Just bought Sony Bravia XBR77A9G, with Sonos Arc, Sub, and S2's. The installer said he wanted to use Optical audio, not ARC, as he had done other installations using ARC with this system, and the customer had issues with signals, audio or video. Online seems to have a fair amount owners confirming this. My issue is that I am missing out on some higher-level audio processing using optical. Anyone had this issue, and if so, solutions? Thanks!
Moderator edit: Changed Beam to Arc for clarity
Best answer by Airgetlam
ARC can carry Dolby Digital Plus, which is required for Atmos. But both optical and ARC carry Dolby Digital, which is a 5.1 codec, and what the majority of content is in.
The other thing you lose when using optical over ARac is CEC, the ability to carry things other than TV audio, such as volume commands, etc.
There are several TVs, especially from LG at this point, who have had issues with the firmware in the TV set not dealing with ARC properly. In some cases, new firmware has been released, in others, it appears that there is still an issue. If it were a Sonos issue, these issues would be across all TV sets, which is not the case.
You have to decide if Atmos is important to your viewing habits, and if your TV is stricken by this issue. It might be worthwhile asking your installer if s/he’d be willing to come back out at a later date and switch you from optical to ARC. Unfortunately, this can not be decided for you. You have to weigh the issues, and how they may impact you, and tell your installer what will work for you.
ARC can carry Dolby Digital Plus, which is required for Atmos. But both optical and ARC carry Dolby Digital, which is a 5.1 codec, and what the majority of content is in.
The other thing you lose when using optical over ARac is CEC, the ability to carry things other than TV audio, such as volume commands, etc.
There are several TVs, especially from LG at this point, who have had issues with the firmware in the TV set not dealing with ARC properly. In some cases, new firmware has been released, in others, it appears that there is still an issue. If it were a Sonos issue, these issues would be across all TV sets, which is not the case.
You have to decide if Atmos is important to your viewing habits, and if your TV is stricken by this issue. It might be worthwhile asking your installer if s/he’d be willing to come back out at a later date and switch you from optical to ARC. Unfortunately, this can not be decided for you. You have to weigh the issues, and how they may impact you, and tell your installer what will work for you.
Hello, and thanks for the input.
I’m not sure why, but I said I had the Beam, when I, in fact, have the ARC. Duh on me!
Right after I sent my first post, I checked out the back of my TV. Lo and behold, the optical connection was not being used. He had used eARC for the connection. I should have checked this earlier, of course, but just went on what he said. I confirmed that I was getting Atmos on source material via the on-screen display. Now, he was using a generic-looking HDMI cable, so I switched that out for an Ultralink, high speed, 48Gbps cable for eARC.
I guess I was too excited to get this new set-up that I rushed a bit.
The installer said he would come back any time I needed. I’m good for new, until my calibration some time in February.
I do like the TV and Sonos set-up. I would prefer a full-sized audio system, but my wife wanted a smaller footprint, and as few as possible cables. The Sonos unit delivers quite nicely, especially at higher volume.
Thanks again for the responses Airgetlam and UKMedia. Sorry for my confusion!
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