Solved: Re: HW-Q80/70R + Atmos/TrueHD random audio pop - Page 2

Janitorus · ‎20-12-2020

Issue: While playing TrueHD (Atmos) content on Shield Pro 2019 via Plex/Kodi, single audio pops can be heard. This can happen 10 minutes apart or longer and they seem completely random. Rewinding and going over the same portion of the video again does not replicate the issue. It's one "pop" or "tick" in the high/mid range. Sometimes louder than other times, but not deafening. It can be subtle.

TV: UE55MU7000, firmware 1280.6 and also on recently updated to 1290.3 (released december 16th, 2020)

Soundbar: HW-Q80R, firmware 1012.6

Shield is connected directly to soundbar, soundbar is connected via HDMI Arc to one connect box of TV.

Tried so far:

Fully reset Shield, soundbar and TV plus smart hub for what its worth
New Monoprice HDMI cables for all connected devices
Powered all devices off overnight and let them drain
Any and all possible audio settings and combination thereof on the Shield
Framerate matching on/off in Plex/Kodi
Stripped MKV's of everything except for video and TrueHD track
Played videos from USB on Shield instead of over network;
Completely turned off router/wifi

Unaffected and sounds fine:

DTS-X, no issues at all!
Atmos over Dolby Digital+ on Netflix sounds fine
Spotify
Youtube etc. and many others I'm sure

Which leads me to believe that the hardware side of things is fine, only TrueHD seems to be affected by some sort of bug.

At this point I am not sure whether this is a Shield issue or soundbar issue, or a specific combination. Cables have been ruled out. It doesn't sound like interference to me. It feels like some sync issue where some audio frames are messed up at random for some reason. It is unfortunate that we cannot downgrade soundbar firmware.

Is this a known issue? Is there anything else I can try? This needs to be looked into by Samsung as well 🤔

Audio recordings of the pops/ticks while watching TrueHD Atmos via the Shield Pro 2019. Each clip is 6 seconds with the pop/tick happening at the 3 seconds mark:

Recorded with phone laying on the soundbar. Still happening at random, I'd say a minimum of 3 pops/ticks per hour.

Janitorus · ‎30-12-2020

I have received a reply from Nvidia as well, this issue has been escalated higher up to their support. We need all parties to dive into this issue 👍

Your case is being escalated to our L2 Support group. The technician from the L2 Support will review the case notes and will contact you as soon they can to assist or point you in the right direction. You will be updated through email.

Best Regards,

NVIDIA Customer Care

Janitorus · ‎03-01-2021

Audio recordings of the pops/ticks while watching TrueHD Atmos via the Shield Pro 2019. Each clip is 6 seconds with the pop/tick happening at the 3 seconds mark:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/wd7lmzzughjddgu/NvidiaShieldPro2019HW-Q80R-POP_CLICK1.mp3?dl=0 https://www.dropbox.com/s/6kzru13duyfwvf2/NvidiaShieldPro2019HW-Q80R-POP_CLICK2.mp3?dl=0 https://www.dropbox.com/s/m8dczf1wnum4mg9/NvidiaShieldPro2019HW-Q80R-POP_CLICK3.mp3?dl=0

Recorded with phone laying on the soundbar. Still happening at random, I'd say a minimum of 3 pops/ticks per hour.

Janitorus · ‎08-01-2021

@AndrewL @DannyT @CarlH @ChrisM @AntS @CarloL

Soon another workweek has passed with no reply from anyone (neither samsung nor nvidia support), is this being looked into? We've tried so many things on our end, I'm not sure what else we could do.

Janitorus · ‎26-01-2021

Bump.

The issue is still there.

CaptainCruesly · ‎26-01-2021

Yep, still there.

But I'm tired of this *****.

I RMA-ed this *****ing soundbar to the reseller and I advise you to do the same if you still can.

I'll get:

the same one without the bug
or the 2021 equivalent if they don't have the HW-Q70R (I guess this is the HW-Q600T)
or my money back

This forum is totally useless. There is no Samsung devs lurking here. And the admin/mods here are for sure some useless contractors just deleting pedo/nazy topics I guess.

I guess Samsung is hoping clients to just help themselves. As if we only had that to do, after having paid many hundred bucks for a buggy hardware.

Kind regards to you fellow users

Janitorus · ‎27-01-2021

@CaptainCruesly I totally understand, I've had this soundbar for a while now so I can't just return it now. Maybe RMA if it is broken. I'm not looking forward to that if that ever has to happen (probably a process that takes weeks...)
Either way, I personally wouldn't buy samsung again if I got my money back and were you. Vote with your wallet. I'm not even going to go into the gamble circus of buying the same one again, hoping it's gone, rinse, repeat. It's absolutely not worth the stress unpacking the same thing, installing it, watching another TrueHD MKV with your butt clenched, hoping not to hear a pop and be disappointed all again. Maybe that's worth it for me if they ship a new soundbar and immediately pick up the old one so there's no downtime. Anything else is simply not acceptable, after all the meticulous testing I've done on my side, including buying new cables for all devices.

On the samsung benelux forum at least a community manager has forwarded my audio recordings and they've done some basic testing (including netflix atmos testing, which I said beforehand was no issue since DD+ is fine).

The sound is great. But the support and communication of this company is just absolutely terrible. Regardless of this being a samsung or nvidia issue. Nvidia by the way hasn't responded to my ticket from 2 months ago, but the forums there seem alright and people with other soundbars seem to have no issue.

End of the day it's all choices based on bottom line and damage control. But what else is new.

Please do just keep me up to date in this topic on your final choice and solution.

BobaMikeTea · ‎28-01-2021

Anybody experiencing this problem? I have it on the most basic setting and it still happens. eARC is off and Dolby is off. This happens within 20 minutes to an hour of using. My HW-Q70R is on the latest firmware too. It is connected to my 85TU800D

https://youtu.be/BPUiF_xUVBA

Janitorus · ‎28-01-2021

@BobaMikeTea that's just atrocious, these soundbars have a serious flaw. Let's hope it's a firmware issue instead of hardware that need a recall.

When is samsung going to recognize this and do some serious investigation into these bars for 🎅 sake!

@AndrewL @DannyT @CarlH @ChrisM @AntS @CarloL and @Whatevergodweneedtopraytotogetsomeattentionhere

Janitorus · ‎15-03-2021

Issue is still there. Received a brand new Nvidia Shield, tried HDMI1 and HDMI2 on the soundbar, different cables, new cables.

This is down to samsung now, I'm suspecting a broken soundbar or bad firmware so I've also posted on the samsung NL forums with this update.

TrueHD Atmos is mostly affected and is most obvious to hear. Other formats have flaws too it would seem, though less obvious and less often. The nintendo switch on HDMI1 is affected too and a slight click or two can be heard right after things are powered on within 10 seconds.

I do not suspect anything related to my powergrid outside of the soundbar, as there seems to be a difference in behavior of this bug across all audio types and inputs.

CaptainCruesly · ‎15-03-2021

Hi there.

Just a quick update. I did RMA this cheap soundbar.

Samsung did issue an invoice to my reseller, that was too expensive for them, so they gave me voucher of the same value since they don't have the HW-Q70R on sale anymore.

I was left with the HW-Q70T which was more expensive but not best (regarding reviews) or the HW-Q60T without Atmos support.

I got cash money in exchange of the voucher instead, and got myself the HW-Q800T (150€ more than the previous soundbar).

Why this one? A friend had it, with exactly the same TV as me and said it didn't encounter any pop/sounds while playing Netflix/Disney+ for example. So I gave it a chance.

And I can confirm, I have no issue whatsoever with this setup:

- TV : LG OLED55CX

- soundbar : Samsung HW-Q800T

- sources :

- Nvidia Shield

- TV apps

- Nintendo Switch, etc.

I did not change/plug/replug any cables, the new soundbar just took the place of the "old" one. Exactly the same setup (eARC, etc).

So I can confidently concludes that the faulty part in my setup was the Samsung HW-Q70R, be it hardware or software related.

Samsung is just shitting on his customers by not acknowledging this...