Hi @Missionsparta 

Multichannel PCM and LPCM are the same thing, as far as I am aware (and both are lossless); I can find references to McLPCM in my internal documentation. The terms are largely interchangeable.

The worst part of it all is that engineers who have never even met the director often remix soundtracks for DVDs and BluRays. Although it was video that was affected, this was illustrated by The Matrix movies - on DVD and VHS, the colour grading (green for in the Matrix, blue for the Real World) was exaggerated beyond the level the Wachowski’s ever wanted - it was only fixed with the UHD release. I sure the same happens with audio, only probably more so.

Im able to get titles to play in Multichannel PCM over streaming services. So not saying there isn't loseless multichannel PCM, but im getting some form of compressed version. But yeah, I think the different studios, different services, different manufacturing, etc all play major effect in what we are getting. I know it's just streaming, but listening to titles be shuffled from one service to anther and getting completely different results tell you that the human element 100% comes into play and I'm sure the same can happen with blurays.

Hi @bignicknicknick 

Your Arc will basically be playing what it is told to play - if LPCM sounds different to other formats (soft and muddy), it’s because your Apple TV (or TV) is delivering it that way. Different hardware is decoding whatever came before LPCM (it’s unlikely that the source media contained a LPCM track), and that must be the reason for things sounding differently.

If volume is the only difference, however, I can only suggest altering the volume with the controls.

I hope this helps.

If you are using Apple TV,  like I said earlier, go to Paramount+ and play Arrival. Go to the 30 minute mark amd listen for five minutes or so. You will be getting 5.1 PCM (you can't get LPCM through streaming). It's rocking well on my system as far as punch and volume. Granted, this is one of the few examples I can find of this, which points back to provider and the studios recording.

Hi @bignicknicknick 

Well, I suppose it depends upon what you mean by “low/muddy”. If someone calls in saying their Sonos Arc sounds quieter when playing LPCM, the understandable response will likely be to turn up the volume - movies are mixed at differing volumes. We’re not going to record this as a report of a bug, because it isn’t one. With compressed formats, we need to decompress them prior to playback and I have been told that as a part of that process we increase the gain - something that doesn’t happen with LPCM as it does not need decoding (I think I mentioned this earlier in this thread). This, however, only addresses LPCM often being quieter than other formats, and not it being “muddy”, so I again encourage you to get in touch if “muddy” doesn’t just mean quiet - in fact, I wouldn’t even mention the volume except as a side-note. “Degraded audio quality” would be the phrase I would use.

Also, as mentioned previously by myself and others, LPCM generally isn’t something you’ll find - no streaming service will supply it, and I would have to see visual proof of it being on a Blu-Ray before I was inclined to believe any such report, so we necessarily come to the fact that any LPCM stream you see reported in the Sonos app has come from either a) the live audio of a games console outputting LPCM specifically while playing a game or b) the result of a device further up the media playback chain decoding the actually-supplied, compressed audio stream in whatever format into LPCM before the Arc ever receives it, in which case it’s not really for us to do anything about it - anything we do do will adversely affect people who don’t have the same equipment as you.

I can’t comment on soundbars from other manufacturers, but if you’ve done a side-by-side comparison with LPCM and other formats and found Arc to definitely be inferior with LPCM specifically, then I would ask that you contact our technical support team and tell them as much, as I’m sure our engineers would like to see/hear some video proof and diagnostics. If you are going by what other people report, remember that you are on the internet and things should be taken with a few grains of salt - but that just means that it’s them that should be getting in touch rather than you. If true, we’d love to know. 

Personally, I watch a fair bit of content, and I find myself adjusting the volume for nearly every piece - with YouTube videos, I’ll be at anything from 10 to 16 volume (I put this down to the inexperience that YouTubers have with audio engineering, as compared to professionals working in a TV studio, for example). With TV programs (mostly Dolby Digital or AAC stereo), 12 is common. With movies, however, it can vary from 12 to 30. I usually only need to go as high as 30 if the source format is Dolby TrueHD, but it is not in any way every TrueHD movie that needs to be that high - just the occasional, random one. 18 is more common, but then I often want movies to be a bit louder anyway. Full disclosure - I have an Amp, which does not support LPCM or Atmos, and my nVidia Shield transcodes unsupported formats on-the-fly (but without altering the volume).

I hope this helps.

Hi @Whistler 

I confess I didn’t really think of music BluRays - thanks for setting me straight!

I’ll see if I can get someone with an Arc to give that file a listen - thank you for the effort you obviously put in to do that.

Hi Corry, 

No problem!  Needless to say you need to play this on a device that does bitstream Passthrough and not for instance a Apple TV 4K that converts everything to LPCM by default to hear the difference between the tracks.

Currently I am using Apple TV 4K + Infuse. Which converts everything to LPCM which should be identical to the original source. I really would like the best possible quality I can get and this solution should in theory be a “one-that-does-it-all” solution. I used the Zidoo because I also want the best Atmos experience with Dolby TrueHD + Atmos, which the Apple TV 4K cannot do. (So much for that one-that-does-it-all solution right lol).  I have also tried the Nvidea Shield but did not really like it. I am more of a Apple eco-system guy. Thanks for your input, and maybe I have to reevaluate my setup in the near future ;)

is multichanel 7.1 best can i get on ps5?

arc+sub+ 2Xgen5

sony x9000h

ps5

?

please advise

You don't want to set to 7.1 as Sonos Arc with sub is a 5.1.2 set up

Plus 2 play 5 /ps5

Which audio is best i can get to ps5?

atmos on streaming services working Fine.

Use LPCM

7.1 ?

But the volume will be lower

Even with 2 rears?

I have the arc and 2 rears (no sub) so technically a 7.0.2 setup. When I set the ps5 to lpcm 7.1, I still hear missing channels at the rear when panning the camera in a game and sound transitions from rear left to rear right. There is a gap of silence in between. 

The Arc and two surrounds is still a 5.0.2 setup. 

A 7.1 soundtrack is backwards compatible with a 5.1 system. The four surround channels are just mixed into the two rear surround channels.

I have a Ps5/lgcx/Sonos arc/sub/2 sl ones with the ps5 connected to the tv and then the tv connected to the arc using hdmi 2.1. I am experiencing the same behavior where I have to change lpcm to Dolby bitstream otherwise I will get a muffled sound. Now what is interesting is that when I watch a Blu-ray on my PS five then I can use LPCM and I managed to get Dolby atmos with a movie like “mad max”. Granted I also have to set the audio to lpcm inside the movie app as well. Tbh the whole lack of support of the ps5 for Dolby vision and Dolby atmos in games is a mess but that is a topic for a different day. 

Correction. I also have to choose bistream option under the blueray player to get Dolby atmos. 

I’ve got to say when Sonos implemented LPCM I tried it out via my Xbox series x and noticed it to be not load enough. So I reverted back to bitstream.

So for now, should i set my ps5 to bitstream (dolby) with 5.1 for gaming? I have a lgc9 set up with my arc and 2 play one’s plus a sub. My tv is would then be set to bitstream and pasthrough for the audio settings. 

Just got my Arc yesterday and also interested in the topic (and the upcoming updates). For now, will keep it to Bitstream (Dolby) on the PS5. 

Hi there :)

I am having more or less the same issues with my PS5.

TV: Samsung RU7090 65”

Sonos system: Arc + 2 Synfonisk as rear speakers (I hope I will get the Sub soon!)

The Arc is linked to TV via HDMI 3 ARC slot. When I set PS5 audio to LPCM (settings: AV Receiver, 5.1channels), the sound is stereo only, and if I check my TV settings the audio is set to PCM and I cannot select Dolby or Dolby+ options. The Sonos app too tells me that the source is Stereo PCM. 

If I change the sound to Dolby on the PS5, I get an actual surround with louder sound, and the app says I’m in Dolby 5.1. The TV settings are now changed to Dolby (not Dolby+).

If I open the TV’s Netflix app, I can get Atmos with some tvshows (The Witcher), and the TV settings changes to Dolby+. The Sonos App tells me I’m in Atmos mode (cool!)

Do you think I can change something within the PS5 (or else) to get actual surround with LPCM settings or do I have to stick with Dolby? I have no issues with Dolby sound, except for a very subtle delay with the sound, noticeable for example during cutscenes with dialogues.

Thanks! :)

Bump.  Same **** here. Lpcm is borked

*Moderation note: removed offensive language*

Thanks!

I am sticking with Dolby 5.1, and it is fine; regarding the delay, I can hear it also when scrolling in the interface of PlayStation, so it is not an issue of the game engine, it is a “global” situation that happens during the whole experience. Nevertheless, I am already used to it, but I really look forward for a fix!!

Hi @giandoblues 

Sonos Home Theatre products play TV audio as soon as they get it - it’s up to the XBox to make sure video and audio are synced in the first place, but it is also the TV’s job to keep them in sync. If you check your TV’s sound settings, there’ll be an option along the lines of Digital Audio Output Format (usually, any one of these words will be missing which is weird because with any three of them, it still makes sense) - try changing this to Passthrough or Bitstream. Hopefully, one of those settings will help.

Will users get a notification from Sonos when lpcm 7.1 become available?