Sony A90J settings with Sonos Arc

[Pascal80]

Will someone advice the correct settings for connecting the Sonos Arc to HDMI 3 (eArc/Arc) of the 83A90J?

HDMI Signal, Sound and Audio Output menus.

Lately the sound seems to lack sharpness and detail. It's like the high frequencies are not heard or are much lower in volume. I don't know why that is. I tried factory reset, disconnecting everything and connecting again, playing with settings on Sonos but the problem still remains. Sonos even replaced the Arc but that hasn't fixed it.

[royabrown2]

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@HannahEd01 wrote:

Hi Pascal80, try all options until you find what suits you, and works well with the Sonos bar. It should be auto if the bar supports eARC, and off if it doesn't. 

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@HannahEd01 @Pascal80 

It’s next to impossible to find out from the Sony documentation what Off means on this eARC setting, but there is a hint in that various noises that the TV makes can be heard when this setting is Off, so I’m thinking it means that the sound reverts to being the TV audio from the TV speakers.

It’s quite impossible to find out what it does with ARC, but I am guessing that the TV needs the setting on to do ARC. However, that is academic here.

@Pascal80 I suggested that the improvement in sound you get with this setting Off was due to the audio coming from the TV, and not the Sonos, but you haven’t said. It should be quite easy to check by putting your ear up close to each. Am I correct here, or still clueless?

[Pascal80]

No it's definitely the soundbar even with eArc at off. 

I checked the Sonos information when playing a movie with Dolby TrueHD Atmos soundtrack through a Zidoo player and when eArc was at Auto the Sonos displayed Dolby TrueHD with Atmos which is showing eArc is working. When eArc is at off on the Sony the Sonos for the same movie is showing Dolby Digital Plus with Atmos which means it's using Arc instead of eArc.

Now how to fix the audio quality issue i still haven't figured out.

[royabrown2]

@Pascal80 

Cheers - more Sony weirdness 😛

I think you said above that the sound was better with the ARC setting set to Off - so does that mean that the audio from the Zidoo sounded better in Dolby Digital Plus with Atmos than it did in Dolby True HD with Atmos?

I’m not familiar with Zidoo, but it certainly looks like quality kit. Which model have you got?

However, re CEC, as far as I know, it can control inputs, on/off and volume, but not affect the sound quality. And eARC doesn’t rely on CEC, whereas ARC requires it.

Is it the HDMI eARC port setting on the TV where you are talking about the four options? Again, as far as I know, these only affect video coming to the TV, and so shouldn’t affect the audio coming from the TV. No harm in trying changing these settings though.

But we do know that plugging things into Sony TVs can affect them. And no streaming system, no matter how good, is a match for the audio on a BluRay. So (even though I don’t think it will change anything), I would suggest eliminating some possibilities by disconnecting the Zidoo and then playing some True HD Atmos and/or some DTS HD Master Audio from BluRays that you hopefully own with audio tracks in these two formats, with eARC first set to Auto, and then repeated with it set to Off, and see what the results are.

[HannahEd01]

Hi Pascal80, try different contents, maybe test with another TV/sound system if possible. The description of the issue is a bit generic here, so far all settings and functions are good and you're getting what's promised. So not sure what else can help. 

[Pascal80]

I've now connected all devices in the room to the internet with ethernet cables. No wifi connections now. This has made some difference but still not entirely fixed.

I've also tried power conditioners and other hdmi cables but those didn't contribute anything.

I was playing Avatar 2 from 4K Blu-ray the other day and the TrueHD Atmos soundtrack sounded very compressed. And it felt like there was no difference to the volume between 75-100. It was like the maximum capability was reached and couldn't go further. Any ideas why this happens?

[HannahEd01]

Hey Pascal80, I'd say take a short video and contact Sony support directly: https://services.sony.co.uk/supportmvc/en/Contact/Email?cat=mobile&tab=Tips