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Talvish
Enthusiast II
June 21, 2020

Sonos Arc + Samsung Q90T | Sound Cutting Out | Anyone else?

So I recently picked up the Sonos Arc + Sub and a Samsung Q90T TV (which has HDMI 2.1/eArc) and I am experiencing the sound cutting out periodically. Some details:

  • Only devices I can test with are an Xbox One S, Xbox One X and the built-in Samsung TV Apps

  • Sonos, Xboxes and Saumsung are properly set to have Dolby Atmos

  • I have experienced sound cutting out on both Atmos and 5.1 

  • I have experienced sound cutting out from both the Xboxes as well as the built-in Samsung TV Apps (only tested the Netflix app) . . . so I know the Xboxes aren't the issue

  • At times the sound cuts out very infrequently (minutes apart) and other times about every 10 to 20 seconds and there is no discernible pattern on what changes this.

  • There is a sound setting on the TV showing ‘sound output’ that should should normally say ‘Receiver(HDMI-eARC)’ when you have the ‘HDMI eARC Mode’ set to ‘auto’ but sometimes shows ‘Receiver(HDMI)’ instead (as if it lost the eARC signal).

  • The most stable I have seen the sound (though it did cut out once during a 30 to 40 minute session, so perhaps it is just much less likely) is if I go to the Samsung TV settings and set ‘HDMI eARC Mode’ to ‘off’ (only other option is ‘auto’). When doing this Dolby Atmos still works (at least it says so in the Sonos app).

I don't know if this is a Samsung issue, a Sonos issue, or just the two of them working together. Curious if this is some form of eARC / HDMI signaling issue.

Perhaps related side-note: the Samsung settings do say when playing with the settings it may cause temporary muting, which is kind of what this is, so wondering if when in 'auto eArc' mode, there is a problem. Unfortunately there is no way to force on, just 'off' and 'auto'.

On reddit, someone with a Samsung Q80T also said they had this issue. They also mentioned that toggling ‘Dolby Atmos compatibility’ fixed it (though obviously no Atmos). My experience was more temperamental. Sometimes it got better and sometimes it didn’t.

Anyone else experiencing anything like this?

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    98 replies

    Stweeve
    Lyricist I
    June 21, 2020

    Q80T + Arc here. This happened to me yesterday as well. Right after I tried the beta upgrade. Cutting out only happened with audio from the TV. Was still able to play music via my phone.

    In the end I did a factory reset on the TV. Didn’t resolve the issue. I then did a power cycle on the Arc and this seemed to fix it. 

    I’m starting to feel rev 1 owners of the arc are beta testers...

      jlindstrom
      Lyricist III
      June 21, 2020

      Q95T and Arc with same issue. First two weeks no probs, now started cutting couple of days ago.

      Power cycle Arc + disable/enable hdmi+cec fixes it for some time.

      khaz22
      Avid Contributor III
      June 21, 2020

      Same issue with Samsung here.  Swapped HDMI cable initially and it was a fix for about a week.  Issue came back yesterday.

        TalvishAuthor
        Enthusiast II
        June 21, 2020

        This is definitely wider-spread. Another post here about the Samsung Frame:

        https://en.community.sonos.com/home-theater-228993/sonos-arc-samsung-frame-tv-earc-not-working-6842523?postid=16444852#post16444852

          TimCooper
          Contributor I
          June 22, 2020

          I have same issue with Q95TsQ95T and ARC.

           

          I have noticed two things:-

           

          1) As noted during the issue, I have always lost the Sonos signal from the EARC source. I.e. I don't see the Sonos picture anymore, if I change to the Sonos source.

           

          2) a quick unplug and replug of the HDMI cable from the ARC fixes the issue.

           

          Might be worth checking these two issues/fixes to confirm same issue?

          Kryt3n
          Trending Lyricist I
          June 22, 2020

          I am seeing this issue on a 2020 LG with eARC but just so far with TrueHD/Atmos tracks mainly durring action scenes when the sound gets quite intense (possible higher bit rates?). Source is Plex on an Nvidia Shield. Will do more testing.

          currdog
          Lyricist I
          June 22, 2020

          I have a 2020 Sony X950 with eARC and have encountered a similar issue. When streaming Netflix content in Dolby Vision HDR and Dolby Atmos, the audio cuts out from time to time. When this happens I can exit Netflix, but the audio does not return. The Android TV UI makes a “ding” sound every time you navigate the menus, but that does not work until I power cycle the television.

           

          After seeing this forum with Samsung and LG users, I’m guessing it’s the arc sound bar itself. I have about 14 days to return and I might do that. For $799 and my first Sonos experience, it isn’t a good one.

            kevin_d_black
            Lyricist II
            June 23, 2020

            Happening to me daily. 

            To fix it I go into expert sound settings and toggle dolby atmos off and back on.

            Hopefully just a bug that's fixed with a software update 

              jlindstrom
              Lyricist III
              July 2, 2020

              First worked perfect. Then cutting daily and all of a sudden, was again working for several days without any problems. Was already thinking it had been sorted… WRONG! Today started cutting again 😫

              I also contacted sonos support about it → nobody got back to me about it 😡

              muchbemused
              Lyricist I
              July 2, 2020

              This is happening to me on my LG C9 TV, Apple TV 4K, and Arc.  

              With no pattern that I can establish, I will sometimes start a show with the Apple TV and get no sound. The Sonos app says there’s no signal. By adjusting the LG TV sound settings to toggle eARC off then on again, the sound always comes back immediately, and continues to perform well, generally for days.

              I’ve never seen it go out during a show. Only after a period of non-use. This does not happen every time. And it seems to happen for Atmos, 5.1, and stereo content alike.

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