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Sonos Ray optical connection stopped working, any ideas?

S
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Hi, I was using Sonos Ray as computer speakers via soundcard with digital optical output. Everything worked fine until few days ago when Ray no more sees the digital input. The app TV Setup says No signal detected. The digital input works otherwise OK with another device instead Ray.

I have spent almost entire day on the Sonos help line, but in the end they told me they never intended Ray to be used with PC and that it is my problem I bought it and that maybe they changed something so now it doesnt work. This is actually not true, they mention usage with PC on their website: “For a next-level gaming setup, connect your PC.” on https://www.sonos.com/en/shop/ray. 

Do you have any ideas how to possibly fix this without the Sonos helpline help?

What I tried already:
 - factory reset the Ray
 - connect the optical cable to another device - it works
 - reinstall sound card
 - play music on ray through wifi - it works
 - play test sound from the sound output properties in windows - only Dolby Digital works, it plays nevertheless TV Setup (even during the playing) in Sonos app says there is No signal detected, other Encoded formats dont play anything

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Best answer by Rudi vo 24 June 2024, 17:17

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I
Userlevel 1

I’m having the same issue and it’s been mentioned in these other two threads: 

I’d imagine this has somehow stopped working with a new firmware update or similar. I can’t imagine this won’t be fixed soon, as it both invalidates a previously working use case and the use of Sonos’ own optical->HDMI converter product.

Airgetlam

 I’d double check is that your PC is still sending an appropriate signal. The maximum the Sonos Ray can process is Dolby Digital. Especially as you suggest the test signal works, it may be worth checking the TV application’s settings to ensure it isn’t trying to send anything beyond Dolby Digital. I’ve seen updates to software, sometimes unseen, change this kind of thing. 

I might also double check that there isn’t a speaker update waiting. However, I don’t have a Sonos Ray, nor do I know if there was an update to the speaker’s firmware, which would suggest the issue is with Sonos, and not the signal or your PC.

Bruce
H
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“...This is actually not true, they mention usage with PC on their website: “For a next-level gaming setup, connect your PC.” on https://www.sonos.com/en/shop/ray….”

When I call this link I can’t find the message.

H
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I was blind - sorry.

 

R
Userlevel 1

I’m having the same issue. Noticed it stopped working on Friday, and nothing about the setup changed. 

S
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 I’d double check is that your PC is still sending an appropriate signal. The maximum the Sonos Ray can process is Dolby Digital. Especially as you suggest the test signal works, it may be worth checking the TV application’s settings to ensure it isn’t trying to send anything beyond Dolby Digital. I’ve seen updates to software, sometimes unseen, change this kind of thing. 

I might also double check that there isn’t a speaker update waiting. However, I don’t have a Sonos Ray, nor do I know if there was an update to the speaker’s firmware, which would suggest the issue is with Sonos, and not the signal or your PC.

Could you give me any advice on how to do this? I can’t see anywhere what is the signal type being sent.

I went also through the update history of Windows to see if there’s any mention of sound output, but found nothing even closely related.

A

any luck with this? experiencing the same issue since the app update

S
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any luck with this? experiencing the same issue since the app update

Nope. Seems Sonos broke it, so we just have to wait if Sonos decides to fix it.

At least for me they just lost the ItJustWorks™ label with this. I don’t care much about the new app, like others here, but I expect the sound to come out of the speakers when I play something :)

A

I am also having the same issue. 

M
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Same issue, started right after update. :-( 

B

Having Same issue with Sonos Ray. Just posting to increase the volume of thread so Snos fixes this nonsense quickly. 

T

Same. Ray no longer works. 

A

Does anyone opened a support ticket? As far as I understood this forum won’t make much difference to make the issue really visible. 

S
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Does anyone opened a support ticket? As far as I understood this forum won’t make much difference to make the issue really visible. 

Yes, see the OP, I went to the support, chatted with them for half a day trying various turn-it-off-and-on-again solutions and sending diagnostics, then they sent me to helpline in India and there I spent another few hours and then they basically told me that according to the technicians they just probably removed the optical connection support with last update and that despite specifically mentioning connecting the soundbars to PC for gaming using optical on their website, they never intended to use it with anything other than TV and that they are sorry, but according to them it is my problem I bought the device that now doesn’t work.

Despite that, the more tickets you make, the bigger chance they will do something about it and maybe at least allow a downgrade to the previous version where it worked, similarily like they did with the S1/S2 transition.

M
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The Ray for TV or Computer is the same. It’s still an Optical into the Ray.   It’s the Port that’s no longer reading Optical IN.   How can you push an update and not have pre-tested this?   

A

I really hope that someone really reads the messages here and does something! I am already considering change my soundbar if they don’t act quick. 

E

The same thing happened to me; it was functioning with the USB C - SPDIF converter, before the upgrade, and it ceased working after that. I also spoke with them, and the answer was that they had discontinued the support for it. Unfortunately, they said that it was my problem.

S
Userlevel 2
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The Ray for TV or Computer is the same. It’s still an Optical into the Ray.   It’s the Port that’s no longer reading Optical IN.   How can you push an update and not have pre-tested this?   

Well yes and no - it is a digital connection in which sound may be encoded in various encodings, Sonos might support those that are (usually) used in TVs and not support those coming from a Windows PC or various converters.

For example Dolby Digital from Windows sound test gets through. As we discussed in some parallel question, Netflix Windows app playing Dolby Digital also gets through. However sound from standard system sounds, games, browser, YouTube, your MP3 player etc. doesn’t get through. So this seems they removed support for some basic non-Dolby encodings.

M
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This only makes me madder.  WHY !!!!!!   😡😡😡

R
Userlevel 1

The Ray for TV or Computer is the same. It’s still an Optical into the Ray.   It’s the Port that’s no longer reading Optical IN.   How can you push an update and not have pre-tested this?   

Well yes and no - it is a digital connection in which sound may be encoded in various encodings, Sonos might support those that are (usually) used in TVs and not support those coming from a Windows PC or various converters.

For example Dolby Digital from Windows sound test gets through. As we discussed in some parallel question, Netflix Windows app playing Dolby Digital also gets through. However sound from standard system sounds, games, browser, YouTube, your MP3 player etc. doesn’t get through. So this seems they removed support for some basic non-Dolby encodings.

This seems like the most likely scenario. My sound card puts out PCM audio via optical. Prior to the update that worked perfectly. However, PCM is an uncompressed format, and Dolby Digital and DTS are  compressed. It wouldn’t surprise me if what happened was they dropped support for uncompressed formats simply because TV users would be unaffected. 

I’d be annoyed, but generally OK with it if they put out some sort of statement saying “Woops, we didn’t realize we were dropping support for some of our customers. We’re working on a fix.” But that’s the exact opposite of what they did. Instead, I contacted support and they tried to gaslight me into thinking they NEVER said the Ray could be used with a PC. I linked them the store page and specifically pointed out the section where they stated it could be connected to a PC, and they acted like they didn’t see it. Finally, they decided to focus on the fact it said “gaming” and act like that was in reference to playing Playstation while connecting to a TV.

 

I can somewhat forgive a trainwreck of a software launch like this. I can’t forgive customer service insulting my intelligence like that when they try to cover up their screwups. 

B

All: after an hour on the phone with support…you have to completely delare Sonos app from you personal device and re-install thru app store(new patch resolves). From there, I had luck following the approach of setting up a new system. Not “joining existing system. This resolved. Optical port back to functioning. Hope this helps some folks. 

B

All: after an hour on the phone with support…you have to completely DELETE Sonos app from your personal device and re-install thru app store(new patch resolves). From there, I had luck following the approach of setting up a new system. Not “joining existing system. This resolved. Optical port back to functioning. Hope this helps some folks. 

 

D

Reinstalling app and setting up as a new system requires you to reset all of your devices to factory settings, which at this stage I’m not prepared to do (as someone else mentioned, my experience has been that this causes more problems than it fixes), but glad that worked for at least one person.  

A

Reinstalling app and setting up as a new system requires you to reset all of your devices to factory settings, which at this stage I’m not prepared to do (as someone else mentioned, my experience has been that this causes more problems than it fixes), but glad that worked for at least one person.  

Because I have only a Ray and a Mini Sub I’ve tried and as you mentioned it was more trouble than anything else. I could at least reconfigure the devices but the optical input stays the same. It does not work

G

I have been having this issue since the update to the Ray as well.  Ray can’t detect my TV’s optical out, replaced the cable with a brand new one and it was working before via TV autoplay.

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