Samsung Q900A - no voice/dialouge trough center channel in some 5.1 content

[Buschpirscher]

Hi, i got a Q900A a few days ago and really enyoing it so far. I watch mainly trough Netflix/Prime. Atmos content works great but in some series/movies that are labeled as 5.1 in Netflix/Prime, my center channel doesnt play any voice/dialouge at all. I can hear them talk but extremely quite and muffled (probably because its coming out of the subwoofer). Other sound like background noise play normaly trough the center channel. If i hit pause and play again it works normal again, if i rewind or fast forward a bit -> voice is gone again -> pause and play -> voice works. Same when switching between internal speakers and soundbar.

Soundbar is connected trough arc to my Sony X900F. TV and Soundbar have the latest firmware. What i found trough googling is, if i put the digital output on my TV to PCM the center channel works normal and i can hear the dialouge again, but Atmos doesnt work anymore. So thats not really a solution.

If this info helps -> i just tested playing netflix on my PC (PC goes into TV -> into Soundbar), everything works fine here, TV also shows Dolby Digital + in the connection infos. So i guess its some problem with my TV?

Any idead? Thanks in advance!

[At19]

I have the exact same issue but with a Sony X900E.

[Xtopala]

Hey guys, I have the exact same problem, same soundbar hooked via the arc port with the Sony XH9096 android tv. I’ve become desperate, tried everything and every setting and nothing helped. Sometimes it disappears, but eventually always comes back and stays there. No matter the content, PS5, Atmos or 5.1, Netflix, Vlc or Plex. 

But, recently I’ve noticed that if I bump the volume level above 11 on the sound-bar, everything becomes clear and stay like that. 
Muffled sound comes back at lower sound levels, but are easily sorted out by raising the volume again. 

I hope that this helps you guys, and that this is something that Samsung can easily fix within the next update. Because I really love this sound-bar. Sound is exceptional and build quality is really great. It’s a real shame that something like this ruins the wholesale experience 

[Vandelay]

I have the same issue. It's also impossible to set up Amazon Alexa.

[Xtopala]

Have you guys tried raising the volume until it becomes clear and unmuffles again? It’s working for me, usually around level 11 or 12. 

Also, it helped me a lot to lower my digital sound output levels in Sony sound settings 

[TheNoblestRoman]

Hi all. Just popping in to say that I have also experienced this problem with my HW-Q900A paired with a Samsung QA65QN85A TV.

I'll go into a little more detail below, but the quick solution to fix this problem is to either disable Dolby Atmos in your TV settings (if you're on a Samsung TV that should be under "Settings -> Sound -> Expert Settings"), or leave Atmos on but change your soundbar connection from HDMI-eARC to WiFi. Both solutions might be a compromise for you on the quality of your listening experience, but you can at least pick and choose whether you're willing to sacrifice Atmos or general sound responsiveness. If you demand both, then you may have no choice but to return the soundbar, as I doubt that this is something Samsung can fix.

Some more details: this is an exceptionally difficult problem to diagnose, because audio test files seem to play just fine. I was able to use a Dolby Atmos 11.1.4 test file shared on this thread on AVForums and each channel played fine. The issue was only obvious when playing actual media, and generally media that was mixed in 5.1 or 7.1. The only thing I didn't test was using 5.1 and 7.1 test files. Those might make it extremely obvious.

My best guess without knowing how things work under the hood is that there's an issue with how Atmos is interpreting the centre channel on content that isn't mixed for Atmos. I don't know where it's sending that audio, but it definitely isn't our ears.