Contributor I

Answered

Sonos Arc with AV receiver Dolby TrueHD Atmos

15 replies
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Hello, as everyone, I’m excited about the Sonos arc capability, but unable to directly find an answer to my question from the internet. I currently have a Sony OLED A8F with HDMI Arc and mainly utilize a sony bluray player and Apple 4K TV for my movie and streaming.

My question is, I am aware that my TV will only be able to deliver at best DD Plus Atmos to the Arc due to HDMI ARC. However, I am curious if I bought an AV receiver with HDMI 2.1 capability if it is possible to deliver the Dolby TrueHD Atmos to the Sonos Arc this way? I already am looking for options as the Sony bluray player I have delivers gorgeous Dolby vision to my TV, but it can’t deliver surround sound to my Sonos as it can’t convert DTS:X to Dolby (and thus I generally use my apple TV), so I am looking for a receiver that can convert that as well. Anyways, I understand there are a lot of variables at play, I just want to deliver Dolby TrueHD to a sonos Arc via an AV receiver and am curious if that is possible.

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H

HighfalutintoddAnswer

Prominent Collaborator I

I have a similar situation with a 2014 Sharp Aquos TV. To old to pass thru Dolby Atmos to my Arc.

I it an older smart TV but i do not use its internal apps i stream to it from Amazon Fire device. My question is with a proper recevier that has HDMI ARC or ARC+ out can i not go to the receiver with my Fire or Apple TV device and out to the TV with video and out to the Arc with audio? meaning the Audio is not passing thru the TV.

No, this won’t work. The receiver has HDMI-ARC in order to be able to get the audio from the TV’s built-in apps and tuners and then to amplify it and send it to the speakers connected to the receiver. And the Sonos Arc doesn’t have a traditional HDMI input which would accept an output from a receiver (quite weirdly it actually has an HDMI OUTPUT to be able to receive the audio return channel from the TV - hard to wrap the head around).

The only solution we currently know of that will enable an external HDMI to send full range audio like Dolby TrueHD / Atmos from any device to the Sonos Arc is an upcoming adapter from HDFury called Arcana:

https://www.hdfury.com/product/4k-arcana-18gbps/

They’re accepting pre-orders now and it will do exactly what you want - allow you to hook up your Amazon Fire or TV to the Arc to get Atmos while still keeping your old TV.

(@BobbyB86 - this is the answer to your original question, too.)

Arc + Sub 3 + One SLs = Awesome and Loving It!

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G

GuitarSuperstar

Lead Maestro

Has anybody received their HDFury Arcana? Does it work as advertised?

Yes, I have the Arcana and it works great with my 2013 Panasonic Plasma that only has HDMI ARC. Without the Arcana, my TV could only pass through Stereo 2.0 audio from external media devices. With the Arcana, I can now enjoy Dolby TrueHD/Atmos, multichannel PCM, and Dolby Digital Plus/Atmos from my Blu-ray player and Roku Ultra.

"Receive with simplicity everything that happens to you." - Rashi

J

Jpsound2021

Lyricist I

The Sonos Arc Experience...

I been a sonos customer for 3 years now, started with sonos one, got the second for the pair and evolved into a sonos home, got the beam when it came out, added a pair of sonos one 2nd gen. as rears and a $600 sub soon after that. My home theather got from nothing to a full 5.1 dolby digital! paired with a samsung 65KS8000, Apple tv 4k, Xbox 1X & Philips hue sync box for the lights!
after some time the Sonos arc came along and my selling point (to my wife) was the fact the this new addition will be an upgrde to the best surround sound codec out there, Dolby Atmos
and here is when the nightmare started.

First, and after the initial set up, dolby atmos sound showed as “dolby digital’’ or plain PCM.
Got in touch with sonos support thru the app, they were able to connect to my home system and confirmed that my sonos arc wasn’t geting the atmos sound, and after going back and forth, you know going thru the settings on my tv, thru the tv apps, disney, netflix etc. they asked me to set the tv audio to dolby digital+ manually, even when I told them like 20 times that my tv in partucular ONLY HAS PCM OR DIGITAL, NO DIGITAL PLUS OR ANYTHING ELSE. the way the got rid of me was saying that I HAVE TO CHECK WITH MY TV MANUFACTURE in order to “find that setting” setting that doesn’t exist in my tv, then I basically tell them that per sonos website, dolby atmos should be available with regular arc & dolby digital, (just to be clear, dolby digital & arc, as minimun requirement). so when I confronted them with their own articule, they said that that articule was wrong,
Piece of advise to Sonos people:
Advertise that besides a sonos arc, you will need a new tv, one that supports e-arc.
oh! and also revise your articules about compability so people interested in your products won’t waste time.
Listen to Dolby Atmos on Sonos Arc | Sonos

After posting this, will be repacking and returning the sonos arc and consider others options, like lg or vizio. you know, people that has true knoledge about home theater bussines, not just audio home systems.

G

GuitarSuperstar

Lead Maestro

@Jpsound2021 I understand your frustration, but this information is included in the FAQ on the Sonos Arc product page:

Do I need a TV that supports HDMI eARC?

Sonos Arc can connect to TVs with eARC, ARC, or optical outputs. For greatest compatibility, eARC is recommended.

If you connect to a TV with eARC, the Dolby audio formats supported include Dolby Atmos, TrueHD, MAT, Dolby Digital Plus, and Dolby Digital.

If you connect to a TV using ARC, the Dolby audio formats supported are dependent on your TV model and manufacturer. The TV may be capable of sending Dolby Atmos, Dolby Digital Plus, and Dolby Digital. An ARC connection cannot support TrueHD or MAT.

If you connect to a TV using the optical adapter, the Dolby audio formats supported are dependent on your TV model and manufacturer. The TV may be capable of sending Dolby Digital. An optical connection cannot support Dolby Atmos, TrueHD, MAT, or Dolby Digital Plus.

"Receive with simplicity everything that happens to you." - Rashi

J

Jpsound2021

Lyricist I

@GuitarSuperstar THANKS for your response. If I read this before, I shouldn’t had the tasteless experience and all the time wasted for nothing.
P.S. Yes, all this connectivity was done thru HDMI ARC on my tv.
and this tv ONLY supports Digital, to be clear they should straight up warned people that if your tv doesn’t support digital+ there is no reason to upgrade to sonos arc. noboby will pay $800+ for a bigger sound bar (compared to beam)

106rallye

Even the picture you provide yourseld says for that Dolby Atmos, DD+ is needed. I understand that it is hard to find out if your TV is capable of outputting this, but Sonos seems up front about it.

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