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samro1094
Contributor I
December 8, 2020

Sonos Arc loud pop then audio loss

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.

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    Pinned Reply By Corry P

    Hi Everyone!

    Good news! We are pleased to share that our team has identified a fix for the popping sound on Arc and it will be shipped to all customers as part of a software release today, Thursday Nov 16 at 09:30 ET, 14:30 GMT, 15:30 CET. Please note that some app stores may take an extra hour or two for it to become available.

    During our investigation we uncovered a rare bug that impacts how Sonos Arc and Beam (Gen 2) in certain home theater configurations process Dolby MAT, a streaming technology which is used to deliver Dolby Atmos audio over HDMI. Occasionally a Sonos product will receive a corrupted audio segment from an external source and needs to filter out unwanted audio data. The bug we identified was allowing our Dolby decoder to play audible errors on certain home theater setups rather than concealing them. The solution we’ve built and tested improves our Dolby decoder so it better filters out corrupt audio data that can manifest as a popping sound. We’ll continue to monitor customer feedback closely after the fix has been released and ship additional updates if necessary.

    We strive to deliver the best listening experience possible and work to address major issues that impact our customers. We apologize for the disruption this bug has caused and want to thank you for your patience while our team developed a fix.

    We would also like to thank our community users for their detailed setup information and steps to reproduce the issue, which were helpful to us in uncovering the cause of the bug.

     

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    Bw6969
    Contributor I
    January 28, 2023

    Same popping problem here on Apple TV. Diagnostic code 675505340

      biobug
      Lyricist I
      January 28, 2023

      I’m having the same issue as OP but on my Gen 2 Beam (with One and One SL as surrounds) connected via eARC through a Samsung QN65Q80A to an Apple TV 4K 2nd Gen.

      Every 30 minutes of play or so there is a loud “pop” followed by a beam restart. Only happens with Dolby ATMOS audio.

        Rios
        Enthusiast II
        January 30, 2023

        Hi @ilh23mx 

        As far as I know, there has been progress but I’ve nothing new to share right now. But I can say that we have yet to see evidence that these pops have caused any harm to the hardware. If you do think that a pop has caused harm to your product, please contact support directly to have it looked at. 

        One thing to note if you suspect damage - if a speaker has been damaged, you should consistently see failures when attempting to Trueplay the device. Background noise, for example, is still a factor but if damaged, it would fail under perfect conditions.

        I hope this helps.

        Hi @Corry P,

        I am someone who has spent about $10k on Sonos since August 2022 and sold my entire Bose system equivalent. I am starting to think I made the wrong choice…at least on the home theater side. For over 2 years Sonos has ignored this thread just until recently. Don’t you think this is unacceptable? And sharing vague comments about progress also feels like it’s not good progress…can you say if it is either good progress or bad progress? What will Sonos do if they can’t fix the issue with software? I think a 25-26 page thread on your support community is grounds for a class action lawsuit that Sonos probably doesn’t want and neither do we. But we are the suckers here waiting. I feel really really bad for the Sonos owners who have suffered this insanity for the full duration of the issue. Please give us something more…like potential timelines or what Sonos will do if they can’t fix it. We all know you can reproduce this issue at will now. 

        You did make the wrong choice as did I.

        Rios
        Enthusiast II
        January 30, 2023

        Looking at the thread on the Sonos subreddit, I'm surprised to see so many users who had the bang once or twice and it went away; or who have configurations identical to ours but no problems.

        Could this be just specific Arcs malfunctioning? Has anybody had their unit exchanged and the problem came back?

        If this were as straightforward as "we need new units", that would blow my mind.

        I had a replacement sent to me from Sonos and still the same issue. I’m keeping mine because a) it’s specific to Dolby MAT vs DD+ and b) compared to a HT-A7000 (which I tried as a possible replacement), the Sonos killed it. While disabling Atmos on my Xbox and Apple TV sucks, the bar is fantastic and has a fairly good app experience. When it works, it works.

         

        As I’ve said before this is a Sonos hardware bug that can be recreated with the same parameters 100% of the time. 
        Each time I read how we have to turn off the feature that we specifically paid for is infuriating. And the constant naysayers who are likely Sonos affiliated people is underhanded and shows what we the consumer, what kind of company we invested in.

        This is a 2 year going to be 3 year issue. There is Zero excuse and Sonos is Fully aware of this issue. They have contracts with their manufacturers. This is just business. I’ve worked for large corporations in the past that release faulty hardware and software due to contracts with manufacturers and retailers.

        It is far more profitable to have the likelihood of poor individuals who made the choice to plug in an Xbox Series X that DOES cause permanent damage to the Sonos Arc, rendering it completely incapable of playing Dolby Atmos and Dolby Vision content concurrently from any source. 
         

        An issue that did not appear for years prior to plugging in a Sonos Arc.

        This is my 3rd Arc. I unfortunately recommended the Sonos Arc to my father who currently has zero issues because I was able to warn him not to plug in an Xbox Series X that my younger half brother has.

        Something we all could have benefited from bad we been given notice. Enough with the Sonos isn’t the issue nonsense.

        2 of my Arcs now have this issue. Because I like so many of you thought, this might be a singular issue. As there were two releases of the Arc, one with the more expensive packaging and then the “streamlined” “uniform” box aka cheaper packaged one.

        This is NOT specific to certain Sonos Arcs. This IS an issue that occurs to ALL Sonos Arcs. Considering the far fewer sales of the Xbox Series X, this is why there hasn’t been more reports than the many that already exist for over two years now.

        One final note, this issue has never happened with my PS5 playing on the Sonos Arc. Which I had over a year before I got an Xbox Series X.

         

        Rios
        Enthusiast II
        January 30, 2023

        Presumably Sonos already knows if this is an all Arcs or some Arcs bug. But if they don’t, a more conservative start would be to send a new loaner to one, or maybe a few, users and see if it misbehaves.  

        It is not a presumption. They are aware. Every post on this thread, (which is now over two years old) that features someone like yourself who has contacted the Sonos support team, and the now standard answer of “turn off Dolby Atmos” the very feature you paid over $1000 for, turn it off and that will solve the problem.

        All tech companies be they hardware or software are aware of issues. Especially after it’s been over two years.

        There is no doubt on this. 

        jamie_shaw
        jamie_shaw
        Enthusiast I
        January 30, 2023

        Looking at the thread on the Sonos subreddit, I'm surprised to see so many users who had the bang once or twice and it went away; or who have configurations identical to ours but no problems.

        Could this be just specific Arcs malfunctioning? Has anybody had their unit exchanged and the problem came back?

        If this were as straightforward as "we need new units", that would blow my mind.

        I had a replacement sent to me from Sonos and still the same issue. I’m keeping mine because a) it’s specific to Dolby MAT vs DD+ and b) compared to a HT-A7000 (which I tried as a possible replacement), the Sonos killed it. While disabling Atmos on my Xbox and Apple TV sucks, the bar is fantastic and has a fairly good app experience. When it works, it works.

         

        As I’ve said before this is a Sonos hardware bug that can be recreated with the same parameters 100% of the time. 
        Each time I read how we have to turn off the feature that we specifically paid for is infuriating. And the constant naysayers who are likely Sonos affiliated people is underhanded and shows what we the consumer, what kind of company we invested in.

        This is a 2 year going to be 3 year issue. There is Zero excuse and Sonos is Fully aware of this issue. They have contracts with their manufacturers. This is just business. I’ve worked for large corporations in the past that release faulty hardware and software due to contracts with manufacturers and retailers.

        It is far more profitable to have the likelihood of poor individuals who made the choice to plug in an Xbox Series X that DOES cause permanent damage to the Sonos Arc, rendering it completely incapable of playing Dolby Atmos and Dolby Vision content concurrently from any source. 
         

        An issue that did not appear for years prior to plugging in a Sonos Arc.

        This is my 3rd Arc. I unfortunately recommended the Sonos Arc to my father who currently has zero issues because I was able to warn him not to plug in an Xbox Series X that my younger half brother has.

        Something we all could have benefited from bad we been given notice. Enough with the Sonos isn’t the issue nonsense.

        2 of my Arcs now have this issue. Because I like so many of you thought, this might be a singular issue. As there were two releases of the Arc, one with the more expensive packaging and then the “streamlined” “uniform” box aka cheaper packaged one.

        This is NOT specific to certain Sonos Arcs. This IS an issue that occurs to ALL Sonos Arcs. Considering the far fewer sales of the Xbox Series X, this is why there hasn’t been more reports than the many that already exist for over two years now.

        One final note, this issue has never happened with my PS5 playing on the Sonos Arc. Which I had over a year before I got an Xbox Series X.

         

        I still argue against your theory regarding XSX but something did change.

        As I’ve said before, like you, I had period where the Arc worked fine with Atmos.  Since I purchased in Dec 2020, up until around September 2021, I had no issues.  Again, during this time, the Bravia X90H line, and Apple TV, and the Sonos Arc all had major OS updates.  One of which most certainly introduced the issue.  No change in my hardware configuration, no connected devices or cables changed or swapped.  Just one day… BANG.

        I’d be interested to know if you purchased an XSX around September/October 2021.

        KrylonBlue
        Enthusiast II
        January 30, 2023

        Looking at the thread on the Sonos subreddit, I'm surprised to see so many users who had the bang once or twice and it went away; or who have configurations identical to ours but no problems.

        Could this be just specific Arcs malfunctioning? Has anybody had their unit exchanged and the problem came back?

        If this were as straightforward as "we need new units", that would blow my mind.

        I had a replacement sent to me from Sonos and still the same issue. I’m keeping mine because a) it’s specific to Dolby MAT vs DD+ and b) compared to a HT-A7000 (which I tried as a possible replacement), the Sonos killed it. While disabling Atmos on my Xbox and Apple TV sucks, the bar is fantastic and has a fairly good app experience. When it works, it works.

         

        As I’ve said before this is a Sonos hardware bug that can be recreated with the same parameters 100% of the time. 
        Each time I read how we have to turn off the feature that we specifically paid for is infuriating. And the constant naysayers who are likely Sonos affiliated people is underhanded and shows what we the consumer, what kind of company we invested in.

        This is a 2 year going to be 3 year issue. There is Zero excuse and Sonos is Fully aware of this issue. They have contracts with their manufacturers. This is just business. I’ve worked for large corporations in the past that release faulty hardware and software due to contracts with manufacturers and retailers.

        It is far more profitable to have the likelihood of poor individuals who made the choice to plug in an Xbox Series X that DOES cause permanent damage to the Sonos Arc, rendering it completely incapable of playing Dolby Atmos and Dolby Vision content concurrently from any source. 
         

        An issue that did not appear for years prior to plugging in a Sonos Arc.

        This is my 3rd Arc. I unfortunately recommended the Sonos Arc to my father who currently has zero issues because I was able to warn him not to plug in an Xbox Series X that my younger half brother has.

        Something we all could have benefited from bad we been given notice. Enough with the Sonos isn’t the issue nonsense.

        2 of my Arcs now have this issue. Because I like so many of you thought, this might be a singular issue. As there were two releases of the Arc, one with the more expensive packaging and then the “streamlined” “uniform” box aka cheaper packaged one.

        This is NOT specific to certain Sonos Arcs. This IS an issue that occurs to ALL Sonos Arcs. Considering the far fewer sales of the Xbox Series X, this is why there hasn’t been more reports than the many that already exist for over two years now.

        One final note, this issue has never happened with my PS5 playing on the Sonos Arc. Which I had over a year before I got an Xbox Series X.

         

        I still argue against your theory regarding XSX but something did change.

        As I’ve said before, like you, I had period where the Arc worked fine with Atmos.  Since I purchased in Dec 2020, up until around September 2021, I had no issues.  Again, during this time, the Bravia X90H line, and Apple TV, and the Sonos Arc all had major OS updates.  One of which most certainly introduced the issue.  No change in my hardware configuration, no connected devices or cables changed or swapped.  Just one day… BANG.

        I’d be interested to know if you purchased an XSX around September/October 2021.


        I have used my Series X with my Arc for 8 months before I heard my first and so far only pop. I don’t know what changed in those 8 months but I don’t necessarily blame Xbox 

          Rios
          Enthusiast II
          January 30, 2023

          Looking at the thread on the Sonos subreddit, I'm surprised to see so many users who had the bang once or twice and it went away; or who have configurations identical to ours but no problems.

          Could this be just specific Arcs malfunctioning? Has anybody had their unit exchanged and the problem came back?

          If this were as straightforward as "we need new units", that would blow my mind.

          I had a replacement sent to me from Sonos and still the same issue. I’m keeping mine because a) it’s specific to Dolby MAT vs DD+ and b) compared to a HT-A7000 (which I tried as a possible replacement), the Sonos killed it. While disabling Atmos on my Xbox and Apple TV sucks, the bar is fantastic and has a fairly good app experience. When it works, it works.

           

          As I’ve said before this is a Sonos hardware bug that can be recreated with the same parameters 100% of the time. 
          Each time I read how we have to turn off the feature that we specifically paid for is infuriating. And the constant naysayers who are likely Sonos affiliated people is underhanded and shows what we the consumer, what kind of company we invested in.

          This is a 2 year going to be 3 year issue. There is Zero excuse and Sonos is Fully aware of this issue. They have contracts with their manufacturers. This is just business. I’ve worked for large corporations in the past that release faulty hardware and software due to contracts with manufacturers and retailers.

          It is far more profitable to have the likelihood of poor individuals who made the choice to plug in an Xbox Series X that DOES cause permanent damage to the Sonos Arc, rendering it completely incapable of playing Dolby Atmos and Dolby Vision content concurrently from any source. 
           

          An issue that did not appear for years prior to plugging in a Sonos Arc.

          This is my 3rd Arc. I unfortunately recommended the Sonos Arc to my father who currently has zero issues because I was able to warn him not to plug in an Xbox Series X that my younger half brother has.

          Something we all could have benefited from bad we been given notice. Enough with the Sonos isn’t the issue nonsense.

          2 of my Arcs now have this issue. Because I like so many of you thought, this might be a singular issue. As there were two releases of the Arc, one with the more expensive packaging and then the “streamlined” “uniform” box aka cheaper packaged one.

          This is NOT specific to certain Sonos Arcs. This IS an issue that occurs to ALL Sonos Arcs. Considering the far fewer sales of the Xbox Series X, this is why there hasn’t been more reports than the many that already exist for over two years now.

          One final note, this issue has never happened with my PS5 playing on the Sonos Arc. Which I had over a year before I got an Xbox Series X.

           

          I still argue against your theory regarding XSX but something did change.

          As I’ve said before, like you, I had period where the Arc worked fine with Atmos.  Since I purchased in Dec 2020, up until around September 2021, I had no issues.  Again, during this time, the Bravia X90H line, and Apple TV, and the Sonos Arc all had major OS updates.  One of which most certainly introduced the issue.  No change in my hardware configuration, no connected devices or cables changed or swapped.  Just one day… BANG.

          I’d be interested to know if you purchased an XSX around September/October 2021.

          I’ve said this 3 times before now. This is the last time. Please read the thread. When I mention the Xbox Series X it is a 100% reproducible way to recreate the bug/issue 100% of the time. 
           

          There is NO argument. I have clearly stated. For those that are having issues that are NOT related to Xbox Series, I am NOT saying that the issue is ONLY if you plug in an Xbox Series X. I’m saying that if you have your specific issue that is caused by some other method. Ok I believe you. Again this is a SONOS issue.

          I have never said that all other causes are invalid. For any future posts that only clog up this thread with statements or answers that have already been addressed I simply won’t answer them. And no I purchased my Xbox Series X in October of 2022. Something I regret to this day.

          Rios
          Enthusiast II
          January 31, 2023

          Looking at the thread on the Sonos subreddit, I'm surprised to see so many users who had the bang once or twice and it went away; or who have configurations identical to ours but no problems.

          Could this be just specific Arcs malfunctioning? Has anybody had their unit exchanged and the problem came back?

          If this were as straightforward as "we need new units", that would blow my mind.

          I had a replacement sent to me from Sonos and still the same issue. I’m keeping mine because a) it’s specific to Dolby MAT vs DD+ and b) compared to a HT-A7000 (which I tried as a possible replacement), the Sonos killed it. While disabling Atmos on my Xbox and Apple TV sucks, the bar is fantastic and has a fairly good app experience. When it works, it works.

           

          As I’ve said before this is a Sonos hardware bug that can be recreated with the same parameters 100% of the time. 
          Each time I read how we have to turn off the feature that we specifically paid for is infuriating. And the constant naysayers who are likely Sonos affiliated people is underhanded and shows what we the consumer, what kind of company we invested in.

          This is a 2 year going to be 3 year issue. There is Zero excuse and Sonos is Fully aware of this issue. They have contracts with their manufacturers. This is just business. I’ve worked for large corporations in the past that release faulty hardware and software due to contracts with manufacturers and retailers.

          It is far more profitable to have the likelihood of poor individuals who made the choice to plug in an Xbox Series X that DOES cause permanent damage to the Sonos Arc, rendering it completely incapable of playing Dolby Atmos and Dolby Vision content concurrently from any source. 
           

          An issue that did not appear for years prior to plugging in a Sonos Arc.

          This is my 3rd Arc. I unfortunately recommended the Sonos Arc to my father who currently has zero issues because I was able to warn him not to plug in an Xbox Series X that my younger half brother has.

          Something we all could have benefited from bad we been given notice. Enough with the Sonos isn’t the issue nonsense.

          2 of my Arcs now have this issue. Because I like so many of you thought, this might be a singular issue. As there were two releases of the Arc, one with the more expensive packaging and then the “streamlined” “uniform” box aka cheaper packaged one.

          This is NOT specific to certain Sonos Arcs. This IS an issue that occurs to ALL Sonos Arcs. Considering the far fewer sales of the Xbox Series X, this is why there hasn’t been more reports than the many that already exist for over two years now.

          One final note, this issue has never happened with my PS5 playing on the Sonos Arc. Which I had over a year before I got an Xbox Series X.

           

          I still argue against your theory regarding XSX but something did change.

          As I’ve said before, like you, I had period where the Arc worked fine with Atmos.  Since I purchased in Dec 2020, up until around September 2021, I had no issues.  Again, during this time, the Bravia X90H line, and Apple TV, and the Sonos Arc all had major OS updates.  One of which most certainly introduced the issue.  No change in my hardware configuration, no connected devices or cables changed or swapped.  Just one day… BANG.

          I’d be interested to know if you purchased an XSX around September/October 2021.


          I have used my Series X with my Arc for 8 months before I heard my first and so far only pop. I don’t know what changed in those 8 months but I don’t necessarily blame Xbox 

          I’m not blaming Microsoft, there is no issue of blame. It is about causalities and factors that can reproduce a bug. So that Sonos can try to find a fix or workaround. 
           

          As I’ve said before at this point, Sonos will most likely come out with the Arc 2, which may not have this issue going forward. Playing ur Xbox Series X, there a specific factors that come into play. What game settings did you have, what game features did the game have. Specifically Dolby Vision and Atmos features playing concurrently. Not all games especially in the last 8 months have these “next gen” features. 
           

          PS5 didn’t have VRR for over a year when it was released  back in 2020. The point is, of course it’s not Microsoft’s fault for having a console that when playing specific software parameters causes a faulty product like the Sonos Arc to have issues.

          The responsibility lies with Sonos to test their products when issues appear to maintain a standard and quality that their company advertises.

          My next sound system will not be Sonos. And it will take a lot before I consider or ever recommend their products again, after everything I’ve read, on multiple message boards and threads like this one. And the experience I’ve had with their products.

          Like many of you, I fell for the advertising and hype that Sonos successfully executed with their brilliant campaign for the Sonos Arc.

          I was far too trusting and not as discerning as I was in my youth. Going forward, I will now wait at least a year and a half before investing in a system’s release.

          The Sony HT A9 is my current possible replacement choice if not for lacking a dedicated center channel speaker.

           

           

            Kevmart
            Lyricist I
            February 1, 2023

            PS5, have the same issue.  Have Arc, 2 Subs, 2 Fives, 2 Ones, 2 OneSL and a move, all within the 45 day window, probably get my 4k+ back, this is so bad and makes using the system not enjoyable.  

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