Adaptive Sound issue on Q800A soundbar

[Gnomeo]

Hi there,

I recently bought a Q800A soundbar and while I was testing it out I discovered that in Adaptive Sound mode:

• the left audio channel is outputted through both the left and the right speakers
• the right audio channel is outputted through both the left and the right speakers

This happens regardless of the source (YouTube app, USB stick, Blu-ray player) and the audio format (stereo PCM, Dolby Digital 5.1, DTS 5.1, etc.).

I looked around the forums and I found out that it is a well-known issue with the 2021 line. 

My question is: Is this an intentional choice, or do you plan to fix it with a firmware update?

Thanks!

[MartijnK]

Hi @Gnomeo, good afternoon.

Welcome to our Samsung Community! And congratulations with your new soundbar.

Do you also experience this when you choose for standard? Is your soundbar up-2-date?

When you choose for adaptive sound the sound will analyze the content in real time and automatically provides the optimal sound field based on the characteristics of the content.

Also a stereo output will be converted to at least a 5 channel output, see our schedule.

We wish lots of fun with your new soundbar and if you need our assistance, please send us a message.

Kind regards,

Martijn

[Gnomeo]

Hi Martijn,

Thank you for coming back to me.

This is only an issue with Adaptive Sound. The other modes work as expected, with the left and right channels outputted by the respective speaker only.

And yes, the soundbar is running the latest firmware.

So what would the answer to my question be? 🙂

[MartijnK]

You're welcome. When you choose for adaptive sound this is simular with Multi-channel stereo. So the left channels are duplicated to the right channel and vice versa.

Kind regards,

Martijn

[Gnomeo]

Hi Martijn,

I don't think this is correct. All other channels (center, L rear, R rear and LFE) are outputted from their respective speakers only. So it is not the case that the whole track is being downmixed to stereo and outputted through all speakers. The issue occurs only with the L and R channels.

That you suggest that the Adaptive Sound mode downmixes multichannel tracks to stereo is strange. That's just not what it does..

[MartijnK]

Well this is the information our product specialist has shared with me. If you share your software version I will put this through our product specialist and if this can be fixed with an update it will eventually roll out.

Kind regards,

Martijn

[Gnomeo]

Even if that was the case, the L and R channels would still be outputted by the respective speakers only. In fact, what you described is MONO - when the track is downmixed to a single channel and outputted from all speakers.

My firmware version is HW-Q800AWWB-1009.2.