have not ever come across any ‘popping’ noise as described in this thread.

I have come across other people though, who got rid of their XBox and Apple TV 4K and replaced them with similar hardware and not had the popping issue since.

So I’m still not sure, personally speaking, that this issue is entirely down to Sonos and hopefully I am free to express that personal view in the thread here, as there is evidence in the posts that the same/similar popping noise has been encountered on other brands of Soundbar/Receiver whilst playing LPCM uncompressed Atmos audio from an Apple TV 4K and/or Xbox. 

I hope that clears up any thoughts you may have about my purpose for being part of the Sonos community here.


@ProfessorFrag 

So I’m still not sure, personally speaking, that this issue is entirely down to Sonos and hopefully I am free to express that personal view in the thread here as there is evidence in the posts that the same/similar popping noise has been encountered on other brands of Soundbar/Receiver whilst playing LPCM uncompressed Atmos audio from an Apple TV 4K and/or Xbox. 

This is the statement I can’t get behind.  When I search for non Sonos soundbars with popping sounds I get results, but none of them describe the sound as a gunshot pop.  To mean there is a varying context that needs to be applied here when people describe “popping”.

If someone can provide a video showing the exact type of pop sound being produced by a non-Sonos soundbar I will back down from my stance.  But from my research this is a Sonos issue alone

Thats not to say that upstream needs to make changes as well, and maybe Sonos hardware produces this sound where other soundbars are able to handle it far more gracefully (perhaps catching the exception and pre-muting) but I think there is a fix on multiple ends here that is needed for a permanent resolution 


@Ken_Griffiths for the record, I trust you. Thank you explaining that you have no conflict.

I had a growing impression. I felt it was time to clear the air. Both of you have done that. As much as I may disagree with your assessment of the Sonos Pop, you have been generous and are acting in good faith.


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.


For those of us not really interested in combing through 35 pages of this, is there a solution or anything that needs to be done for anyone who experiences this issue?

I’ve had my Arc since launch with no issues ever, and just started seeing this issue relatively often


For those of us not really interested in combing through 35 pages of this, is there a solution or anything that needs to be done for anyone who experiences this issue?

I’ve had my Arc since launch with no issues ever, and just started seeing this issue relatively often

I’m sorry to hear you’ve been affected. Once the Sonos Pop has struck, there is no way to go back. 

Some of us have had success with keeping it from triggering by disabling certain features on our devices. Unfortunately there isn’t one approach of that that’s worked for everyone. We just know too little. 
 

What are all the devices you use?


For those of us not really interested in combing through 35 pages of this, is there a solution or anything that needs to be done for anyone who experiences this issue?

I’ve had my Arc since launch with no issues ever, and just started seeing this issue relatively often

I’m sorry to hear you’ve been affected. Once the Sonos Pop has struck, there is no way to go back. 

Some of us have had success with keeping it from triggering by disabling certain features on our devices. Unfortunately there isn’t one approach of that that’s worked for everyone. We just know too little. 
 

What are all the devices you use?

That’s the strangest part. I was able to play Forza Horizon 5 for more than a year without a single pop. I was able to play any game for that matter but that was my most played. Now every single game creates a pop each time. 
 

My Apple TV even with Atmos still activated doesn’t yet. But once it starts to do so it’ll likely never stop. I disabled Atmos on my Xbox and it still sounds great but it’s not what I paid for!


Wait. If using the HDFury Arcana fixes the issue, doesn’t that mean the issue isn’t in the Sonos, but in the TV itself?

I doubt it. The thread has people with all brands of TVs having the issue. Also, most people have their TV set to passthrough, so the TV shouldn’t really be doing anything (as I understand it at least). 

I use an HDFury arcana, epson projector, appleTV and Arc. No TV. Pops all the time…so no fix for me.


Pops with an Arcana? Thanks for contributing that information!


Pops with an Arcana? Thanks for contributing that information!

Yep. Been doing it for ages. I find resetting everything lowers the frequency of the pops and allows me to get through a movie, but weirdly it starts again after a while. I have taken to power cycling my arc before powering everything up which is the best solution I have found.

 

Only with Dolby atmos content of course. Otherwise sounds great.


Any update on the Pop? Lg c2 with Xbox seriesX and era 300s. Getting pop when playing Dolby atmos on series x


There haven’t been any updates as of yet. I also haven’t heard a thing despite following up with them by email regarding an open ticket I have with Sonos. 


Any luck with the 15.5 update?


Any luck with the 15.5 update?

I like to think @Corry P would come in here and tell us if Sonos had any hope that they had fixed the pop. 


Any luck with the 15.5 update?

I like to think @Corry P would come in here and tell us if Sonos had any hope that they had fixed the pop. 

I think if a Sonos update finally fixes this long-standing problem, you'd hear about it before the update rolls out.


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.