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Sonos Ray optical connection stopped working, any ideas?

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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64 replies

R
Userlevel 1

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. 

 

Just tried this, and my Ray is still not receiving optical input. 

Out of curiosity, how exactly do you have yours connected, and what kind of signal are you sending it?

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.  

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

I should mention that my issue is with a Playbar, not a Ray.  No issues with my TV output until the day my system updated.

H
Userlevel 1
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@gamewiz1021: Please clarify: Is your system working after applying the new cable - or not?

G

@gamewiz1021: Please clarify: Is your system working after applying the new cable - or not?

Nope system still bricked until it gets fixed, new cable and my Ray couldn’t detect it still. I shouldn’t have to set up an entire new system because of one speaker’s firmware as some others have suggested

Ken_Griffiths

I no longer have a Sonos Ray to maybe help too much here, as I gave it away to my Son & family for use at their Home and they’ve not yet upgraded to the latest Sonos App/firmware, but it would be interesting to perhaps know here, from someone who has an updated Ray, if it’s perhaps working okay for them?

If not, then it’s probably best to get in touch with Sonos Support direct. It’s not even clear if Sonos are aware of this reported issue, or if the reason for it may lie elsewhere. I would have expected a lot more reports if it was a widespread issue affecting a majority of those that own/use a Ray.

Here’s a link to perhaps contact Sonos Support anyway and I hope you are able get the matter resolved quickly too. 👍

https://support.sonos.com/s/contact

Bumper

I no longer have a Sonos Ray to maybe help too much here, as I gave it away to my Son & family for use at their Home and they’ve not yet upgraded to the latest Sonos App/firmware, but it would be interesting to perhaps know here, from someone who has an updated Ray, if it’s perhaps working okay for them?

If not, then it’s probably best to get in touch with Sonos Support direct. It’s not even clear if Sonos are aware of this reported issue, or if the reason for it may lie elsewhere. I would have expected a lot more reports if it was a widespread issue affecting a majority of those that own/use a Ray.

Here’s a link to perhaps contact Sonos Support anyway and I hope you are able get the matter resolved quickly too. 👍

https://support.sonos.com/s/contact

We know they did little to no beta testing, or at least some beta testers have said their feedback was ignored. So they may be way behind in picking up bugs that only affect certain contexts. It working for one user means little when a lot of the bugs hasn’t affected universally. 
 

Op should contact support but be prepared to wait ~2 hours, less if lucky. 

R

Having the same issue. Optical output is dead.

S
Userlevel 2
Badge +1

 

Op should contact support but be prepared to wait ~2 hours, less if lucky. 

OP did contact the support and spent there way more than 2 hours (and even mentioned it in his original post) :)

But they showed me the middle finger, so that’s why I tried my luck here.

Seems they don’t have an intention of fixing it, so I guess I will just sell the Ray and use the rest of the Sonos speakers for streaming music only until that stops working too with some other update and then switch to a different brand.

R
Userlevel 1

Has there been any headway in resolving this? Weeks of my Ray being dead is really getting old. 

Ken_Griffiths

Has there been any headway in resolving this? Weeks of my Ray being dead is really getting old. 

I haven’t seen anything mentioned by Sonos Staff on this topic - so perhaps give Sonos a call via this link to get an update:

https://support.sonos.com/s/contact

S

Looks like the latest firmware update has resolved this issue. I was baffled by it too but, after the update that was pushed this morning “approx. 2am PDT Thursday June 6th 2024”. After reconnecting to my Sonos system in the mobile app, reconfiguring tv setup. it detected a signal and worked.

R

Reset my Ray system, connected and added the speaker. Checked that Ray had no updates. And no, SPDIF is NOT working… I really hope the update is not just arrived to IOS and will be coming soon...

S

Reset my Ray system, connected and added the speaker. Checked that Ray had no updates. And no, SPDIF is NOT working… I really hope the update is not just arrived to IOS and will be coming soon...

im on android not ios and it has nothing to do with the phone app and all to do with the firmware of the speaker.

S

I do know that my speakers had reset and i had to rejoin the existing system. perhaps the firmware update is going out in waves so not to over stress the upload?

R

I do know that my speakers had reset and i had to rejoin the existing system. perhaps the firmware update is going out in waves so not to over stress the upload?

What is the version number you have. Mine shows version 16.2 (build 79.1-53290).

S

I do know that my speakers had reset and i had to rejoin the existing system. perhaps the firmware update is going out in waves so not to over stress the upload?

What is the version number you have. Mine shows version 16.2 (build 79.1-53290).

i am unaware of how to look at the firmware version, i only know that te smart device app has a version number….?

S

according to the windows client I am on: Version: 16.2 (build 79153290)
Hardware Version: 1.36.1.8-1.2

I’m thinking its the hardware version that’s the firmware for the speaker itself, and yes, it’s a Sonos Ray soundbar.

I just did an update of the windows client and its on: Version: 16.2 (build 79153290)
Hardware Version: 1.36.1.8-1.2 so no change?

All i know is about 2 months ago it stopped playing properly from pc to kvm switch to ray so at first i thought it was the optical cable so i replaced it, didnt help. so i searched online and saw this topic and was reading the replies on the first page and was ok, wait for them to fix it. tried many times over the last month to get it to work to no avail, then noticed early this morning the lights flashing that the system updated, started the process to troubleshoot it, and signal detected, so i was happy and thought id share the good news, sorry its not working for everyone, yet.

R
Userlevel 1

Looks like the new update has made some progress for me. I now get signal from my PC, and can complete the TV setup process. However, any audio I actually play on my PC is still not coming through the Ray. 

I do hear audio through the Ray when I enter the properties menu for my output device and test “Dolby Digital” through the “Supported Formats” tab. So there’s that at least.  

R

Yes, my Ray hardware version is 1.36.1.8-2.2. But the SPDIF connection is mute. No sound, at all. I can play over the wifi connection, but optical is dead, both on PC and Mac.

S
Userlevel 2
Badge +1

Looks like the new update has made some progress for me. I now get signal from my PC, and can complete the TV setup process. However, any audio I actually play on my PC is still not coming through the Ray. 

I do hear audio through the Ray when I enter the properties menu for my output device and test “Dolby Digital” through the “Supported Formats” tab. So there’s that at least.  

Same here :/ Hardware version 1.36.1.8-2.2. Had to also rejoin my system, so something has happened definitely, but unfortunately it didn’t fix anything.

S
Userlevel 2
Badge +1

 it detected a signal and worked.

Just to be sure - it actually played a sound from the computer, or just detected signal in the app?

G

I just checked to see if my Ray would work and it seems the newest update fixed my specific situation. (Vizio TV into Ray with 2x Ikea lamp speakers) so that’s nice.  The fact they rendered a product useless for multiple weeks will take some making up.

M
Userlevel 1
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EASY FIX !!!!!  

 

https://a.co/d/9RG0ZCA

 

add this to your computer out and your all set.  works PERFECT  !!

S

 it detected a signal and worked.

Just to be sure - it actually played a sound from the computer, or just detected signal in the app?

it’s been playing sound flawlessly since i said it detected signal, all i can think for you and Rahuu is youve forgotten to mute regular output. the ray wont work if monitor and such are playing sound.

S

it might also be the setup i know in my case i have hdmi to a kvm switch and optical from there to Ray then split over wifi to Ray and Sonos Play 1. so if its direct optical from pc might need a different config than what im doing?

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