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  • I have just the bar in a small room when playing games back ground sounds like weather and any ambient audio is very quiet. When using atmos there is no directional audio it sounds flat in fact the atmos when i unhook the bar sounds better on my LG C1 and it even has some directional audio. Yet when i watch the same game on youtube the sonos beam sounds amazing even has good virtual surround i am so confused how a game sounds terrible from source with no directional audio and on youtube sounds great with pinpoint directional audio.

    Example: Battlefield 5 when i play it on xbox i can only just hear footsteps and when i do you have no idea what direction they are coming from. Now when i watch someone play it on youtube and any other game you can hear em clear as day and the whole game is surround sound it fills my room with sound this is so backwards ii bet you all don't believe me or know how to help.

Hi ​@Minetot619 

Thanks for your post!

Sorry to hear of this issue you are having with XBox audio. It sounds like you are just receiving stereo audio - you should be able to confirm this with the Sonos app by tapping on the Now Playing bar at the bottom of the app - it will expand to fill the screen, and you should see the codec being received - my guess is that you’ll see PCM 2.0 or Stereo reported there.

There are a couple of possibilities as to why it is going wrong - either the XBox’s or the TV’s settings are wrong, or the TV cannot pass surround audio from external sources.

You mention getting surround in YouTube - are you watching YouTube on a TV app, or a XBox app? This may help in determining which device needs configured.

I am not familiar with Xboxes, but going by this page on xbox.com, you want to go to “Additional options can be found under Settings > General > Volume & audio output > Advanced. These allow you to truly customise your audio experience on Xbox. Choose Additional options to adjust settings such as Audio passthrough”.

In addition, the audio output format option on your TV should be set to Auto or Passthrough, and eARC should be on.

Basically, play with these settings until you get the results you want, as seen in the Sonos app’s Now Playing screen.

I hope this helps.

I have Earc 2.1 capable tv all the settings are correct and the app for example i have it set to 5.1 uncompressed and on the app it says multichannel pcm 5.1 and when i have it set to Dolby Atmos or Dolby digital it is reflected on the app. I am also using the xbox youtube app. I am not an audiophile this aint matter of minute audio problems. When play games in atmos or 5.1 there is no directional audio the ambient sounds are so quiet they are not audible unless you turn it to 50% and then the music and dialog etc are so loud the whole street can hear it. I am so confused is this a scam to force you to buy the other speakers and sub? The games i watch on youtube sound incredible why do they sound flat and have no detail or depth directly from source its driving me wild!!!

Hi ​@Minetot619 

Understood. 

For your information, when playing McLPCM or just PCM audio, there is no decoding process - the incoming audio is already in the format that is passed to the digital amplifiers inside the speaker. Due to this, there is also no gain adjustment performed during the decode process, which results in McLPCM/PCM audio tending to be a good bit quieter than other formats.

There should be directional audio when McLPCM is reported in the Sonos app, however. It will be quieter, however - perhaps you just cannot hear it?

I recommend you tell the XBox not to output uncompressed audio, if you can - this will result in a more consistent experience when it comes to volume.

If you continue to see this difference between game audio and surround audio on videos, I recommend you get in touch with our technical support team who have tools at their disposal that will allow them to give you advice specific to your Sonos system and what it reports.

I hope this helps.

 

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