Sonos Arc loud pop then audio loss

Which is why I’m stated a method to recreate the error. Which is what Sonos needs in order to address this issue.

None of my posts are intended to obfuscate the issues. They are intended to help Sonos understand how to recreate the error. 
 

Which is what QA Testers require in order to report a problem or error with software and hardware.

Specificity is necessary to avoid confusion.

I have a Sony 900H and replicated some of this testing today. For those unfamiliar with the TV, it has 4 possible settings for HDMI ports 3 and 4: Standard (HDMI 2.0), Enhanced (HDMI 2.1, No DV, No VRR), Enhanced (with DV, no VRR), Enhanced (with VRR, no DV). HDMI 3 is the eARC port, so where the Sonos Arc is plugged into.

I think this is partly where the confusion lays, and one of the issues with the language are on that screen. All ports support DV, but I don't get why 3 and 4 have a separate setting for it. My Apple TV is on HDMI 2, and between Dec 2020-Oct 2021, served both DV and DA without fail. There's been no hardware changes, either inclusions, removals, or reconfigures since Dec 2020. Only software changes. 

Just to confirm my own thoughts — this was the screenshot before the VRR update on the X900H around Oct 2021, and I think is why the language is used.  You have the option for either DV, or HDMI 2.1 features such as 120fps.

I guess the newer options on the 3 and 4 equate to being limited to the following feature sets depending on what you select.

• “Enhanced” i.e. high speed formats e.g 4K60 4:4:4/RGB or 120 4:2:2
• Dolby Vision
• VRR

Also worth noting that these seem to do little for Arc itself.  I believe mine is set to “Standard” as it outputs nothing more than 1080, but eARC works just fine (with it’s handshaking being controlled by the eARC option in Audio Output settings).

The reason why HDMI 3 and 4 have separate settings is because Only 3 and 4 support HDMI 2.1. 
 

The posts on here should be clear, detailed and simple to understand for Sonos Technicians only as they are the only ones that can address this issue. 
 

We are all customers waiting and waiting and waiting for a solution or some kind of acknowledgment, and update as to whether or not this issue is being addressed.

As I’ve said previously, none of my posts state how Xbox is the ONLY way to recreate the error. They state a proven method to recreate the error.

There should be no confusion in this. And I’m including all the “rebuttals” in this post to avoid compounding this thread with unnecessary posts that aren’t relevant to adding information required for Sonos to establish a solution. 
 

There are no moderators for this thread. Hence all these confused posts that would otherwise be omitted or culled.

We are all trying to understand and share our endeavours to help Sonos understand and recreate the error.

Thank you to everyone who has put all the effort to attempting to inform and support the Customers of Sonos. Something that it is becoming clear that Sonos does not have the staff or resources to address their customer base.

As I’ve said previously, considering this error is 2 years old. This must be a hardware design issue. Otherwise a software update would have been implemented. Once error occurs it is permanent. And replacing the unit does not solve the issue.

Once there is either a new unit or a Ver 2 which I highly doubt due to this issue. Can we, the customer spend another chunk of cash for something that may or may not function as advertised.

Suffice it to say this will be the last time I purchase Sonos. Switching systems is something all audiophiles do in time. It’s just a shame that in this day in age, you don’t get what you pay for.

Clarification, Sonos reps are not technicians. Neither am I. My theory (which is all it is) is based off of my experience as a Quality Assurance Tester for a hardware and software company.

I am alluding to the fact that there has been zero update, fix, acknowledgment or announcement of this known issue that is 2 years old. And no software update to address this issue.

And when I’ve stated multiple times over how I and many others are able to play Dolby Atmos on the Sonos Arc as long as Dolby Vision is disabled from all sources. After the popping error has occurred. 

Meaning, there is nothing wrong with the actual speakers. I have previously stated that it MIGHT be a component that is “fried” and is no longer able to process the signal.

My posts are long to specify exactly what I mentioned to avoid confusion or misinterpretation. 

Anything we say as customers are speculation. The purpose of this thread is to help us the customer understand the issue and whether or not this issue has been or will be addressed by Sonos. 

We all know the answer to this.

I tend to agree with this view. They were aware of it when I reported the issue a week ago. It is a bit of a concern that they have an Atmos product out there that cannot reliably play this format. It seems there are a number of different configurations/sources that I think eliminate anything upstream of the ARC. 

I hadn't experienced this before as my previous TV only had ARC and not EARC so could not pass lossless atmos. It surprised me how long this issue has been going and I wonder how many others have not experienced it due to their TV not being able to pass through a full Atmos signal.

Sonos Staff have mentioned they are aware of this issue in the community here and stated they were investigating, but that the matter was also an issue with other manufacturers products too and that’s certainly reported online, as links were provided to other soundbars having the issue. So it appears that it’s an issue where the ball is not in Sonos’ court - but I agree it needs an urgent fix, (if possible) by whoever is responsible - the last I saw, was to switch off using Atmos transcoded to multichannel LPCM (uncompressed) and use DD+ (Atmos) or DD TrueHD (Atmos) codecs instead. So perhaps try that.

These were some of the links where other manufacturers had the popping issue…(I haven’t tested if they’re still valid)…

• https://www.reddit.com/r/Soundbars/comments/eth60q/lg_sl10yg_making_loud_popping_noise/
• https://www.reddit.com/r/Soundbars/comments/jcyf5l/cracklingpopping_sound_on_jbl_91_soundbar/
• https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/xbox/forum/all/xbox-one-made-a-loud-pop-noise-and-shut-down/40a59613-caec-4655-a3f0-ea71588cdcb8
• https://www.avforums.com/threads/strange-audio-popping-clicks-with-my-surround-sound-only-with-xbox.1548227/

This is the link where I saw the Sonos Staff comment about the issue too…

I cannot find anything recent that relates to this particular issue with other soundbars. The latest one (2 years ago) relates to a JBL soundbar. I cannot see any mention anywhere of other premium soundbars having this kind of issue. 

A lot of those reports talk about popping/crackling noise whereas the Sonos is a loud bang - probably the term popping is not the right description in this case.

Well it was from an old thread - I did find these in a quick search;

https://www.cinemaequip.com/why-is-my-samsung-soundbar-making-crackling-noise/

https://www.theaudiocritic.com/why-does-my-soundbar-make-popping-noises-n25

If I find others, when I have more time, I will post them. 

It’s not an issue I’ve personally encountered with my Arc or Beam, but then again I don’t use MC LPCM as I don’t have an Xbox or Apple TV 4K etc. (however I do use Dolby Vision FWIW🤔?)

This is one involving LG soundbar making ‘horrendous’ popping noise… 

https://forums.audioholics.com/forums/threads/horrendously-loud-and-random-popping-noise-from-lg-sl8yg-soundbar-paired-with-lg-c9-oled-after-lastest-04-71-05-software-update.116791/

It seems to me to have been going on for a while - so I (still) wonder if it’s a codec problem?