Multichannel PCM 5.1 dropping out since 14.10 update

Six pages doesn't seem to be enough to get Sonos to escalate the issue to level 2...

Well it’s 7 now :(

It’s not just this thread either. There are numerous other threads here with the same issue that have simply been redirected to this “mother thread”. There are also posts on reddit and such.

Some may want to point their fingers at LG, but honestly this looks to be a Sonos issue. The Arc is fine and only the Beam is bugged so Sonos could use that as a starting point if they wanted to. Also, OP claims that the issue only started after doing the Sonos 14.10 update. I did some reading and saw that it was a major update which supposedly fixed audio delays and dropouts. So Sonos likely borked something on the Beam with that big update. There are also comments indicating that Sonos didn’t recognize those delays and dropouts as well before they magically decided to fix them so… yeah…

Overall, this just reeks of laziness and poor customer service. This may be a community forum but when something has drawn this much attention, one would think it would be enough for them to address it. Specially when the community has pretty much handed everything to them on a silver platter. Users have already isolated the issue, provided clear steps on how to reproduce them, and filed reports. Yet 8 months later, still no word on the matter. Even the Sonos staff in here has gone silent. They may simply be a forum mod, but now that the issue has gotten big couldn’t they have at least escalated the issue to their heads or engineering contacts? Indifferent because “simply a forum mod” and “not my job”? Again, poor customer service.

If you can still apply for a refund, then good for you. Unfortunately, I was past the return period when I discovered the issue. Initially planned on building a proper 5.1 setup and eventually upgrade to an Arc Gen 2. But for now, this issue makes this my first and last Sonos product. Shame as I really really loved the software (when it works, at least...)

This 

This is also probably one of the easiest issues to reproduce, all it requires is having the right equipment which is an extremely common setup and it happens immediately. For the so called “it just works” approach Sonos is famous for I’ve had to mess way too much with fixing random bugs and faults.

And this is still not fixed, nor even addressed anymore.

To be fair, @Corry P has already stated earlier in this thread that cases cannot be publicly commented on. It would be difficult to provide any general update here without breaking that rule.

That being said, I've received no update on my case since I raised it and I'm not desperate enough to run through the L1 script again on chat/phone in an attempt to get a status update.

I hope that someone is collating case numbers behind the scenes for prioritisation in their backlog, but I've no idea if it's possible for Sonos mods/support to link posts in this thread to individual case numbers, or whether they set aside time to do so.

Okay so month-in update since my last post. The issue came back like most people have reported. It's annoying for sure but instead of constantly surfing the internet about this, I just want to ask one more thing before finally putting this to rest.

I only play games on my PS5, nothing else. Instead of using this AV Amplifier 5.1 in the PS5 settings, can I just set it to Soundbar and leave it at that? I've read on other forums that the misreporting of the Multichannel 7.1 to the Sonos App when using it is simply because that's what's being sent to the bar or TV and is down sampled to the correct channels despite the report on the app saying otherwise. Personally I don't see any difference in either if that's true and just want to set it and leave it so if someone can give me confirmation I can just select Soundbar that'd be much appreciated!

However that being said, I do hope this gets fixed as it's evidently a problem.

Not holding my breath. 8 months in, they could have at least acknowledged it. Pretty simple: If it’s an LG issue, shouldn’t all eARC Sonos products be affected? Not to mention the issue doesn’t seem to exist with other audio manufacturers. Sonos could easily check why it works with Arc and not with the Beam. Shouldn’t take this long to review and they could easily declare in case it’s not a Sonos issue.

Unless… I actually have a conspiracy theory lol. Maybe it’s a hardware issue that can’t be fixed with software updates so they’ve just kept quiet about it. Due to hardware differences, that’s why it’s only on the Beam and not on the Arc.

OP claims that it started with update 14.10 but maybe it has always been there, just didn’t trigger yet. Several users have reported that the issue randomly comes and goes. Perhaps pre-14.10 the issue just didn’t occur yet for OP and it just took effect after he updated.

So with that, I’ve also just learned to live with it. It’s annoying but for some use cases I just do various workarounds. For others with no seeming workaround, I guess just endure until I upgrade my audio equipment or when Sonos decides to fix this. Certainly a disappointing first impression.

I think there is a good chance that there is a hardware problem somewhere - there are just far too many reports of dropouts and other issues associated with eArc and it happens across the CX, C1, AND C2 which all run different processors, firmware versions, and WebOS versions.

At this point I don’t think it can be fixed and am now in the process of trying to arrange a refund even though I’m out of warranty period as under the UK sale of goods act a speaker that cannot play audio reliably in the manner that it was marketed to do is not fit for purpose.  

Shouldn’t you be returning the TV in this instance? As an example, I have the LG C9 OLED and not seeing this issue. It’s not like this applies to other TV models, or brands, outside of those you mention.

It could well be that Sonos are aware where the issue lies and if that is with LG, you cannot expect Sonos to publicly announce that. All they can do is fire off an internal ticket to LG to highlight the issue and ‘hope’ that LG go onto fix the matter for their customer.

My thoughts are if you’re going to return anything, then take into consideration where the evidence points and in my humble opinion, that seems to lean a little more towards certain LG TV models, rather than Sonos. Presumably LG support have been contacted by folk here and are currently looking into the matter from their end too on behalf of their own customers?

The CX models onward all use the same family of chipsets that differs from the C9, hence what you’re seeing and why all the models from CX onwards are similarly affected.

Fundamentally it is the Sonos product that isn’t working i.e. reliably playing audio as it is marketed to do - it is designed to connect to TVs over eARC and play audio and LG are one of, if not the biggest manufacturer in the world of TVs. If Sonos can’t make that work then it is their problem, regardless of the underlying root cause.

The CX works flawlessly with everything else plugged into it, including apparently the Sonos Arc and other sound bars so again why would I return the TV?