Samsung S61T (S60T) Amazon Music Stutter

[andy9l]

We've recently received our S61T soundbar and have been really happy with the sound quality. However, we've noticed that Amazon Music randomly stutters when listening through it. Sometimes it happens twice in a single song, sometimes it happens once every 10 songs - but it consistently does happen at some point. It's a sudden pause then resume of the song - usually around 1 second in length.

The soundbar sits an uninterrupted 15 feet from the router on a 60mbps connection...more than enough for Amazon Music. In fact it sits exactly where a tiny Echo Dot used to sit and we never had a problem with that. I get a rock solid 58mbps on my phone when stood right next to it.

Running the soundbar for a couple of hours via HDMI(ARC) resulted in flawless playback. Same with bluetooth, and all other functions. So it doesn't appear to be a hardware issue...although I can't rule out a WiFi chip issue.

I updated to the latest software/firmware via USB last night, but sadly this didn't fix the issue.

Has anyone else experienced this on their S60T/S61T, or indeed any other Samsung soundbar? And did you find a resolution?

[Mattqyu]

I am having the same issue with my bar. I have the q950t and returned the first one because of this. I’m on my 2nd and it still persists. What I’ve tried is: moving router further away, it’s now 6-8 feet. I’ve tried turning off 5ghz and turning off 2.4ghz. 

At this point I’m just using my phone to Bluetooth Amazon music. It’s been working for the past hour no stutter. Pretty ***** sure it’s a wifi thing... help would be greatly appreciated.

[andy9l]

I’ve turned off Alexa on the soundbar and my TV too now. It wasn’t the reason I bought either of them, but is a bit of a shame.

I’m connecting the soundbar to my TV via WiFi and have never had a hiccup with TV sound, so it’s not WiFi. I think it’s just Samsung’s sketchy Alexa implementation. The way my new Samsung devices (2020 Frame + 2020 S61T) integrate with the Alexa app is very questionable. I’ve written them both off as ‘not Alexa compatible’.

”Alexa turn up the TV” = “Sorry, TV does not support that”.

”Alexa turn down the soundbar” = “Sorry, the device soundbar does not support that.”

So, yep. I’ve disabled everything Alexa related on both. Fortunately I’m happy with the TV and soundbar for the primary purposes I bought them for.

I’ll buy some HomePods for music. From my experience, Apple software is astronomically better than Samsung software.

[Mattqyu]

I did the same yesterday. I read on some other posts about buggy Alexa apps on certain products. I just removed my Alexa account and now Bluetooth stream Amazon music from my iPhone. That works well with no stutters. Maybe this gets fixed by a firmware update. Who knows... 

[gerball]

Yes I get the exact same thing on the same soundbar (S60). It’s maddening. Alexa was one of the main reasons I got the soundbar so it’s going back!

[Bluefusion]

Yep got the same issue here too!

[IndianaBlues]

Same here too, seems worse since the latest update - just had 4 blips in one song...

[Members_NfSfTgC]

Same issue on my new q800t...... 

[Jon947]

Hello,

I’m looking for a solution too. 

See this thread: https://eu.community.samsung.com/t5/audio-video/hw-s60t-soundbar-keeps-cutting-out-while-playing-mus...

Was a solution ever found?