Sonos Arc and Samsung - eARC compatibility issues


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Hi All

I wanted to make you aware of an experience I am having with both Sonos and Samsung. I am on my second Samsung tv (replacement q95t) and the following letter to CEO’s of both companies should explain. Be interesting to know if any members of this community are aware or have experienced these issues.

Dear Patrick/Sang Ho Jo gwi-ha

 

Apologies for the direct approach, however I must make you aware of a situation with regards to two of your companies top consumer products.   I have been a loyal purchaser of both Samsung and Sonos products for a number of years now, and most recently have purchased your Sonos Arc Soundbar and Samsung Q95T television products.   On receipt of these products, I have noticed a compatibility issue between the two aforementioned products around the eARC connectivity. Simply put, once eARC is enabled on the Samsung device, no sound is transmitted via the Sonos Arc. Once Disabled however, sound is apparent.   From a samsung perspective, I have been issued a second device which has had the same issue, and no further known resolution to fix has been offered with technical advising its not a Samsung issue. From a Sonos Perspective, the response from technical has been to "confirm that the issue you are experiencing has been raised with the right teams who are looking into it, regarding e-ARC needing to be off to get audio from this TV. We don't have a timescale on a resolution at this time".   From a loyal user, this is far from perfect with no eta to fix, or even a guarantee that it will be fixed and no clear view on where the issue resides, with Samsung or Sonos?   On looking at the Samsung forums, this appears to be an issue not just for myself but for many other users now. The following is one example of feedback from Sonos on the Samsung Forums:  

"It does look like there may be some issues arising when the eARC function on the TV is enabled. DD+ is capable of carrying a compressed ATMOS signal, so you should still be able to experience ATMOS from your Arc. In the mean time however there's no fix for this.

 

I'm not able to give you a solid answer right now unfortunately, however the Arc is known to work with other TVs so my inclination would be that this is a Samsung issue. We are certainly aware of this however and we are reaching out to Samsung in order to get this resolved.

 

I would expect this to be fixable via a Firmware update, however I can't guarantee this unfortunately.

 

We are reaching out to Samsung in order to get this issue resolved. Due to the huge number of TV models and manufacturers, issues such as this do sometimes arise - in any case we are looking in to getting it resolved and we are happy to assist any customers which are affected by this issue.

 

So basically SONOS are blaming Samsung because the ARC works with other TV's. No firm promise of a fix, not very impressed with SONOS at this point as Samsung could be classed as a major supplier of global premium TV's, you would have thought that they would have ensured their premium soundbar would work with the new Samsung Flagship range, but apparently not."   So my ask is simple - please can your organisations work together to resolve this issue as opposed to the blame culture that has been our experience - Many users have purchased both devices on the strength of this eARC capability, and this is clearly advertised as a function of your devices.  My retailer in the UK is on standby to take these products back if we can't get to a resolution which would be a major disappointment so I hope you can find a solution to this issue for me.   Kind Regards   Mike


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Thanks Michael, I still think I am going to OLED from LG . I have a 55” for the past 3 years with no problems with sound. Funny I use a Samsung sound bar with it. I researched the one I am getting from best buy and no audio issue like the Samsung.  If you know a good reason to not go in that direction let me know. Also LG has come down in price closer to the Samsung Qled.  Thanks 

I wanted to thank everyone for this post. I just spent 9 straight hours trying to get my Beam and two 3’s to a cable box and Samsung TV just bought from Costco. It all worked at first, then crapped out. Reset didn’t help. All the upgrades in firmware done.  I tried to route trough a pioneer elite receiver hoping it was maybe a Sonos issue, but no luck. I thought I was going to loose my mind and my wife was about to kill me when I found this post.  
 

I spent SO much time with the cable company trying to fix the issue until we agreed that it wasn’t their audio feed, which I already knew, but was enjoying the company and thought that two heads were better than one!  
 

Btw, I still think it’s a perfect shit storm of both Samsung AND Sonos here because the Arc doesn’t work with the Pioneer receiver (which which I acknowledge sucks as a receiver btw...shame on you Pioneer! You used to be terrific until you sold your soul!!) 

 

my final conclusion after a day of suffering is to either admit defeat and by a Samsung bar or go back to Costco and trade in Samsung for the LG I wanted in the first place but I let my wife talk me out of! Did I just blame my wife???? Sorry babe, you are perfect...😂
 

Any new downloads in sight, or do I have to go wait in line at Costco on a Labor Day weekend before the NFL is about to start? 

Any update on this issue?

Any update on this issue?

https://eu.community.samsung.com/t5/tv/potential-major-issue-with-2020-samsung-tv-s-with-one-connect/td-p/1857527/page/2

 

Looks like Samsung is on it and will issue a fix in the next update.

*Fingers crossed*

New Updates seem to have fixed the issue!!

 

New Updates seem to have fixed the issue!!

 

Update not available yet for my q80t 55”. Hopefully it’s available soon. 

The new firmware issued yesterday by Samsung has fixed this issue! There’s also a Sonos upgrade. 

Download both and install - eARC (auto) now works. Dolby Atmos content is playing as expected without any issues.

The recent update fixes this issue:https://www.samsung.com/us/support/downloads/

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Waiting for the Samsung update to get rolled out to other markets. I have a Q95T in Singapore and the update is still not available to me.

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Anyone with 2019 QLED having any success ? I have Q70R 2019 and still waiting to get update.

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I swapped my Samsung out with a OLED LG over a month ago no problems.      I hope Sonos continues to invest in the ARC with the 2 additional speakers in the supporting a surround sound simulation> I would like to see the voice carried to the back speakers

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The new firmware issued yesterday by Samsung has fixed this issue! There’s also a Sonos upgrade. 

Download both and install - eARC (auto) now works. Dolby Atmos content is playing as expected without any issues.

Can you confirm the firmware update version that you have which works for Samsung?

I have both the TV and Sonos set to update automatically, but I have not yet tried to change the e-Arc settings yet. Will give this a try, but am curious to the update version.

 

thanks

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The new firmware issued yesterday by Samsung has fixed this issue! There’s also a Sonos upgrade. 

Download both and install - eARC (auto) now works. Dolby Atmos content is playing as expected without any issues.

Can you confirm the firmware update version that you have which works for Samsung?

I have both the TV and Sonos set to update automatically, but I have not yet tried to change the e-Arc settings yet. Will give this a try, but am curious to the update version.

 

thanks

If you could also confirm the settings you have which make e-arc work, that be great.

 

I just tried it, my TV has the latest version and so does Sonos, so I tried to trun e-arc to “Auto” but unfortunatley, still no sound at all. If I set the sound to “Passthrough” or “Auto” no difference…

Would be great to know what your settings are to make it work

So I have a Samsung 2020 75” Frame TV.   Ordered a Sonos Arc bar and 2 x One SL surrounds for our TV room.   Got the One SL’s today, but the Arc seems to be backordered for a little bit (maybe a good thing?).   Was just looking around today on Atmos support and found this thread.   Have to admit, I started off super worried that I made a huge mistake.    Judging by recent comments though, when my Arc arrives, I should be fine plugging into eArc and turning to Auto, correct?    Does the Samsung Frame support Atmos, it says it doesn’t have Atomos on Samsung website, but does that mean it’s just not built-in to the TV speakers (but using a soundbar like Arc I’ll have full Dolby Atmos?).   Thanks, sorry for the relatively dumb questions! 

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So I have a Samsung 2020 75” Frame TV.   Ordered a Sonos Arc bar and 2 x One SL surrounds for our TV room.   Got the One SL’s today, but the Arc seems to be backordered for a little bit (maybe a good thing?).   Was just looking around today on Atmos support and found this thread.   Have to admit, I started off super worried that I made a huge mistake.    Judging by recent comments though, when my Arc arrives, I should be fine plugging into eArc and turning to Auto, correct?    Does the Samsung Frame support Atmos, it says it doesn’t have Atomos on Samsung website, but does that mean it’s just not built-in to the TV speakers (but using a soundbar like Arc I’ll have full Dolby Atmos?).   Thanks, sorry for the relatively dumb questions! 

To start with, the Frame does not support Dolby Atmos (from what I can see on the 2020 models, don’t have your TV model number, so cannot say it with 100% certainty). 

Depending on your level of audiophile requirements, I honestly don’t think you need to be worried.

Atmos is a great future, but even the ARC does not provide a true Dolby Atmos experience. In my opinion you will need a full Atmos (wired) setup for this with ceiling mounted speakers. I find it hard to really hear the difference between an Atmos movie or a 5.1 Dolby Surround and my TV does support Atmos. I have the same setup with the Arc, 2x Sonos One’s as surround and I do have the subwoofer which really is awesome. 

The e-arc issue I believe is also not a concern for the Frame, as from what I can see the Frame only support “arc” (audio return channel) but not e-arc. Even if it did, you can still get the sound to work great with the e-arc functionality off. You will still get a fully imersive surround sound, as the e-arc function on my TV has not been working since my purchase in April, yet I can watch movies and listen to music and still make the house shake. 

sorry for the lengthy response, hope this settles your purchase nerves. Hope the Arc arrives soon!

So I have a Samsung 2020 75” Frame TV.   Ordered a Sonos Arc bar and 2 x One SL surrounds for our TV room.   Got the One SL’s today, but the Arc seems to be backordered for a little bit (maybe a good thing?).   Was just looking around today on Atmos support and found this thread.   Have to admit, I started off super worried that I made a huge mistake.    Judging by recent comments though, when my Arc arrives, I should be fine plugging into eArc and turning to Auto, correct?    Does the Samsung Frame support Atmos, it says it doesn’t have Atomos on Samsung website, but does that mean it’s just not built-in to the TV speakers (but using a soundbar like Arc I’ll have full Dolby Atmos?).   Thanks, sorry for the relatively dumb questions! 

To start with, the Frame does not support Dolby Atmos (from what I can see on the 2020 models, don’t have your TV model number, so cannot say it with 100% certainty). 

Depending on your level of audiophile requirements, I honestly don’t think you need to be worried.

Atmos is a great future, but even the ARC does not provide a true Dolby Atmos experience. In my opinion you will need a full Atmos (wired) setup for this with ceiling mounted speakers. I find it hard to really hear the difference between an Atmos movie or a 5.1 Dolby Surround and my TV does support Atmos. I have the same setup with the Arc, 2x Sonos One’s as surround and I do have the subwoofer which really is awesome. 

The e-arc issue I believe is also not a concern for the Frame, as from what I can see the Frame only support “arc” (audio return channel) but not e-arc. Even if it did, you can still get the sound to work great with the e-arc functionality off. You will still get a fully imersive surround sound, as the e-arc function on my TV has not been working since my purchase in April, yet I can watch movies and listen to music and still make the house shake. 

sorry for the lengthy response, hope this settles your purchase nerves. Hope the Arc arrives soon!


Thanks for this, CvH7.  I’m currently sitting with a Q80T that I bought in September and trying to figure out which soundbar to buy.  I really want the ARC because of its many options for streaming (mainly music) but with all the Atmos problems revealed with my research today, I became hesitant. You answered one of my questions which was, “if I don’t have a full (or near-full) surround set up, do I really need Atmos engaged?”.  I hear you say “no”.

I live in the Seattle area and have an Xfinity (Comcast) cable box. I swore that I’d never go back to cable or satellite but went ahead and got the bundle with internet.  This is all I have in our “open concept” living area at the moment.  Just with the Q80T and the cable box connected, I have lip sync issues.  That leads me to believe that the Xfinity box may be creating problems for some Q80T owners (and perhaps other brands) but certainly not the other Atmos issues reported.  All I want for this living space is a reasonable watching /listening experience with movies and standalone music listening.  I think the ARC will provide that as I’m not going for a full HT setup--I have that in a different room in the house.  The idea of HT gear in the living room is not wife-approved unless everything is concealed and I don’t have the bucks to pursue that.

Sooo, after this long-winded spiel, I think the ARC is a good choice for me, knowing that I’m not going to be employing Atmos anytime in the near future.  Still, these issues are troubling and I hope that the manufacturers work to get them resolved soon.

@CvH7 im not sure about your research, but if I go into expert audio settings on the TV it has the option to turn eArc to auto 🤣🤷‍♂️.    Let’s hope the new arcs shipping in November have fixed the issue once and for all! 

So I have a Samsung 2020 75” Frame TV.   Ordered a Sonos Arc bar and 2 x One SL surrounds for our TV room.   Got the One SL’s today, but the Arc seems to be backordered for a little bit (maybe a good thing?).   Was just looking around today on Atmos support and found this thread.   Have to admit, I started off super worried that I made a huge mistake.    Judging by recent comments though, when my Arc arrives, I should be fine plugging into eArc and turning to Auto, correct?    Does the Samsung Frame support Atmos, it says it doesn’t have Atomos on Samsung website, but does that mean it’s just not built-in to the TV speakers (but using a soundbar like Arc I’ll have full Dolby Atmos?).   Thanks, sorry for the relatively dumb questions! 

To start with, the Frame does not support Dolby Atmos (from what I can see on the 2020 models, don’t have your TV model number, so cannot say it with 100% certainty). 

Depending on your level of audiophile requirements, I honestly don’t think you need to be worried.

Atmos is a great future, but even the ARC does not provide a true Dolby Atmos experience. In my opinion you will need a full Atmos (wired) setup for this with ceiling mounted speakers. I find it hard to really hear the difference between an Atmos movie or a 5.1 Dolby Surround and my TV does support Atmos. I have the same setup with the Arc, 2x Sonos One’s as surround and I do have the subwoofer which really is awesome. 

The e-arc issue I believe is also not a concern for the Frame, as from what I can see the Frame only support “arc” (audio return channel) but not e-arc. Even if it did, you can still get the sound to work great with the e-arc functionality off. You will still get a fully imersive surround sound, as the e-arc function on my TV has not been working since my purchase in April, yet I can watch movies and listen to music and still make the house shake. 

sorry for the lengthy response, hope this settles your purchase nerves. Hope the Arc arrives soon!

Sorry, but you are incorrect. The Frame does indeed support e-Arc. And correct me if I’m wrong but the TV doesn’t need to support Atmos does it? I thought that was a function of the sound system, in this case the Arc.

@CvH7 im not sure about your research, but if I go into expert audio settings on the TV it has the option to turn eArc to auto 🤣🤷‍♂️.    Let’s hope the new arcs shipping in November have fixed the issue once and for all! 

I’m sorry to report I don’t think it’s completely fixed. I have a 65 inch The Frame and a new ARC. It did work out of the box for a few days but then suddenly I had the intermittent audio. To make a long story short I turned off e-Arc and that worked for a day. The following day the problem was back so I reset and reconfigured the ARC and now everything is working again. Not sure what cause the system to become intermittent. One thing I noticed is the Samsung would show HDMI e-Arc, then  just HDMI when the problem was occurring. 

Hopefully this was a transient issue. I’ll report back if it comes back.

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@waclark57 Thanks for sharing. Unfortunately it’s what we’re all facing as well. It will come back. It happens every time I turn on my TV now. I have to turn off and turn on my Arc at the main power switch. 

@CvH7 im not sure about your research, but if I go into expert audio settings on the TV it has the option to turn eArc to auto 🤣🤷‍♂️.    Let’s hope the new arcs shipping in November have fixed the issue once and for all! 

I’m sorry to report I don’t think it’s completely fixed. I have a 65 inch The Frame and a new ARC. It did work out of the box for a few days but then suddenly I had the intermittent audio. To make a long story short I turned off e-Arc and that worked for a day. The following day the problem was back so I reset and reconfigured the ARC and now everything is working again. Not sure what cause the system to become intermittent. One thing I noticed is the Samsung would show HDMI e-Arc, then  just HDMI when the problem was occurring. 

Hopefully this was a transient issue. I’ll report back if it comes back.

I have same issue , after the last auto update on the Samsung tv 1403.1 its an issue again for me. So a sulation for you Was to reset Sonos Arc ?

@CvH7 im not sure about your research, but if I go into expert audio settings on the TV it has the option to turn eArc to auto 🤣🤷‍♂️.    Let’s hope the new arcs shipping in November have fixed the issue once and for all! 

I’m sorry to report I don’t think it’s completely fixed. I have a 65 inch The Frame and a new ARC. It did work out of the box for a few days but then suddenly I had the intermittent audio. To make a long story short I turned off e-Arc and that worked for a day. The following day the problem was back so I reset and reconfigured the ARC and now everything is working again. Not sure what cause the system to become intermittent. One thing I noticed is the Samsung would show HDMI e-Arc, then  just HDMI when the problem was occurring. 

Hopefully this was a transient issue. I’ll report back if it comes back.

I have same issue , after the last auto update on the Samsung tv 1403.1 its an issue again for me. So a sulation for you Was to reset Sonos Arc ?

Yes. I did a hard reset and it’s all working now. 

I unplug power from the Arc not the socket on the wal works again now after connecting again :)

Hi, I experience the same issue with my 2020 75” The Frame. Whenever I switch TV on, I experience the intermittent sound issue. I have found setting e-arc to auto and disabling Dolby Atmos Compatibility, and then getting back to the previous configuration fixes the issue without having to unplug Sonos Arc.

I hope this is fixed soon since it is annoying having to be changing config so frequently

I have a 2020 Q80T, Arc, Sub Gen 2 and a pair of One SL’s. I have the Arc plugged into eArc, Atmos enabled in the TV and the TV set to eArc. No lip sync issues at all. The Sonos app indicates Atmos when playing Atmos content. If I turn off eArc in my sound settings the app indicates Atmos Dolby Digital+. 
my set up sounds great and has worked flawlessly so far. The TV is 10 days old. 

Thanks for your feedback Alberta, Can you confirm please that the eARC setiing is on AUTO. So Sound > Expert Setting > eARC enabled option is Auto. And then confirm you have sound. Can you confirm the source of Atmos please and also can you confirm when eARC is enabled if you get any sound on normal channels such as terrestrial broadcasting/in built apps such as Netflix?

Had dd+, but followed the settings as stated above. On my Samsung tv I hit settings>sound>expert settings>eARC enabled option is auto. Now when I check my system and main page audio output, I’m receiving true Dolby Atmos….no more Dolby digital +. Hope this helps others if you have a Samsung tv. 

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