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.
Blunderdome, what TV hardware do you have?
Gathered you were running 4K/120 with VRR enabled?
Paul Tsang, same question to you?
Blunderdome, what TV hardware do you have?
Gathered you were running 4K/120 with VRR enabled?
Paul Tsang, same question to you?
LG C2, so yeah, 4K/120 +VRR.
Edit: Note that I do not have the PS5 beta firmware and haven’t tested on it.
Yup LPCM option still there . I been doing some test , when I’m playing final fantasy 16 on VRR which is 48-60hz then no pop at all but when I switch back to god of war Ragnarok running VRR 48-120hz then loud pop occurs . Now we know 120hz is the problem that causing the pop . Just like the Xbox series X
I, and many others, have experienced the pop at 60 Hz on Apple TV. I have also experienced the pop at 60 Hz on Xbox. The Sony 900H has an issue with 120 Hz where it lowers the vertical resolution to 1080, not the only TV model to do this, so I would play at 4K60 with VRR without Dolby Vision. Still pops when enabling Atmos.
Blunderdome, what TV hardware do you have?
Gathered you were running 4K/120 with VRR enabled?
Paul Tsang, same question to you?
Sony A90J tv , 120hz VRR . I have no issue on Apple TV , I heard changing setting on the Apple TV to match content to dynamic range and frame rate then the pop won’t happens
Same problem with PS5 beta firmware and a Samsung Q95T connected using e-arc.
Interesting. I am owner of Sonos Home Theatre (Sonos Arc + Sub 3rd gen + 2xOne SL) for almost 3 years, owning Apple TV 4K (2021) - Dolby Atmos enabled, PS5 - all connected into LG OLED TV CX (eARC enabled, CEC enabled, Passthrough enabled) and I have never experienced the Arc popping sound.
I am paying for top-tier Netlifx, Disney+, HBO Max, Apple Music, playing Atmos movies from native LG apps, Apple TV apps, Apple Music, but never experienced it.
When I will be able to test PS5 beta firmware, I will test as well.
May be the only 40Gbps HDMI ports on LG TV CX has something to do with that, but so far I was lucky.
Here is a chance for us to ask questions about this live. Today, 8/2 at 2pm Eastern, 11am Pacific.
I doubt they will answer any technical /bug question in the live chat . They will only talk about how great the product is and how it works etc
The live chat is already over. Did anybody have a chance to bring up the Sonos Pop? What did they say?
The live chat is already over. Did anybody have a chance to bring up the Sonos Pop? What did they say?
It was one of the first chat questions and was answered within the chat. It was not addressed by the hosts. Here’s the chat dialogue.
Question: Are you guys going to address the pops you get with the arc?
Answer: Good Q, this will focus on Arc, but for issues with your speaker I can post our technical support info in a moment
🤨
hello everyone.
I have just started to have this issue and I contacted sonos support, I have owned the arc for 18 months and the issue only started now after the latest update.
They mentioned the engineers are working on it and there is only 2 known workarounds at the moment, which is crazy considering this has been a known issue for atleast 2 years.
I am using Xbox series x on a Sony x9000h, does anyone have any better ideas other then the workarounds provided by sonos below?
Workaround 1: Disable CEC on HDMI connected devices, then reboot these devices as well as the TV by unplugging from power for 60 seconds then plug it back in. a. This may allow Atmos content to be played, but cannot be guaranteed. Workaround 2: Disable Dolby Atmos and use Dolby Digital 5.1 instead.
hello everyone.
I have just started to have this issue and I contacted sonos support, I have owned the arc for 18 months and the issue only started now after the latest update.
They mentioned the engineers are working on it and there is only 2 known workarounds at the moment, which is crazy considering this has been a known issue for atleast 2 years.
I am using Xbox series x on a Sony x9000h, does anyone have any better ideas other then the workarounds provided by sonos below?
Workaround 1: Disable CEC on HDMI connected devices, then reboot these devices as well as the TV by unplugging from power for 60 seconds then plug it back in. a. This may allow Atmos content to be played, but cannot be guaranteed. Workaround 2: Disable Dolby Atmos and use Dolby Digital 5.1 instead.
I’m sorry to hear you’ve been affected. Those workarounds are best that we have figured out so far. Lower success rate: some posters have had luck disabling 120 Hz and/or Dolby Vision to get rid of the pop.
As you mentioned, many of us have been affected for well over two years. We’ve submitted diagnostics or even dev mode “recordings” of the pop. We’ve not been told of any progress by Sonos to date.
This thread alone has users affected by the problem on Samsung, Sony, and LG TVs. If this issue appears on the three largest manufactures, as well as both major consoles (with the PS5 Atmos update), and Apple TV; there is nothing limited to it.
This was my initial thought when I read their response. I’ve heard of the popping happening on all of the major brands and it’s not limited to the TV being a certain type of panel (OLED, QLED, Mini-LED and so on).
I don’t disagree with Sonos in saying that it’s not hardware related. The issue does appear to be related to software but the fact that they’ve yet to fix or even say they replicated the issue is concerning. I’m not entirely certain on what information they receive when we send diagnostics in but surely they can see something went wrong when these pops occur.
I have the pop/bang issue as well. What has “fixed” the issue for me was disabling Trueplay. I think there is something getting corrupted in the Trueplay profile that affects Atmos/MAT encoding.
I’m able to reliably reproduce the issue, that’s how I captured it on video. I’ve offered to work with Sonos engineers to troubleshoot, so we’ll see if they’re able to do that remotely or not.
Where are you located Tom? Sonos should come visit you to debug this, they have engineering offices in Boston, Santa Barbara and Seattle (and maybe some others too).
As a software guy myself, getting a consistent repro is key to bug determination. Lets not forget the time the MS Office engineer put his actual phone number in an error message in order to get someone to call him when the bug repro-ed. (After the initial euphoria about someone calling him, things got out of hand quickly...)
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 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
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.
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.
Yup! You can also go into the Sonos App, System, About My System when listening to Atmos if you have a Dolby MAT source (Apple TV, Xbox, soon PS5).
If it just says Atmos, you’re good. If it says Atmos (DD+), it’s being downgraded.
We have a response, but all it largely says is that they can’t reproduce the issue. I’m going to offer to ship my TV, Sonos Arc, and Xbox to Sonos.
https://www.theverge.com/2023/8/10/23824258/sonos-arc-dolby-atmos-problems-loud-audio-pop
It would be so much easier for them to fly one of their engineers out for a few days and pay you for using your home to test it. 
Yup! You can also go into the Sonos App, System, About My System when listening to Atmos if you have a Dolby MAT source (Apple TV, Xbox, soon PS5).
If it just says Atmos, you’re good. If it says Atmos (DD+), it’s being downgraded.
I notice with eARC set to Auto that anything non Atmos (aka LPCM) sounds very soft. I really have to raise the volume to get it to sound like DD+
I heard little tiny pops with eARC turned on as well…so I turned it off as I’d like to avoid hearing this huge popping noise which I wasn’t even aware of until I read this thread (but I’ve always had eARC off so maybe that’s why?)
With that being said, I do all my watching on an Apple TV 4K. I notice with eARC set to Auto it shows Atmos and with eARC set to Off it shows Atmos (DD+).
1. Is it true that all the Atmos content through the Apple TV 4K only plays in Atmos (DD+)? If true, I may just leave eARC off since I get Atmos (DD+) and for all non Atmos content I get DD+ (which sounds better than LPCM).
2. Is it possible to get Atmos from the Apple TV 4K? Or only when streaming from a 4KUHD player?
Thanks again for your assistance.
Moderator edit: sectioned questions already answered here:
Thanks as always @rc12 for eloquently summarizing the state of the situation. Two items of information for you:
Sonos has demonstrated that the issue will die unless we continue to press for a solution. We have seen promised “work on a solution” for three years, always devoid of specifics or a timeline. At a minimum, they could commit to changing their product advertising until a solution is found. This would at least make me feel like they are not okay with continued false advertising and truly being upfront with new customers - until this is done, it’s hard to see any response from Sonos as being in good faith.
So….class action when?
So glad to finally see this get some attention, can’t believe I’m going back 2 years to page 1 when it first happened to me and has done many times since (LG c9 & Xbox SX)
Cannot be confident it hasn’t damaged the speakers in some way, let’s see how it progresses but really should not be something that takes this long to address, come on Sonos.
for what it’s worth here are my set ups and I have never experienced this issue. Just putting it out there for more data
Living room:
sony A9g OLED
apple tv 4K 3rd gen
sonos arc, 2 subs, play:1 as rears
using eArc
game room:
LG CX OLED
Using eArc
sonos arc, 1 sub, 2 era 100 as rears
xbox series x with atmos enabled
nintendo switch
PS5 using beta firmware with atmos enabled
Hope Sonos can fix this soon for those affected
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