Very disappointing experience with playbar+sub - audio dorpping out/clipping/stutter & going into pause burst

  • 13 November 2017
  • 1 reply
  • 609 views

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I have only had the unit fora few weeks and when playing music the sound is fantastic and outperforms my expectation entirely. Unfortunately though it's primary duty of being a soundbar for me has been a terrible experience.

My old TV was a cheap HD TV bought a good few years ago so the issues I was having I attributed to that, I had things running through a cheap optical splitter to get sound from both my sky q box and Xbox one without having to change cables all the time and had notices some auto clipping sounds and stutters which I attributed to this switch. Last Wednesday though I got my new TV a nice upgrade from the previous a 55" LG 4K and plugged in the optical eager to get rid of the manual switch (and be able to enjoy the native 4k netflix/prime apps).

Since ... still getting the auto clipping/dropouts. The only thing it has resolved though is my Sky Q box when plugged directly into the playbar or through the optical splitter I would lose sound completely on some channels and the source in the sonos app would show as "Pause Burst". This doesn't happen when passing through the TV. At my whits and and having tried 3 different optical cables the only thing that seems to sort it is going stereo sound only but this is pointless and to be honest sounds terrible in comparison. With music year stereo sounds great but the sub almost sounds non existent using stereo on TV.

I spoke to sonos today after sending another diagnostic to see if they could spot anything prior to me returning the playbar to the shop possibly to change for another product or just try a replacement playbase. The sonos tech on the phone told me to chnage to PCM and that will fix it, Dolby Digital doesn't work as I dont have rear speakers .... after 20minutes of arguing and eventually finding a post on here from one of the community tech's stating what happens when the playbar received 5.1 signal (to simulates surround from the playbar) only then did they admit Dolby Digital is supported on playbar with just the sub.

I got the impression they know there is an issue with the product and can't fix, having looked through various long threads similar with no fix years down the line and telling me to go to PCM and try and say DD isn't supported was unacceptable to me. My cheap 2.1 LG system I had before had better low end than running everything on PCM.

It's a shame, I was really happy with the performance and astounded by the music performance of the kit but now don't know whether to return the unit to store tonight for a replacement or just give up on sonos completely. Its only been just under 3 weeks so for a faulty return it's ok although the sub was purchased from another retailer I am not sure if they would accept the return as the sub itself is fine and wasn't bought as a set from them!

Slightly long post... The TV is LG 55UJ701v btw. Same sound issues from everything including the internal TV apps. Fairly certain the issue is not present on stereo/PCM although having thought about it I didnt have that setting on for long at all as the sound is so much worse than dolby.

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1 reply

Userlevel 7
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Hi there, go3asy. Thanks for posting your experience. I was able to take a closer look and saw that you worked with Damien. Glad to see that was handled. IF you have any other problems, please feel free to reach back out to us. Enjoy the music.