Lost surround and sub ( after update ?)

I’m just a Sonos user, retired and living in the UK - not paid a penny. Just an enthusiast, nothing more. Initially posted in this thread trying to help those who were experiencing these issues and made a few suggestions early on to try to assist.

No, I’m not experiencing this issue, but it doesn’t mean that I would not try to help others here try a few things to perhaps try to resolve the issue. Oh and ‘yes’, it was all for ‘free’.

It’s just a case of waiting patiently, for the reasons outlined, as this looks like a case where different people have different issues across different setups, but with a similar outcome. It’s not just about you and your own setup here. If you can’t wait patently, then that’s something you perhaps need to fix yourself.

I’m sure Sonos want this issue fixed, just as much as you and everyone else here. 

Would be interesting to see if the problem reoccurs for you, since I (and some other users) do not use eArc. My Sony is a generation before eArc so my sound is through a “regular” Arc. I still get the problem, no matter what settings I use on the TV or the Apple TV...

oh interesting. I’ll definitely update the thread if I encounter the issue again

@Foxis may I ask what Sony TV you have?

I wrote a letter to Patrick Spence (ceo@sonos.com)

------------------------

Patrick,

The 14.6 firmware released on April 19th introduced a serious audio desync/dropout issue to Sonos home theater systems resulting in echoing of Subs and Surrounds attached to the Arc, as well as full drop outs. I and many others have suffered with this issue for over a month — an issue which makes my home theater system completely unusable given the only way to stop the echoing is to unplug my devices roughly every 10-15 minutes when attempting to watch a movie. Hundreds of users are struggling with this issue, and in fact, I suspect everyone with an Arc on 14.6 has it. Your customer service team has repeated batted away reports from users as due to “network interference.” My system (wired to the Arc and using SonosNet) worked fine prior to the 14.6 update, and I have not made any changes since then. You can find a 20 page thread on the topic here:

https://en.community.sonos.com/home-theater-228993/lost-surround-and-sub-after-update-6868561?postid=16594103#post16594103

I’ve spent my 25 year career as a software engineer, 4 of those years spent as a senior manager at AWS and currently as a CTO of a startup here in Los Angeles. Needless to say, I know how to configure my network, and I have been on the development and operations side of many live services vastly larger than anything your company makes.

So, regrettably, after a month with no acknowledgement of this issue by Sonos and no clear path towards a resolution, I have opted to replace my system. This wasn’t easy. I’ve enjoyed my Sonos system for many years and wireless whole home audio has, until recently, served me well. Yesterday, I ordered a Bluesound Home Theater system (Pulse Soundbar+, Sub+, and a pair of Pulse 2is) for $3,882.89 (invoice attached). If I am happy with the Bluesound solution, I will promptly replace all Sonos products (13 of them, listed below).

I’m so disappointed at how this issue has been handled by Sonos. I have half a mind to drive up from Hollywood to Santa Barbara to dump all this worthless gear at your doorstep.

Regards.

Not @Foxis, but I have a Sony X900H (using eARC).

A KD-55XE8505. I have toyed around with the various settings on the TV itself and on the Apple TV. Currently I have the TV set to not touching the audio format or compression and setting the Apple TV to change the format to Dolby 5.1 plus.

That has worked flawlessly before and been the best experience I could get out of the setup (as I can’t get Atmos to work through the TV since it lacks eArc).

Since the problem I have tried setting the Apple TV to not change the audio format (which just gives me PCM from the TV to the Arc) and fiddling with the Sony TV settings, none of which has helped.

If someone has any idea regarding settings on the TV or Apple TV 4K I would be happy to try them out, but as it stands I don’t think it will make a difference to the sound or the problem.

do you have any other sources or is it just Apple TV?

The TV itself and a PS4 and a PS5. When the problem occurs it remains on all of them, and even with music playback started with the Sonos app.

The system has to be manually hard restarted (powering down/up the Arc) or be asleep for a while (hours) for the problem to go away. After which it will return as soon as I pause, change media from the source (ie. switch content on the Apple TV) or switch source. The symptom can be:

• Total cutout
• Delay from the rears and sub
• Random short dropouts, to be followed by one of the above

Setup worked well before 14.6.

As others I link the problem to codec switches. For example, when playing a movie on the Apple TV I can see that the system receives Dolby 5.1, whereas moving back to the netflix menu (for example) will drop the system back to PCM and then up to Dolby 5.1 again once Netflix plays a trailer or a new series/movie. That switch (and any action that triggers a codec switch) will trigger the problem 90% of the time.

interesting. with my workaround on my TV I have “digital audio output” set to Auto 1 which in fact takes Stereo PCM and outputs it as Dolby Digital Plus 2.0 so with this current setup I’m always seeing Dolby Digital Plus 2.0/5.1 or Dolby Atmos (still DD+). I wonder if because its never switching to PCM in my case that's why it avoids the issue