Crackling with Sonos Beam gen 2 (Multi PCM 5.1)

Use the HDMI cable that came with the Beam.

What happens if you change the Digital Out Format setting on the TV to “Multichannel” instead of “Multichannel (bypass)”?

What happens if you disable eARC?

First of all thanks for the reply.

• I’m using the HDMI cable that came with the beam

• If I change the Digital Out Format on the TV to “multichannel” then I get the format “Dolby Multichannel PCM” instead of “Multichannel PCM”. But in this Mode there is no Dolby TrueHD and on PS5 there is only Dolby Multichannel PCM 2.0 available over linear PCM where i lose surround sound. The TV is doing all decoding in this case which results in loss of audio quality.

• If i disable eARC then obviously the Multichannel PCM 5.1 format is not available. But also no Dolby Atmos and no Dolby TrueHD, so this is not an option for me.

Hi @ntx 

Welcome to the Sonos Community!

Your diagnostics do not indicate any issue with the Beam, but I do see the problem events in the logs - it looks like a problem with the in-coming feed. I recommend you unplug your TV from power for at least 2 minutes. Standby will not suffice.

If that doesn’t help, please try rebooting the Beam too - unplugging for a few seconds will do. I doubt this will help, but if you haven’t already tried, it’s worth a shot.

I hope this helps.

Hello @ntx ,

I'm experiencing the same issues with the same tv.

However I have an arc, sub, and 2xplay1.

Did you find a way to fix it?

Thank you in advance.

Hello all,

My Sonos Beam Gen 2 is linked through eARC to my Philips OLED807 Series, and I'm also having problems with popping and crackling while using Multi PCM 5.1. My go-to test on my Apple TV is the MEGHAN trailer. Everything from Atmos to Dolby Digital is fine. Everything works if I disable eARC, however Apple TV does not have Atmos if eARC is disabled, and I don't want to do that. Everything ought to communicate. I've been working on this for days. In the hopes of resolving this, I have spent a fortune on approved HDMI cables. Same brand of TV just different model. I’m starting to think Philips eARC implementation could be the issue here. 

Hi all,

its an Philips issue with the used Mediatek Chipset. 806 and 807 series (basically the same chipset) are affected as i know.

The Multichannel (bypass) in combination with eARC setting is broken. You can use eARC only with the Multichannel setting (without bypass). Dolby Atmos (streaming), DTS and apple tv is working fine like this. The downside though is that you cant get lossless audio (Dolby trueHD and Multi-PCM) with this setting, because the TV converts every signal to DD first and then passes the decoded PCM signal to your Sonos System. But this is the only usable way at the moment if you dont want to return your TV. Or turning eARC off.

I opened a case at Philips already and provided debug logs. Philips is informed and promised a fix in the next few Firmware Updates. Unfortunately i dont have any info on the timeline when the update will be available..

Well that’s good & bad news but news nonetheless. I saw the following on their website earlier but I am already on firmware 248 and the popping and cracking is still there. But, it does show they know they have an issue with audio.

“Dear customer,
Due to unforeseen circumstances your TV, in the model series mentioned below, received an incorrect software update. This can result in a different sound experience than you are used to. A new software update, to solve the situation, will be send to your TV soon and within 48 hours at the latest. If you don’t receive the update automatically please have a look at this support text:
https://tv-sound-monitors.philips.com/s/article/How-to-fix-the-audio-issues-after-the-software-update-101-001-003-232-1675855626217”

I’m going to speak to my retailer and see where I stand on returning the set if they cannot fix this. I do not want to return the set as I really quite fond of it but if it’s not functioning as it should then I may have to. 

Thanks for the update

I don’t suppose you have any correspondence from Philips you could send me confirming this for my retailer?

Hello NTX,

Thank you for the feedback and raising this issue to Philips.

What is strange is that I got this TV since October and the issue just started around end of December, beginning of January I would say.

Let’s hope they solve this quickly and nicely at least.

As i know the 248 Firmware fixes only sound issues with the internal Speakers not sound systems over eARC. So we can only wait.

all is based in my own research. I dont have any confirmations from philips. Only the promise that it will be fixed in one of the next firmware updates.