Sonos Arc loud pop then audio loss

Makes one wonder if it’s an issue with the signal coming in from the CEC, and not a Sonos problem per se, especially given the reports that it happens on other company’s sound bars as reported up thread. Perhaps something the CEC alliance needs to answer with regards to MAT? That could be why Sonos hasn’t been able to come up with a firm answer….

Hi @Magnesiumion 

That is not completely surprising, but I do not know if it is useful information or not. I shall certainly inform someone though, as it may give more indication as to which stage of the audio reproduction process the issue occurs - thank you.

This is easy to check.  Connect your xbox, then set the signal input toggle on the button on the pad.  While in the console menu, press this button on the pad several times (the console sends a signal to change the signal input even though the correct input is already selected) and you will immediately hear a loud bang from the sonos speaker

Hi @pawel20k-ce 

Thank you! This may even help us reproduce the issue by ourselves! I’ve passed it on.

Has anyone experienced with this issue with Fire TV Cube (specifically the latest version, though I’m curious if anyone with any generation cube has experienced this)? I ask because I’m considering swapping my Apple TV 4K for a Fire TV Cube and would like to enable Dolby Atmos on the device without have to worry about the sudden pop/fault amp errors! As I’ve mentioned in a previous post, I’ve had to disable Dolby Atmos on my Xbox Series and Apple TV 4K currently to ensure no popping. Dolby Atmos content coming from the LG C2 directly (i.e. apps running on webOS) have experienced ZERO popping sounds.

Just bought a Beam Gen 2 that arrived Thursday. I don’t have an X-Box, but I am connected to an Apple TV 4K. I turned on Atmos tonight. Just a few minutes into a show, there was a  pop that scared the crap out of us. It was so loud we expected sparks and fire and smoke. That brought me to this thread.

After reading almost all of this 2 year old thread, I’m shocked that Sonos is sending these out to unsuspecting customers with no warning or recommendations. If I had any faith that Sonos was really doing something, I’d keep it and wait for a fix. But it’s pretty clear after reading this thread that they’re just jerking us around. The sticking point for me is that I don’t believe for a second that they are unable to reproduce this.

Mr. Spence, I’d suggest you read this entire thread and get into the conversation with an honest report of exactly where you are on this issue. Because this is a class action waiting to happen.

Can reproduce this at will flicking between an atmos title on xbox series x and home - vid here: https://1drv.ms/v/s!At6Mgf3ymchZhJBUhmqLsqwM54sik. Fifth time to support today, they said to switch to Dolby 5.1!

“I have checked this and we are aware of this behavior and are investigating it, but we do not have any additional information to share at this time.

Workaround: Disable Dolby Atmos and use Dolby Digital 5.1 instead.”

Beyond a joke, this is a company knowingly selling a product that has issues performing what it’s advertised to do to consumers without warning them. After the whole S1 to S2 forced obsolescence debacle, I should have learnt my lesson.

Avoid.

So long as the Fire TV doesn't use the MAT container, you’ll be fine.  Test would be to briefly enable Atmos on the Fire TV, initiate playback of Atmos content and see if the Line In for the Arc shows as just “Dolby Atmos” (not “Dolby Atmos (DD+)” or “Dolby Atmos (TrueHD)”) under Settings > About My System

If it’s just “Dolby Atmos”, quit out and disable Atmos on the Fire TV, as it’s Dolby MAT.

Hello. I am experiencing this issue. I previously had the Beam (Gen2) which worked perfectly. Since upgrading to the Arc, when using the XBOX Series X there is a regular loud popping / cracking noise and the LED flashes Amber, followed by loss of sound. If I change the source back to Sky, then back to XBOX the sound returns for a short while then rinse and repeat. I thought it maybe heat related as the XBOX is directly underneath the Arc and emits quite a bit of heat. So moved it, and the problem still persists. Next step, is a new 4K HDMI cable… Just to add, no sound issues exist with Sky Q or any TV apps like Prime or Netflix. Just the XBOX connection. 

I might as well add my experience here too.

Been using Sonos products for > 10 years.

I have an Arc, with two Play:1s and a sub hooked up to an LG TV via eARC and use the latest 4K AppleTV for all streaming.

This set up has worked flawlessly for ages. Suddenly about 2 weeks ago I started getting intermittent very loud and increasingly frequent electrical sounding bangs and then loss of audio that was only restored with a reboot.

I disabled Atmos on the AppleTV so it only outputs Dolby 5.1 and the bangs have stopped.

Whilst this is a workaround it’s absolutely unacceptable. Why should I settle for suboptimal Dolby 5.1? I paid extra for an Arc (and upgraded my TV to get eARC also) so I could experience the best quality sound.

This is a massive issue and Sonos need to figure this out as a matter of urgency.