Skip to main content
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.

    This topic has been closed for further comments. You can use the search bar to find a similar topic, or create a new one by clicking Create Topic at the top of the page.
    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.

     

    View in thread

    1202 replies

    Show previous replies
    KrylonBlue
    Enthusiast II
    February 14, 2023

    I only disabled CEC on my Xbox, which is where I initially heard the pop. No issues as of yet and it’s been about a month. I didn’t disable CEC on my Apple TV and so far, including Last of Us, no pops. 

      ProfessorFrag
      Enthusiast II
      February 14, 2023
      1. I disabled CEC on Apple TV and Xbox but left it on on the (Sony 900H) TV so that I could control Arc volume. 
         
      2. I unplugged everything and plugged it back in after a bit. 
         
      3. I turned back on Apple TV CEC, followed by Apple TV Atmos, followed by Xbox Atmos. I left Xbox CEC off. 
         

      No pop in the last four days, including both Apple TV and Xbox usage. It sucks not having Xbox CEC (used to be that I didn’t need the TV remote at all), but it’s a price I’m willing to pay and I don’t want to risk the pop coming back after the bad times over the last two years. I’m really hoping that Sonos is paying attention and eventually giving everybody an official statement on the cause and resolution of the pop. 

        William_61
        Enthusiast II
        February 15, 2023
        1. I disabled CEC on Apple TV and Xbox but left it on on the (Sony 900H) TV so that I could control Arc volume. 
           
        2. I unplugged everything and plugged it back in after a bit. 
           
        3. I turned back on Apple TV CEC, followed by Apple TV Atmos, followed by Xbox Atmos. I left Xbox CEC off. 
           

        No pop in the last four days, including both Apple TV and Xbox usage. It sucks not having Xbox CEC (used to be that I didn’t need the TV remote at all), but it’s a price I’m willing to pay and I don’t want to risk the pop coming back after the bad times over the last two years. I’m really hoping that Sonos is paying attention and eventually giving everybody an official statement on the cause and resolution of the pop. 

        Does it matter if I unplug the TV from behind the TV vs unplugging it at the wall receptacle? It seems like I loose certain TV settings and Bravia Sync settings when unplugging from the back of the TV. I may be loosing my mind but it seems different. Thanks as always. 

        ProfessorFrag
        Enthusiast II
        February 15, 2023

        It does not. Unplugging is unplugging. That’s a purely physical layer move. 

          William_61
          Enthusiast II
          February 15, 2023
          1. I disabled CEC on Apple TV and Xbox but left it on on the (Sony 900H) TV so that I could control Arc volume. 
             
          2. I unplugged everything and plugged it back in after a bit. 
             
          3. I turned back on Apple TV CEC, followed by Apple TV Atmos, followed by Xbox Atmos. I left Xbox CEC off. 
             

          No pop in the last four days, including both Apple TV and Xbox usage. It sucks not having Xbox CEC (used to be that I didn’t need the TV remote at all), but it’s a price I’m willing to pay and I don’t want to risk the pop coming back after the bad times over the last two years. I’m really hoping that Sonos is paying attention and eventually giving everybody an official statement on the cause and resolution of the pop. 

          When you say ‘unplugged everything’ does that include the HDMI cables and if so, any particular order when plugging everything back in? HDMI then Power? Or Power then HDMI? Thanks everyone for the testing and tips! 

          ProfessorFrag
          Enthusiast II
          February 15, 2023

          I’m only suggesting to unplug power. As part of my stepwise testing I did have the Xbox HDMI unplugged at first when powering everything back on. I doubt that made a difference since everything is fine even with the Xbox fully connected (CEC off) again. 

            ProfessorFrag
            Enthusiast II
            February 20, 2023

            Over a week has passed, I’ve been using Apple TV and Xbox plenty with Atmos on, and there has been no pop. It appears that CEC-off on Xbox plus power cycling all around has solved the problem. It’s a little annoying that I now have to use the TV remote for input switching and power on/off when using Xbox, but that’s OK. More importantly my family can use Apple TV with just its remote and CEC works fine.

            I have to add that I am surprised how much better I feel when watching movies and playing games. I didn’t realize just how much stress and frustration pent up from having dropped thousands on a sound system that didn’t work for its advertised purpose and, perhaps worse, where the manufacturer spent years aware of the problem and still hasn’t publicly acknowledged it.

            Will I ever buy another Sonos product? I don’t know. But I’ve learned my lesson that it’s more like AliExpress than the reputable brands (Denon, Klipsch, Sennheiser, etc) from which I typically buy.

            If I don’t post in this thread again for a while, bon voyage, fellow forumers. I hope your problem is resolved as well. You have been troopers sharing information, replicating, troubleshooting, etc. Yes, there are a few users who tried to throw us off the solution path through persistent gaslighting that the problem didn’t exist or surely couldn’t be Sonos’. But you all hung in there and we’ve made it. You will always have my thanks.

              Iberg
              Lyricist I
              February 21, 2023

              Over a week has passed, I’ve been using Apple TV and Xbox plenty with Atmos on, and there has been no pop. It appears that CEC-off on Xbox plus power cycling all around has solved the problem. It’s a little annoying that I now have to use the TV remote for input switching and power on/off when using Xbox, but that’s OK. More importantly my family can use Apple TV with just its remote and CEC works fine.

              I have to add that I am surprised how much better I feel when watching movies and playing games. I didn’t realize just how much stress and frustration pent up from having dropped thousands on a sound system that didn’t work for its advertised purpose and, perhaps worse, where the manufacturer spent years aware of the problem and still hasn’t publicly acknowledged it.

              Will I ever buy another Sonos product? I don’t know. But I’ve learned my lesson that it’s more like AliExpress than the reputable brands (Denon, Klipsch, Sennheiser, etc) from which I typically buy.

              If I don’t post in this thread again for a while, bon voyage, fellow forumers. I hope your problem is resolved as well. You have been troopers sharing information, replicating, troubleshooting, etc. Yes, there are a few users who tried to throw us off the solution path through persistent gaslighting that the problem didn’t exist or surely couldn’t be Sonos’. But you all hung in there and we’ve made it. You will always have my thanks.

              @ProfessorFrag - Before you leave us...and for the uninitiated (like me) that don’t know how to change our CEC settings (or where they exist)...could you post some screenshots?

                ProfessorFrag
                Enthusiast II
                February 22, 2023

                The two Home Theater Control settings for Apple TV and then the one master on/off for CEC on Xbox. 
                 

                 

                  FruitcakeGSi
                  Contributor I
                  February 22, 2023

                  So I disabled the CEC on my Xbox Series X and Samsung TV. I have an older TV so using a HDFury Arcana to give me eArc and Dolby Atmos to my Sonos Arc. So far, it is looking very positive. It used to be that I could start a game, press the X button to switch to Xbox menu and I would get the bang every single time. Now no bang at all. I also played Thor 4K and confirmed Dolby Atmos feed in my Sonos app. Hitting X button, again no bang. It is obviously early days but I will repost back after more testing... Thanks so much to all of you guys for the valuable information.

                    Show more replies
                    Terms & ConditionsAccessibility statement