Sonos has been unable to fix Arc soundbars’ “pop of death” for over 2 years
A loud popping noise that sounds like a bang or gunshot and then no audio at all has been the experience for numerous owners of the $900 Sonos Arc soundbar. But don't worry: Sonos is working on re-creating the problem-and has been doing so for over two years.
That's right. As an Ars reader helpfully pointed out, users have been openly complaining about their Arc startling them with a "gunshot-esque" or popping/cracking sound and then dropping audio until being power-cycled for years. If you don't believe me, check out this thread on Sonos' community forum that goes back two years and has 980 replies. There's also this 2-year-old thread, another thread that's a year old, and some more recent ones. There are piles of discussions on Reddit, too (here are just some examples: one, two, three, four). [Update 8/11:After publishing this article, I learned The Verge experienced this problem firsthand, too.]
The tales sound rather disturbing. One user on Sonos' forum, going by William_61, described the Arc's sudden sound as much more of a blare than a pop.