Microphone randomly turning on or off on new Sonos Arc with just Sonos Voice Control

Then I am out of advice…except that I would still let Sonos replace it by a new one. They check if the issue manifests it self before sending it to you (that’s what Sonos told me before they shipped mine).

After only having taken a brief look at the forums, it seems there have been instances of this problem reported as far back as January 2021.

The fact that units are _still_ suffering from the issue shows a lack of care and diligence on Sonos’s part.

I purchased an Arc in March 2024, along with two Era 300s and the Gen 3 sub.

The Arc I purchased in March suffered from this issue really badly, every night the Arc would turn its mic on and off on its own, multiple times.

I contacted support, who advised me to get an exchange done at the store I purchased the Arc from. I did this, and the Arc I received in exchange suffered from the same fault. I contacted Sonos support again, who advised I should swap the unit at the retailer once again. I did this, and now the third Arc is suffering from the same issue, although the mic on/off problem doesn’t occur as frequently as it did with the other units.

Today I contacted support about the third Arc being faulty, and was advised to swap the Arc at the retailer once again… Honestly, this process is exhausting, and transporting the Arc to and from my home for constant replacement is not without cost (given my location/circumstances travelling to the store is difficult for me).

Each time I have replaced the Arc, I have obtained a replacement from a _separate_ store (same chain, different location), as I suspect their warehouse has a bad batch of stock.

When contacting support about the third faulty Arc, I asked if the support agent could provide me any information about known bad batches, so I could try and avoid replacing the unit at the store with one from a known bad batch. The agent escalated to level 2 support, but eventually got back to me advising they didn’t have that sort of information on hand.

I am really over this experience. I am quite sure the replacement Arc I will be receiving this weekend will suffer from the same problem. The support rep’s have been very pleasant and helpful, but Sonos needs to fix this hardware issue and come up with a new process to remedy this problem.

Some observations on this problem in particular:

• Many seem to think this is related to enabling Google Assistant support on the Arc. I think this is misguided, as I believe I have seen the problem without _any_ home assistant connected (indicated by the microphone light turning on/off and waking up to the mic being randomly muted). I think that having Google Assistant enabled just makes the problem a lot more obvious, this is because:
  • Without an assistant, the only indication the microphone was toggled is the light on the Arc.
  • With the assistant enabled, there is an audible “The mic has been turned off/on” notification that plays through the speaker.
• I suspect there are probably lots of other Arcs suffering from the same fault landing in the hands of consumers. I think that many consumers don’t make use of the voice assistant, and thus the problem is hidden and they do not notice it, so it never ends up reported.

Very frustrating experience, I can’t believe this hardware issue has been ongoing since at least early 2021. For what it’s worth, I have tried to check batch numbers, and it seems the Arc’s I have received were manufactured recently (late 2023, early 2024; the stores I purchase from also receive many customers and I’m quite certain they’d be selling Arcs frequently). It’s unbelievable that new Arc’s are coming off the production line and suffering from this issue.

As a consumer I feel taken advantage of, I should not have to run through all this trial and error in an attempt to get an Arc that works without problems.

Picked up the replacement Arc today (this is now my fourth Arc, with the prior 3 suffering from this microphone issue, see my last post in this thread). And like I suspected, within two hours of having set it up, the mic has already muted itself…

Time to get a 5th replacement I guess……. At this point I would just refund the Arc, but I feel locked into the ecosystem, given when I bought the first Arc, I also picked up two Era 300s and the Gen 3 sub..

@Corry P - What do you make of all this? How is it that Sonos can advise me to continue picking up replacements which simply do not work. How can there be so many faulty Arcs out there? I’ve seen comments from Sonos staff advising this production issue was resolved over a year ago and bad stock purged from warehouses, but clearly that is not the case. How can Sonos’s position on this issue be to just continue to tell the customer to go to the store, and replace the product for another one, a process that is tedious, frustrating, a waste of time and unscientific, just plain trial and error…...

Hi @Lionel1232 

I’m sorry to hear of the repeated issues you’ve had with serial Arcs! All I can really suggest is that you return the latest one to us, so that we can replace it with a unit known to not be affected, rather than you having to go back to a store and effectively cross your fingers hoping for better results. We will cover all shipping costs, so the only disadvantage left would be the shipping time as compared to a visit to a store, but considering the number of store visits you’ve now had, they must be adding up to days too.

I hope this helps.

Well, I contacted support and arrangements were made to send me a 5th Arc. I told support at the time, over and over, that I did not want a refurbished unit, and wanted a brand new one instead. The support rep assured me I would be sent a brand new unit.

After getting a hold placed on my credit card, a new Arc was delivered really quickly. I tried to set it up last Friday, but unfortunately the Arc sent from Sonos is also faulty. Here’s what happened:

1. Disconnected old Arc suffering from mic on/off issue
2. Connected new Arc sent from Sonos
3. Set up in the Sonos app. Got to the stage where I was advised a firmware update was required. This step took longer than usual, and eventually the Sonos app advised that setup had failed and to keep my phone nearby to the Arc etc. (I kept it right next to the Arc throughout the entire setup process.
4. I try to update again and get the same result as step 3.
5. Arc begins to intermittently not be recognized at all by the Sonos app and just shows a flashing white light.
6. Proceed to connect the Arc directly to my router via an Ethernet cable, the Arc no longer appears in the app and I can’t set it up.
7. Proceed to perform a factory reset.
8. Try to set up in the Sonos app, same result.
9. Attempt multiple factory resets, some with the ethernet cable connected, some without. App fails to find Arc every time now.
10. Observe that factory resets are sometimes not working, despite holding the “infinity” button and plugging in the power cable.
11. Observe that Arc is now sometimes booting to a flashing white light for ~15 seconds, followed by a solid orange light.
12. Arc is still not recognized at all in the app anymore.
13. Power down all other Sonos accessories, since I’ve heard there can be issues related to “SonosNet”, doesn’t make a difference.
14. Reinstall the entire Sonos app, this doesn’t make a difference.
15. Keep Arc powered on for over an hour, still no difference (not detected by the app).
16. Check Sonos app permissions, they are all correct, toggle them all to off and then back on. Same issue.

So, it seems like the new Arc I was sent in the mail is faulty. I unplug the new Arc and plug back in the old one, at least the old one connects to the app fine, meaning I can get sound from it.

Today I called back Sonos and they asked for the serial number of the fifth replacement Arc (the one they shipped me in the mail). I proceed to look at the box the Arc came in to identify its serial number… The sticker containing the serial number shows the Arc I was sent is certified refurbished!!!!! Despite being assured when performing the RMA that I would be receiving a brand new Arc (as I should, since each time one of the previous four Arcs has experienced a fault, I have engaged the RMA process within a month). Unbelievably frustrating..

Support has now created a case for me and has advised they will email me tomorrow. Needless to say I am a little worried about the hold on my credit card… I don’t want to return the “working” Arc (the one suffering from the mic on/off issue) because the replacement I was sent:

1. Doesn’t work and refuses to pair with the Sonos app.
2. Is refurbished and not brand new.

@Corry P - Thanks for your earlier reply, it’s helpful, at least in the sense that it helps me feel like I’m not just shouting into the void… I thought I’d tag you in this update in case you had any thoughts..

I will continue to update this thread with updates on my situation.

Hi @Lionel1232 

Apologies for the delay - I’ve been off for a week.

I can only apologise - obviously, this is nowhere near the experience we want for you. I’ve looked at your case, and it seems a new Arc is being sent to you - I hope this one performs as expected!