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Streaming box recommendations

  • November 23, 2025
  • 6 replies
  • 75 views

I just bought a Sonos Arc Ultra & an Ace, the Ace for evening TV, in the Black Friday sales When I watch films on Prime the sound is superb on both devices but on terrestrial channels (I’m in the UK) the sound was utter rubbish which I think is from only being broadcast in stereo

I’m using only my TV (Samsung 2018 flagship model) as a receiver as I don’t have Sky & wondering is a decent streaming box would be the way forward to get better sound overall & more choice of free TV. My home is a smart home so the Amazon Fire Cube could be an option but I would also like to use the streamer as a Plex player which the Nvidia Shield Pro does I believe but is there a better option as the Shield is now old?

I used to use a Mede8ter MED600X3D which still works perfectly but years old & was used with my old Atmos setup but I now want a more minimalist home so I don’t want all the cables & speakers all over & a big amp although I could still use it to stream from a HDD if I wanted t

The reason I went with Sonos was so I could easily link surround headphones for late night. My TV only has ARC out so I have also bought an eEARC extractor to run in line between the TV’s One Connect box & the Ultra to get Atmos which I have not tested as yet as want to get the best audio I can before I add it

6 replies

Schlumpf
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  • Virtuoso
  • November 23, 2025

@Philupnorth 

In the End the audio signal depends on what the source is sending. You have to check for each of your used sources, what kind of audio signal it is sending via different platforms. 
Regarding to your eARC audio extractor make sure you have set up it correctly to pass through the best available signal. 


  • Author
  • Contributor I
  • November 24, 2025

Thank you for the reply


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  • Prodigy II
  • November 24, 2025

@Philupnorth 

With regards the best TV box, the Apple TV is unbeatable. Best quality picture, best quality sound, auto-adjust frame rate, auto-adjust dynamic range, auto-adjust audio, fast, clean ad-free home page... I won’t go further into why it’s the best, you can Google that yourself but the facts (and experience) bear it out! (And you don’t need to be an iPhone user to get one.)


106rallye
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  • November 24, 2025

I like my Nvidia Shield Pro.


jgatie
  • November 24, 2025

Roku Ultra here.  No problems with Sonos.  Also have a Fire TV Cube.  It used to have a problem with my 2019 Samsung (no way to get Atmos, even though it was seen as compatible in the diagnostic screen).  But that problem went away when I got a new TV. 


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  • Prodigy II
  • November 24, 2025

So we’re all agreed then? 😆