Sound cutting in and out on Sonos Arc after playing Dolby Atmos content on Apple TV 4K

O

Sound cutting in and out on my Sonos Arc after playing Dolby Atmos content on Apple TV 4K 

I’ve had my Sonos Arc and Sub Gen 3 for about two weeks now and I’m very satisfied with the sound quality, but I’m having some very annoying issues with audio cutting in and out… 
I have the latest LG OLED TV, a LG GX (same as the CX, just wall mounted). The only two boxes I have hooked up to my TV is an Apple TV 4K and a PS4 Pro, but I’m having sound issues on my Apple TV.
Before I explain the problem, yes, I’ve pretty much done all the troubleshooting I can do. Plug everything in and out, check that the cables is properly connected, updated everything, the Arc, TV and Apple TV, everything should be up to date as I’m writing this post. 

 

Okay, so here’s the issue, with a half ish solution. 

My issue: 
If I play any content that supports Dolby Atmos on iTunes, Apple TV+, Netflix etc. and try to play some music through the Apple Music app or watch any video on YouTube on my Apple TV after that, the audio cuts in and out every other second. This even happens after playing a Dolby Atmos movie on iTunes and when I go back to the movie menu, the audio starts to cut in and out. It doesn't help to turn the TV and Apple TV on and off and it doesn't help to just restart the Apple TV itself. 

 

The half ish solution:

The only fix that I found that worked, is to play a movie that is in 5.1 after playing Dolby Atmos supported content. If I do that and then go into Apple Music or YouTube, the audio is fine and it doesn't cut in and out every other second. 

 

The issue: 
So it seem like the Arc might have an issue going from Dolby Atmos straight over to stereo sound. But going from Dolby Atmos to 5.1 or from 5.1 to stereo works just fine.
It work perfectly the other way around, from stereo to 5.1 or Dolby Atmos. The only thing I hear then is a little loud zippering or buzzing sound, but I guess that’s just because the Arc is switching the sound receiving signal? If that zippering / buzzing sound shouldn't happen, let me know. 

 

The funny part: 

Here’s the the funny part though, if I play something in Dolby Atmos on my Apple TV and after that play a YouTube video on the built-in YouTube app on the TV, the audio is fine. Same if I AirPlay music to the Arc. So I’m a little unsure if there’s something that has to be fixed from Sonos’s end or Apple’s? 

I’m seeing a lot of people on here tags @Ryan A  and @Kyle A, so I’m gonna do that too, seeing as they come up with a lot of good answers. 

If anyone else has had similar issues, let me know.

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110 replies

C

Confirmed the HD Fury Arcana resolves the issue 100% so it’s definitely an issue with the lossy encoding of Atmos over Dolby digital plus pass through over HDMI arc instead of eArc to the Sonos arc. Likely some edge case between how Netflix encodes Atmos and how LG and other manufactures pass through over ARC.

 

The Arcana splits the HDMI signal, sends audio to the Sonos Arc over HDMI eArc and video to the Display over HDMI arc. I still have volume controls but now I also have upscaling, reliable Atmos, and the ability to force HDR. Love it. Expensive, but worth it overall. 

 

Technically speaking, Sonos might be able to program the arc to handle this edge case. Not necessarily on them to do this though. 

G
Userlevel 7

@Tudor Glad you got it working. FYI, the Arc doesn’t support DTS audio so you can have the HDMI setting on DD+ and it should work too.

"Receive with simplicity everything that happens to you." - Rashi
T
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So went to Roku audio settings.  Audio was already on auto DD+, But the HDMI was on auto.  I changed this to DD+, DTS and then I got great sound

Thanks for pointing me in the right direction

 

G
Userlevel 7

@Tudor Does your Arcana have the latest firmware installed?

"Receive with simplicity everything that happens to you." - Rashi
T
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I have a Roku Streaming Stick + which is meant to supply sound in Atmos

The audio setting on the Roku is Auto DD+.  I get sound from all the other apps except AppleTV

I read elsewhere to change the audio in Apple tv app itself but that is not an option 

 

Any ideas

 

 

G
Userlevel 7

I am trying to watch appletv via HDFury Arcana from Roku .     When I am in the settings for AppleTV there is no choice to change audio output.  So it’s silent.

any ideas?

 

To clarify, are you using the Apple TV+ app on a Roku device? If so, what are the audio settings on your Roku set to? What specific Roku device are you using?

"Receive with simplicity everything that happens to you." - Rashi
T
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I am trying to watch appletv via HDFury Arcana from Roku .     When I am in the settings for AppleTV there is no choice to change audio output.  So it’s silent.

any ideas?

 

B

It is fixed with the new Netflix app on AppleTV released 1/19/2021.

L
Userlevel 5
Badge +11

Hello, I’m writing from Colombia.  I have the same problem. LG CX + Apple TV 4K + Sonos ARC + 2 Sonos one LS. LG firmware 03.11.30 no updates 

Can you get the new 3.21.09 firmware, that seems to have fixed the issue you have, not had the issue since installing this firmware on my cx, but did only install it yesterday.

Although this new firmware does dim HDR game mode, and LG have said they will be fixing that in another firmware in the coming weeks, so if you game on the CX you might want to wait for the next firmware. 

G

Hello, I’m writing from Colombia.  I have the same problem. LG CX + Apple TV 4K + Sonos ARC + 2 Sonos one LS. LG firmware 03.11.30 no updates 

bclarkep
Userlevel 1
Badge

WOW

LG just fixed the issue today they pushed a new firmware.

 

03.21.09

 

fully resolved the Dolby Atmos issues when switching from stereo to Atmos back to strep on Apple TV.

 

So happy, after months of this not working!

D
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Frustrating that this firmware is not widely available if it fixes the issues.  I am on 3.11.30 and no updates available.

It’s easy to download from the Korean website. 
https://www.lgservice.co.kr/search/driverSoftTotalSearchPage.do?searchKeyWord=2020%EB%85%84%20LG%20%EC%98%AC%EB%A0%88%EB%93%9C%20AI%20%EC%B5%9C%EC%8B%A0%20%EC%86%8C%ED%94%84%ED%8A%B8%EC%9B%A8%EC%96%B4_OLEDxxCXX_GXX_O20)&oneCateCode=1005&twoCateCode=D002795

 

select the first option All Red = OLED

I saw a couple of people on the LG forum did this and said it did not fix the issue.  Can you verify that it worked for you?   I am just a little leery of installing a potentially unsupported firmware, and then have something else go wrong on a $3500 TV and not get support from LG.    
 

granted I’ve only had the update for a day but so far so good! The soundbar going out for 2-3 seconds issue has not popped back up!
 

The Apple TV issue with atmos and stereo sound cutting in and out has been resolved for sure  

 

T

Frustrating that this firmware is not widely available if it fixes the issues.  I am on 3.11.30 and no updates available.

It’s easy to download from the Korean website. 
https://www.lgservice.co.kr/search/driverSoftTotalSearchPage.do?searchKeyWord=2020%EB%85%84%20LG%20%EC%98%AC%EB%A0%88%EB%93%9C%20AI%20%EC%B5%9C%EC%8B%A0%20%EC%86%8C%ED%94%84%ED%8A%B8%EC%9B%A8%EC%96%B4_OLEDxxCXX_GXX_O20)&oneCateCode=1005&twoCateCode=D002795

 

select the first option All Red = OLED

I saw a couple of people on the LG forum did this and said it did not fix the issue.  Can you verify that it worked for you?   I am just a little leery of installing a potentially unsupported firmware, and then have something else go wrong on a $3500 TV and not get support from LG.    

L
Userlevel 5
Badge +11

Frustrating that this firmware is not widely available if it fixes the issues.  I am on 3.11.30 and no updates available.

Yeah as above if in US it seems you can install the Korean firmware, but overall looks like it was a small push of updates early in the week to a select few, likely they will push to TVs in the new year now or hopefully upload to the website to download and install manually.

D
Badge

Frustrating that this firmware is not widely available if it fixes the issues.  I am on 3.11.30 and no updates available.

It’s easy to download from the Korean website. 
https://www.lgservice.co.kr/search/driverSoftTotalSearchPage.do?searchKeyWord=2020%EB%85%84%20LG%20%EC%98%AC%EB%A0%88%EB%93%9C%20AI%20%EC%B5%9C%EC%8B%A0%20%EC%86%8C%ED%94%84%ED%8A%B8%EC%9B%A8%EC%96%B4_OLEDxxCXX_GXX_O20)&oneCateCode=1005&twoCateCode=D002795

 

select the first option All Red = OLED

T

Frustrating that this firmware is not widely available if it fixes the issues.  I am on 3.11.30 and no updates available.

M
Userlevel 2
Badge

This is apparently fixed on the LG CX with new firmware (3.21.09), only available in some regions at the moment though.

 

Confirmed, this is fixed in LG CX firmware 3.21.09 :)

D
Badge

This is apparently fixed on the LG CX with new firmware (3.21.09), only available in some regions at the moment though.

 

Good to hear!

L
Userlevel 5
Badge +11

This is apparently fixed on the LG CX with new firmware (3.21.09), only available in some regions at the moment though.

 

F

Having this exact issue - any updates yet? I’m fairly sure it’s related to the AppleTV only.

Problem occurs for me when:

  1. Watch any Atmos content (typically Disney+ is easiest)
  2. Atmos sound works fine
  3. Back out to YouTube app (or any non-Atmos app)
  4. Sound doesn’t work, goes in/out every second
  5. Return to Disney+
  6. Even Atmos sound is broken at this point

If I change to any other device via HDMI, the sound works just fine, even if using Atmos. Typically I’ll just move to my built in TV apps until the issue eventually fixes itself.

D
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I’m resigned to just use the WebOS YouTube and streaming apps. I’ll likely only use Apple TV for apps that aren’t available on WebOS. 
 

However, when streaming Netflix or any other Dolby vision show, I’ve noticed at times it will drop audio coming from the Sonos arc for 2-3 seconds, revert to TV audio, and then revert back to the arc. My LG CX flashes HDMI port 2 now available as if it was temporarily disconnected. Does anyone else experience this? 

B

As some others have said on this thread, fairly certain this is not a Sonos issue as I was experiencing it before my Arc Arrived. It’s an Apple TV problem from what I can tell. This thread offers some help (workaround): https://discussions.apple.com/thread/251880434

 

 

J

FYI, this is definitely not a SONOS issue.  Unplugged the HDMI ARC to the Sonos and you’ll see the the LG tv does the same audio stuttering.  This is an LG tv and Apple TV issue.  It’s just that so many people have this LG CX, Apple TV and Sonos combo that people naturally blame the speaker system.

Agreed. I had this issue prior to receiving my Arc. The chirp is new however and may be specific to the Arc. Anyone have recommended updates/workarounds taking in account that LPCM should now be supported?

D
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I have just re tested the google TV chromecast and the problem has been solved! 
 

I used atmos and then switched to YouTube on the google TV chromecast and no sound cutting in and out! Miracle! 

D
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I think the issue is with the Sonos arc itself. I have tried multiple devices, including Apple TV 4K, Roku ultra, and also Google TV chromecast on my LG 77 Cx.  All of them have the issue of the sound cutting in and out after playing Dolby atmos and then playing YouTube. Surprisingly if I play atmos and then another app like CNN go, the sound does not cut in and out. It may be an issue with the YouTube app on third party streamers? 
 

 

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