Dating all the way back to 2020, Sonos Arc soundbar owners have complained about experiencing a loud popping sound, alternatively described as a loud, startling bang, followed by no audio. While a resolution to the issue is being researched, Sonos have told users of the $900 soundbar that a current workaround involves disabling HDMI CEC or disabling Dolby Atmos. Not surprisingly, owners experiencing the issue are not pleased with these suggestions.
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Now, Sonos has finally acknowledged the severity of the issue, and that the company has been researching a fix for the issue for the last couple of years. In a statement to The Verge, Sonos explains that the issue seems to arise from streaming Dolby Atmos sound from specific TVs or streaming devices. The statement reads:
“We are aware that a small percentage of customers have experienced an interoperability issue which is causing a popping sound on Arc. What we know now is that this issue occurs on some Dolby Atmos enabled audio products, including Arc, when connected to certain combinations of streaming devices and TVs while playing Dolby Atmos content.
We are committed to finding the root cause and we’re continuing to test for a reliable reproduction of what customers are describing online and in conversations with our support team. We are also engaging our contacts at third party manufacturers to further explore possible solutions. As this is an issue stemming from the way various devices are working together, there are a range of tests our team needs to conduct to understand the scope and develop a targeted solution for each setup. We’ll let you know as soon as we have an update to share.”
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