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nazariyv
Contributor I
January 19, 2021

Sonos Beam as Computer Speaker

Hi,

I got the sound adapter with my beam and it so happens that my sound card has the socket for this.

I can see in the sound settings that I am on Digital Audio (S/PDIF), although no sound comes out of the Sonos. What do I do?

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10 replies

Airgetlam
Airgetlam
January 19, 2021

Probably check to see what format the computer is sending sound over in. Sonos can read stereo, or Dolby Digital, but not Dolby Digital Plus or DTS.

You may need to check that the optical output on your sound card is actually turned on, too. Several of the ones I’ve interacted with require some messing around in order to make it actually an active output. You know it’s working when there’s a red light coming out the end, then you can start messing with the codecs it is using. 

Bruce
    nazariyvAuthor
    Contributor I
    January 19, 2021

    looks like this is the card that I have:

    C:\Program Files (x86)\Realtek\NICDRV_8169\win10

    Airgetlam
    Airgetlam
    January 19, 2021

    Great. Check the manual. This is a device I’ve never used, 

    Bruce
      nazariyvAuthor
      Contributor I
      January 19, 2021

      Probably check to see what format the computer is sending sound over in. Sonos can read stereo, or Dolby Digital, but not Dolby Digital Plus or DTS.

      You may need to check that the optical output on your sound card is actually turned on, too. Several of the ones I’ve interacted with require some messing around in order to make it actually an active output. You know it’s working when there’s a red light coming out the end, then you can start messing with the codecs it is using. 

      I believe it is turned off because I do not see the red light.

       

      Here are the settings, though for encodings

       

      Airgetlam
      Airgetlam
      January 19, 2021

      Looks good to me. You may want to check the manual, or a support board for Realtek to figure out why the port is not actually active. I know much more about the Sonos ecosystem than what feeds it.

      Bruce
        nazariyvAuthor
        Contributor I
        January 19, 2021

        found the name of the audio card in the motherboard manual:

         

        Realtek S1200A 8-channel High Definition Audio CODEC

        nazariyvAuthor
        Contributor I
        January 20, 2021

        And the port that I have stuck the Sonos in is indeed an optical S/PDIF out port.

        Ken_Griffiths
        Ken_Griffiths
        January 20, 2021

        As the audio chip is on the motherboard, I would check the bios settings on PC startup .. check that the S/PDIF port is enabled.

        Looking briefly at the manual, perhaps check "Advanced/Onboard Device Configuration" to see if that has any audio options that need to be enabled.

        nazariyvAuthor
        Contributor I
        January 20, 2021

        so! Turns out I have to fire up the Sonos app :) now it works. The only issue is that is requires 2.4 GHz wifi, which is OK. I like to have it on 5 GHz though

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