Sonos Playbar sound issue? Dialogues in movies/shows are not easy to understand fully.

I highly suggest you give support a call and talk through your specific issues with them

Good suggestion Stuart.




Q1 : Do you plan to update Sonos app to fix that ? equalizer, presets ....
Q2 : Is there any other 3rd-party app that would allow more configuration ?
Q3 : Any tricks to disable/workaround the 2nd issue ?

We're constantly trying to improve audio, so yes, you can expect to see changes in the future. We don't share timelines or a roadmap so unfortunately that's about the best information I can offer right now.

On your third question, you could try plugging a headphone jack into the TV and see if that mutes the TV speakers.


Ryan,

His this sound issue with playbar been resolved?
My wife is complaining to me every day about the sound issues and we have to watch tv constantly putting volume up and down.

Dear Sonos,


Please work on the improvement of the Playbar Voice quality.

Thanks,
Marco

HI Marco and Miggs, there isn't a specific "issue" that's identified here. From what we've seen and experienced TV and movie audio usually sounds awesome through the various Sonos configurations possible. We're constantly trying to tweak things to get them even better, but no known issue exists right now that's being looked into with the need for a solution.

As first recommended, if you have trouble separating the audio with the vocals for programs the "Speech Enhancement" mode works wonders usually. If you have a specific problem which comes up a lot we'd love to take a closer look. There may be an issue with a specific type of device or broadcast that hasn't been identified yet, and if that's the case we'd love to find and resolve it.

If you do have trouble that keeps coming up can you please give us a call on our support line and work with a technician to get a closer look into things?

Having the exact same issue with dialogue being very difficult to understand. I have tried the aforementioned modes of voice and night mode. No luck. I am thinking I made a bad choice in this system. I have had it about two weeks, may just have to return to Bestbuy. I am running through my Xbox One with the included optical. I was using the optical through my 65 inch Samsung but due to voice delay and at numerous times no voice track and... the Sonos not being able to fix it through the voice setting, I hooked up directly to Xboxone. Now there is voice with sometimes a slight delay, but mostly the poor clarity in the dialogue. It just sounds too low with the background tracks too high. Please update and fix Sonos.

Like the firat comment said. Speech enhancement worked for me. Had this thing for 6 months before i finally got fed up and googled it haha

Hello, I found a setting in the sonos app today that has solved all of my problems with the ambient sound being too loud.

I went into settings, then room settings then picked my room, then advanced audio, then surround settings. The tv level adjustment was set to max. I reduced that to around the middle and the sound levels are so much better.

This has made a huge difference to me, I hope it helps you guys out m

Plenty of folks are reporting the same problem with voices being unclear. For Sonos to respond with saying there is no reported issue is a little derogatory to the people reporting these issues. Dialog/Voice Enhancements work a little bit to improve the situation, but this setting makes the voices sound thin and artificial, unworthy of a $700 playbar in combination with a $700 sub and $400 worth of Play 1 speakers as surrounds. For the $1800 people spend, adding a simple software setting to raise the volume of the speaker dedicated voices, shouldn't be too much to ask,

I was also unpleasantly surprised that when I hooked up the optical audio from the TV to the playbar, and then the Xbox One to the HDMI input on the TV, this didn't work and after some Googling found that my Sharp Aquos TV is not supported by Sonos. As a workaround, I plugged in the optical audio from the Xbox and changed the Xbox sound output setting to bitstream.

Perhaps this is a reason why the voices are unclear and the volume during 5.1 surround movies seems to get louder, softer, then to muffled...?

Ok, friends, I have an answer!!! I own an RCA 55" Digital Television. I went in to my TV menu and adjusted the sound settings. I turned Surround Sound to OFF. I turned the Equalizer settings to USER. I adjusted EQ Settings so that the lowest bass is lower, midrange higher and high treble slightly lower. (Basically making a sound wave that I like) Then I set the Digital Audio Output to RAW. The result is CRYSTAL CLEAR SOUND in movies and music from my Sonos system. Use this idea and check the settings in everything that feeds the SONOS so that nothing else but the SONOS is processing the audio signal. THAT, my friends will improve your movie watching experience. Happy viewing!

Wait!? Does TonyDancer's solution (to change the EQ settings on the TV) work? I'm just about to buy a PlayBar, mostly to improve dialogue clarity for streaming (Netflix, HBO Now, etc.). My Samsung TV offers a "Clear Voice" EQ preset, which I just tried and it does, indeed, clear up the mid-ranges while sacrificing some bass. However, I do not see an option to set the Digital Audio output to RAW, so I am uncertain if the Samsung TV is going to output "Clear Voice." Here's a question: in a TV+PlayBar setup, what is processing the sound — the TV? The PlayBar? Both?

Hey BradleyK.... (and others)

Samsung TVs should have a PCM setting which outputs 24mbps that will send a clear signal to the SONOS Playbar. Look to see also if the Samsung has a Dolby Digital output. The transmission rate is lower, but should still be nice. If you have the TV outputting "Clear Voice" then the Playbar is processing an oversampled signal which it will then distort and create a problem in your final product. If you are outputting from the TV to the Sonos, you want the TV to be doing zero processing. Another alternative is to hook your source directly to the Sonos. This is ideal if you only have one source (Like an AppleTV or such.) If you have multiple sources, then try to make sure that the TV is sending a pure unprocessed digital signal for the Sonos to equalize. Best of luck. Let me know if you need any further help!