Sonos Arc loud pop then audio loss

Same exact issue.

Equipment:

Sony A8H

XBOX Series X

Apple TV 4K

Sonos Arc White (purchased late June 2020)

Description:

Very loud, startling pop happens intermittently. All sound stops, then after 15-30 seconds the sound resumes. Has happened with Apple TV 4K in mid-summer 2020. Currently only happens when using XBOX Series X, so I would assume the issue is not isolated to only XBOX. Also happened on a previous TV using Apple TV 4K (Sony A8F). This event seems to only happen while watching Dolby Atmos content. 
 

I’ve called twice, and had a chat session with support. The latest service rep asked me to get a video of the incident happening, and to also try to duplicate the issue on another TV. There is no way I’ll be able to record this very random occurrence to video.

I am also worried, like the rest of you, that the Arc could be damaged because the pop is so loud. This is extremely disappointing. 

Just happened again.

Hi, I have had the same issue occurred twice now. Xbox Series X and an Arc. very loud pop then no sound. Connected to LG CX TV with eARC back to the arc. Cables not loose.

Report #1731740023

Hi @Smizzo and @E.Hunter 

Welcome to the Sonos Community!

As mentioned, I recommend you get in touch with our technical support team, who have tools at their disposal that will allow them to give you advice specific to your Sonos system, after submitting the diagnostics. Especially if you think your Arc has been damaged.Thanks.

The same has been happening to me about 8 to 12 times over the last couple of months. The first two times it happened I thought one of my devices had exploded in my living room.

I would add some more aspects to this:

• I’m not using an Xbox, it happens for me while using my Windows 10 Gaming PC which is configured for Dolby Atmos (showing as Multichannel PCM 7.1 on Sonos). It happens both in-game (5.1 or 7.1) and when using YouTube (Stereo).
• I think it has happened once with my Apple TV 4K (not 100% sure though).
• Most of the time the loud noise came from the Sonos Arc, but once it came from my right surround which is a Sonos One. Felt like someone fired a gun next to my head. :-(
• When I do nothing it recovers after a few minutes but usually happens again shortly after.  

It happened twice on Monday, I took diagnostics 538921711 and 889378457 immediatly after that. Power cycled the Arc after the second time and it didn’t happen again after that.

I will also open a support case, just wanted to add this to the discussion.

Hi @fok_1 

Thanks for adding that information. Given the multiple sources involved, and that your Arc is reporting briefly receiving data it didn’t understand how to decode as an Atmos stream, I would look to the TV as the culprit here.

What seems to be happening is that the TV is momentarily sending data in a different format (or failing to properly maintain the format feed). The Arc will play this for a fraction of a second before realising there’s something wrong with the stream and stop. It’s this fraction of a second of data that doesn’t describe a “real” sound that’s creating the pop noise. If the Arc didn’t stop playing, it would presumably sound something like a data CD playing in an Audio CD player. With no meaningful control over the volume level of this sound, it’s all at the maximum actual level that the current volume level can achieve.

Unfortunately, the only way of confirming this is either by swapping the TV (ideally for another brand) to test, or using a device such as the HD Fury Arcana to act as the coordinator of these feeds and turn the TV into a glorified monitor.

If you haven’t rebooted your TV by unplugging it from power for 30 seconds, I recommend you try this first. It can help with a lot of Home Theatre audio issues.

Hi @Corry P,

Thank you for the quick reply.

I’m actually using an HDFury Arcana, no sound passes through my TV. The two HDMI sources are connected to an HDFury Vertex2 that passes the sound to the Arcana via “HDMI Audio Out” and the Video directly to the TV.

I just had a chat with Sonos first level support, unfortunately they denied support because of the Arcana. The agent claimed that only eARC connections would be supported. When I explained that the Arcana is eARC he changed this to “only connecting to a TV is supported as these adapters produce error signals”. :-(

Can you confirm that using a HDFury Arcana is not supported? Your comment above suggests otherwise.

I referenced this thread which shows that several customers have that problem and asked my case to be escalated to second level which was also denied. Mentioning that the sound is so loud that I fear it could damage both my ear drums and the Arcana were just ignored. :-( 

The ticket number is 0xxxxxxx. Could you help to escalate this to someone who can help troubleshoot on a technical level?

I’m a networking engineer myself and have the expertise and understanding to work with technical support on this.

[Mod edit: removed case number]

Hi @fok_1 

Have you checked if the Arcana has any updates available? I highly recommend this.

I can confirm that we don’t support the use of any HDMI switches. This isn’t to say they won’t work, just that if you’re using one then we can’t guarantee performance, and therefore don’t troubleshoot systems using them. HD Fury, however, will support your Arcana. From what I hear, HD Fury have good technical support - I recommend getting in touch with them regarding this issue.

I don’t mean to be pedantic, but I didn’t recommend that you use an Arcana - just that it would serve as a troubleshooting tool should a second TV not be an option for testing (and it could then be returned for a refund). Unfortunately, the fact that you have one in use already means that you likely cannot test Atmos without using it due to your TV not supporting Atmos.

I’m afraid I cannot escalate a case to the next tier when it’s regarding a setup that we do not support.

Thanks @Corry P 

Sorry, it wasn’t my intention to imply that you were recommending it. I’m aware that Sonos can’t guarantee to work with any HDMI device or TV as you don’t have control over third party devices and their implementation flaws.

I just find it odd that troubleshooting for TVs is done but for Arcana it’s denied as I’m pretty sure that HDFury devices are much better engineered, standards compliant and updated then many or most TVs. But okay...

You are right, I can only test Atmos with Arcana. I know that HDFury support is great and I’m always running the latest firmware version (v0.80 when it happened, and v0.82 since yesterday which fixes a different issue that occured with the update to Sonos 13.1). I will also check with them on the issue.

This sounds possible to me, however I believe that both the source stream and the Arc could be at fault here about the integrity of the stream, given how many people have the same issue?

Regardless of which device’s fault it is there is one thing I think Sonos should do something about: The popping sound is so loud that I fear it could damage my hearing or the Arc speaker itself. It’s actually like a shot fired right next to you or a little explosion in you living room.

However I have configured my Arc to a 50 % volume limit and usually only use 25 % of the Sonos volume bar, so I’m roughly at 12.5 % volume of what the Arc could do (in addition to this my PC is set to about 50 - 70 % volume itself which would further lowe that to 6 to 9 %, but let’s drop that assuming it produces a broken stream with higher volume...).

I find it hard to believe that this is the max. volume of the 12.5 % the Arc is set to. I think if those peaks are possible through a presumably broken stream at least the Arc should limit the volume of such a pop to something more healthy.

That might be challenging to do. How does Sonos realize the sound is coming from a device (TV or Arcana) changing formats, rather than a rifle shot in a quiet movie scene? Not sure there is enough information coming to the Sonos to determine whether the ‘sound’ is a valid, or invalid one. I’d likely want the machine sending the errant signal to not do so, rather than expecting the Sonos to be able to recognize and filter it.