Don't have eARC? Get Atmos w/ HD Fury "Arcana" - Pre-orders now LIVE!


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Pre-orders available now! https://www.hdfury.com/product/4k-arcana-18gbps/

*****

FROM HD FURY SITE: 

No eARC TV ? No problem! And no more lip sync issues for eARC TV owners!
WORLD’S FIRST eARC adapter that allows FULL AUDIO up to Dolby Atmos over Dolby TrueHD from ANY external HDMI source to ANY eARC sound system.
Perfect solution for SONOS ARC/BOSE 500/BOSE 700 and ANY eARC or ARC AVR, soundbar or headphones.

*****

I’ve been talking a lot about this in another thread, but now it’s ready to order. If you love your Arc but aren’t getting Atmos / TrueHD for whatever reason (no eARC TV, Apple TV doesn’t like HDMI-ARC, regular HDMI-ARC can’t pass TrueHD, etc.), Arcana is what you need. In a nutshell, it tricks your Sonos Arc into thinking it’s connected to an eARC TV giving you full access to all the audio formats your source(s) can output. 

I don’t work for them - I’m just excited to unlock the potential of my Sonos Arc and don’t want to buy another new TV anytime soon. They need 400 orders in order to go into production, and if they hit 800 pre-orders they’re planning on adding additional functionality (CEC control and the ability to also get audio from the TV’s built-in apps). 

Plus, you can save a few bucks by pre-ordering now. 

If you want Atmos from an external device but your TV is holding you back, do us all a favor and go order an Arcana now.

Sales pitch over. ;-) 

 


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220 replies

Just received my Arcana but wondering are there any special settings needed on the Arcana for an IoGear 4K switch with Oppo UHD 203 , Apple 4K TV and Cable TV? Unfortunately, my Samsung 75 Q9FN has an HDMI arc connection but that does not work and therefore the need for the Arcana. 

I will be feeding the sound to the Sonos Arc from the Arcana connection.

 

 

No, not really.  Arcana will detect the capabilities of your source (HDMI switch)  and sinks (TV and Arc) and adjust accordingly for getting audio done correctly.  There are a few options that you may want to consider though, so I would recommend browsing through the user guide (available on HD Fury website) when you have a chance to see if anything is worth trying out.

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Just received my Arcana but wondering are there any special settings needed on the Arcana for an IoGear 4K switch with Oppo UHD 203 , Apple 4K TV and Cable TV? Unfortunately, my Samsung 75 Q9FN has an HDMI arc connection but that does not work and therefore the need for the Arcana. 

I will be feeding the sound to the Sonos Arc from the Arcana connection.

 

Plug Arcana and ATV4K first without the switch to make sure things work fine before adding the switch back in. Most the time just plug and play. 
Just ask if there are issues. 

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Got the Arcana today and I am presently testing it out.

It appears to do the trick. I can now pass Dolby Atmos from my Xbox One X into Sonos.

I popped the Blade Runner 4K blu ray in to test it out. Sonos app says Atmos, as desired.

Impressions are that it sounds absolutely  IMMENSE, but I still don't quite get the 3D effect that Atmos promises to provide. I mean, maybe a little, but I have never really be able to differentiate the up-firing speakers from everything else going on. I would really like a demo that is very "location specific" so I could pinpoint the effect.

 

What I can say is that the sound is definitely much bigger and more robust through the HD Fury, which is probably down to the power of TrueHD audio, more than Atmos specifically.

Now here is my only REAL issue: as long as I have the Atmos output settings turned on on my Xbox One X, ANYTHING playing from it appears as Dolby Atmos on the Sonos app, even if its obviously not an Atmos signal, such as a low res YouTube video. This makes it's impossible to know FOR SURE if what I am hearing is really optimised for Atmos.

Interesting experiment: I haven't been able to get Atmos output from my  Android TV's Disney+ app for months even though I read that Disney+ re-implemented Atmos quality streaming back in July. I was curious if I could get Atmos from the Xb1X Disney+ app, so I downloaded the Disney+ app for Xb1X and compared the audio between the TV app and the Xb1X app by watching the new Mulan film on both. I was able to toggle between both with a single button. As explained above, the Sonos App indicated that I was getting Dolby Atmos via Xb1X, but the Atmos logo disappeared from the Sonos app whenever I switched to the Android TV app. Now, I can't say for certain whether the Xb1X app was actually giving me Mulan in Atmos, but I can say that the sound quality was MUCH MUCH MUCH BETTER off Xb1X than the android TV Disney+ app. 

So, all in all, the HD Fury has improved my surround sound system audio output. My verdict is still out on whether Atmos lives up to the hype though. 

Was HD Fury Arcana worth the cost? Depends how much 170$ means to you, really. I think anyone who is willing to spend top dollar to buy Sonos speakers will probably appreciate the enhanced output that the Arcana produces. So if you've got the money I say go for it.

 

 

 

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The xbox one x probably isn't the best device to test the arcana out on. I have one myself and a u say it never changes output. If you have a shield tv or that other box from that fruit company... :s  might be better.  I'm using it through a hdmi switch and it's working perfectly with all sources.  Truehd through plex no more sync or weird audio issues with Netflix dd+ atmos.  All happy  

 

And to the above ive read people having issues with tv apps, not sure if its the way they have it setup or not. I havent actually checked my tv for that yet

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I experienced a few signal drops last night while playing Xbox. The screen went blank momentarily. Probably either a loose connection or power supply issue.

So far this has only happened while gaming. 

Presently my TV is feeding power to the Arcana. I will see if the issue persists and if so switch to an outlet. 

This could be a real problem for Arcana. Anyone else have this issue?

@DuranDoranMartell . Regarding everything showing as Atmos in the app.  Have you refreshed the ‘now playing’ screen or About My System screen?  The latter certainly needs a refresh to show what is currently coming through.  Don’t know about ‘now playing’ screen.

 

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@DuranDoranMartell . Regarding everything showing as Atmos in the app.  Have you refreshed the ‘now playing’ screen or About My System screen?  The latter certainly needs a refresh to show what is currently coming through.  Don’t know about ‘now playing’ screen.

 

The now playing screen updates in real time when I change inputs so I don't think that is a solution. I think the XB1X is sending a constant Atmos signal regardless of the active app. There is no fault, just the reality of different devices talking to each other in different ways.

Have you communicated this issue to the HDFury folks, in their Discord channel? I suspect they’d be very interested in helping you figure out what’s going on. 

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Everything was working fine until this evening.

Now I can’t get any audio from my TV apps. 

I can adjust the volume and my TV is showing that it is connected to external speakers, but the output is silent. Yesterday this was not a problem and I haven’t changed anything. I am very frustrated. 

I don’t really understand the menu on the Arcana so not sure how/if I can change settings. 

 

Have you contacted HDFury?

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Have you contacted HDFury?

I downloaded the latest firmware update (v. 23 Sept) and it seems to be working correctly now. I will see if it happens again and contact them if it does.

Seems like Discord is the best way to contact them but I don't use Discord.

Yea, I’m not a fan of it either...but they don’t seem to have a presence here in this forum, just Sonos folks. 

Hey people! 
Got mine today and it’s working a treat! Got Atmos, all the tv apps work and it’s perfect!! 

So glad it’s working. I can now finally enjoy the films on Apple TV 4K - Happy happy day! 

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Has anyone got a switch to recommend for connecting multiple devices to arcana? Ideally one if they even do one where it switches automatically to keep things simple?

Have you contacted HDFury?

I downloaded the latest firmware update (v. 23 Sept) and it seems to be working correctly now. I will see if it happens again and contact them if it does.

Seems like Discord is the best way to contact them but I don't use Discord.

I would guess that it wasn’t so much an issue with the firmware as it was a need for Arcan to reboot.

 

On Discord, it’s pretty difficult to keep up with right now due to the high traffic volume. Discord makes more sense for low traffic, but a mess when gets more.  Too difficult to search through, too many repeated questions and answers, and it results in frustration.  But I get that a small company like HD Fury can’t afford to run their own full forum though.  You can reach them on the AVSforums though, as they respond there.

It would be nice if HD Fury could post here, but I’m sure Sonos would have issues with that.  Not so much that HD Fury would be a problem, but it opens the door for every other vendor who wants to sell products to Sonos customers.

 

Has anyone got a switch to recommend for connecting multiple devices to arcana? Ideally one if they even do one where it switches automatically to keep things simple?

 

I’m using HD Fury’s Vertex2 and it does seem to do autoswitching pretty good so far.  However, it’s probably overkill for most people’s needs...perhaps me as well.  Not sure what other devices can do auto-switching well.

Here is my current setup: Samsung TV with no eARC. There are 3 HDMI In Connections and 1 HDMI-ARC on the Samsung "One Connect Hub" device vs directly on the TV. My Sonos Arc Soundbar only has one HDMI port, which is currently connected in the HDMI-ARC port. I have my NVIDIA Shield TV Pro connected to the HDMI port.

I ordered the HDFury Arcana, but it’s not clear how I should connect these devices.  Any guidance would be greatly appreciated.

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Hi all -- wondering if anyone has any suggestions. I have an Arc set up with a sub and two Play:1s, then an apple TV 4K conntected to an arcana and then to the Arc and my (non-eARC) TV. Everything seems to be working fine, and when I go to the AppleTV settings, it now says “Atmos available”. However, when I go to play Atmos movies, I don’t see any indication on the sonos app that it’s actually playing atmos sound. When I check the “about my system” report, it says it’s dolby digital 5.1. 

 

I was under the impression with Appletv that it would automatically output Atmos if available, but is there some other setting I need to change?

 

Thanks in advance for any suggestions!

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Hi all -- wondering if anyone has any suggestions. I have an Arc set up with a sub and two Play:1s, then an apple TV 4K conntected to an arcana and then to the Arc and my (non-eARC) TV. Everything seems to be working fine, and when I go to the AppleTV settings, it now says “Atmos available”. However, when I go to play Atmos movies, I don’t see any indication on the sonos app that it’s actually playing atmos sound. When I check the “about my system” report, it says it’s dolby digital 5.1. 

 

I was under the impression with Appletv that it would automatically output Atmos if available, but is there some other setting I need to change?

 

Thanks in advance for any suggestions!

What are you using to play the movies (Netflix, iTunes etc).  Also what does the OLED screen display on the Arcana?

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iTunes. I’d read that Netflix was having difficulty in general after the latest update. I think I was trying Spiderman into the spiderverse and Mad Max Fury Road as two Atmos movies I’d purchased. 

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Hi all

checking In for any advice before I start the rewiring process today. I have The fury box and a 4K hdmi splitter.  
 

so am I correct in the following?

plug the x box one x, the sky q box and the ATV 4K into the HDMI splitter.  
 

the output from the splitter goes into the fury hdmi in port

then the Sonos arc hdmi cable goes into the eArc out on the fury

then a hdmi cable goes from the hdmi out on the fury to the TV hdmi Arc port.  
 

any help appreciated. 
 

then re the best sources, Like a lot of other people I have apps on my Xbox the sky Q and the Apple TV and of course the TV itself.  Am I right in thinking that to get the best sound quality the following applies

disney I should used the app on the ATV 4k

Netflix the same   
 

or can I use the built in tv apps?

 

thanks

josh

 

 

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Update

 

Plugged everything in as per above.  
Atmos shows in the Sonos app when using the x box with an appropriate dvd and also when using The Apple TV 4k

 

however I am having issues with the sky Q.  When I switch on the Q box all works well but when I change channel the sound goes off.  Switching the tv off and back on brings the sound back but then it goes again if I change channel.  
switching the sky q box off and on makes no differencee. 
 

the tv is an LG C7 and the switcher is going into the arc port.  
can anyone help?  
 

thanks

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Right,  sorted it.   I needed to update the firmware and then it stopped losing audio.  All in all it is working very well.  No lip-sync issues with any source and the the Atmos is great to have.

 

Josh

Here is my current setup: Samsung TV with no eARC. There are 3 HDMI In Connections and 1 HDMI-ARC on the Samsung "One Connect Hub" device vs directly on the TV. My Sonos Arc Soundbar only has one HDMI port, which is currently connected in the HDMI-ARC port. I have my NVIDIA Shield TV Pro connected to the HDMI port.

I ordered the HDFury Arcana, but it’s not clear how I should connect these devices.  Any guidance would be greatly appreciated.

For any other newbie to HDFury Arcana, here is a link to explain the connections to your devices. Hope this helps others: 

 

Attached Arcana and worked great for Cable, Apple4KTV and Oppo UHD 203. Sounded awesome/great.

Came back on later and the Oppo will not show on the screen anymore or play. Other two options of viewing work fine still. 

Trying to update the Arcana with the unzipped BIN file but Update OLED screen shows, No Update found on the USB. Go back to Menu. Not sure what I am doing wrong.

Feel real close to getting this working right but cannot get the Arcana to recognize the BIN updates.

Any help appreciated.

 

I’d contact HDFury on their Discord channel, they don’t have a rep who responds here.