Contributor I

Sonos Arc loud pop then audio loss

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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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ProfessorFrag

Enthusiast II

Quick question

Is everyone using the HDMI Cable that came with their Sonos? I highly doubt this would cause the issue but just thinking outside the box.

While I currently use the included cable, I did try using a fiber optic HDMI cable since that involves an in-cable conversion of the signal.

Pop symptoms were unchanged, which in my opinion very much points to the problem being in the Arc.

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Abo116

Lyricist III

It's just frustrating that nothing is happening here. @Corry P: How long should we customers wait to get an opinion? We all paid a lot of money for our setup.

Corry P

Sonos Staff

Hi @Abo116

We are still looking into this situation, but I don't have an update to share with you at this time.

"Common sense is the collection of prejudices acquired by age eighteen." - Albert Einstein

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Abo116

Lyricist III

@Corry P

But honestly, how long should we wait now? The problem has existed for several years now and what does sonos expect? We were never really able to use Dolby Atmos and most of them bought the device for exactly that reason.

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ProfessorFrag

Enthusiast II

@Corry P

I understand this may never be fixed for me and all the other users in this thread.

I think the time has come for Sonos to acknowledge this problem via press release or product disclaimer. Customers deserve to know before they buy.

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KrylonBlue

Enthusiast II

Hi @Abo116

We are still looking into this situation, but I don't have an update to share with you at this time.

Thank you for the update or whatever we should call it.

I would appreciate it if you could ask them what’s going on so we have an understanding as to why a fix for the issue is taking so long. I understand technical issues aren’t always easy to narrow down but it should be easier here as others have given examples of how to replicate the issue on demand. It’s been a few years since the first reports of this has come out and one would expect a fix by now.

I am sorry if this came off as anything other than genuine curiosity. I have no grudges against you but as someone that spent $2,600 for my living room and $450 for my bedroom in audio equipment I have an expectation that my system works flawlessly.

On a side note, I am starting to get calls from clients letting me know this issue is also affecting them. They’re not very pleased when I have to inform them that this is an ongoing issue with no solution in sight. As of now I’ve told them to wait it out but if this continues for much longer I’m going to have to recommend they avoid Sonos and return their equipment moving forward. Please do not make me do this.

Airgetlam

I’m still somewhat concerned that this isn’t a Sonos issue, but instead an issue up the chain. Perhaps with the CEC interpretation of MAT, which might be faulty at the point of ‘change’.

If so, Sonos may not be in a position to ‘fix’ this issue, since they’re actually playing what has been handed to them further up the chain.

Bruce

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KrylonBlue

Enthusiast II

I’m still somewhat concerned that this isn’t a Sonos issue, but instead an issue up the chain. Perhaps with the CEC interpretation of MAT, which might be faulty at the point of ‘change’.

If so, Sonos may not be in a position to ‘fix’ this issue, since they’re actually playing what has been handed to them further up the chain.

I have yet to see an issue with Dolby Atmos soundbars by Sony, Bose and LG. It’s also not happening with a receiver setup as far as I’ve seen. It’s not unreasonable to expect it to work properly or be entitled to a refund program. I love the versatility of Sonos but I’d give that up and switch to Bose just to be able to use Atmos.

The issue has been isolated to Sonos and that alone makes it their issue.

Airgetlam

That’s contrary to reports earlier in this thread, certainly, but I’ve not had this issue myself, so have not been tracking it directly. If so, then yes, I agree.

Bruce