Popping Sound on a Crystal UHD 2020 55TU8505 when connected via HDMI eARC

[El Vikingo]

Hello all,

I realise that this post is similar to that of many who have sound issues with all kinds of 2020 TV models. My current set up is a 55" Crystal UHD 8505 to a Yamaha RX-V6A receiver. 

The devices recognise each other fine in the setup process as Atmos and eARC enabled. However, the sound is output in PCM only and pops randomly. It is a loud sound followed by a second of silence. It is very annoying and worries me that it may damage either my recover or speakers. 

I have tried tips from all over the internet to no avail, including system resets, factory defaults and carefully testing the settings, changing HDMI cables and ports. 

Nothing helps. To get by, I have to disable the eARC function or bypass the TV sound with a Firestick plugged directly into the receiver. 

This is my first Samsung, coming from a long line of Sonies. I am disappointed beyond belief. Spending so much money on high quality brands only to find these limiting factors is disheartening.

I would appreciate others sharing similar situations to encourage Samsung to address this in firmware updates. 

Thanks to all

[Janitorus]

I have a different TV and audio equipment, but experience popping sounds too. This is very random, while playing TrueHD content over an Nvidia Shield directly connected to the soundbar. The soundbar got an eARC update, which is probably when it started. People with other brand soundbars hooked up to the Shield do not experience this issue. Samsung is quick to blame Nvidia. Trust me, I've tried it all. 

Long story short: I don't know about your return policy, but I would keep a very close eye on this issue and just return the TV if you lose hope of this being fixed soon. It is not worth the aggrivation if you can get an equally good TV instead from another brand and be done with it.

[El Vikingo]

I have read that Samsung is rolling out firmware updates for other models. The Crystal UHD seems to be pretty much ignored. I regret not following your advice @janitorus. I am so disappointed. I even bought a Firestick to try to get better sound. It is obviously not in the same league as the nVidia shield. So, I suppose the only option is to leave the e-ARC disabled and bypass the sound directly to my Receiver.

I will never buy a Samsung TV again

[Janitorus]

@El Vikingo You'll only make that mistake once, I'm very sorry to hear that.

I will soon receive a new Nvidia Shield from my RMA to absolutely rule out any hardware issues with the Shield as I am still in the process of trying to figure out what exactly is causing random audio pops for me.

If with the new Shield the issue still persists, samsung can go right ahead and pick up this soundbar and directly replace it with a new one at the same time. I am absolutely done with this. I am not settling for some RMA process with testing on their side that includes weeks.

I will keep you updated here if I don't forget.

[Janitorus]

@El Vikingo I received a new Shield, the issue is still there. So samsung will have to come up with a solution now, as the soundbar is the only thing left after all my testing. Maybe a slightly different issue to what you have, but it seems like there's some overlap...

I have no confidence in samsung RMA when it comes to speed or their testing (I've done all testing already, so there's nothing left to do). I've told them to just come pick this soundbar up and deliver a new one right away, or my money back. Probably too much to ask, but after 4 months and all the testing and frustration I'm absolutely done with this. Hope you have better luck.

[El Vikingo]

Many thanks for the update. I gave up some time ago and have reduced my hopes to using the television as a monitor and pass the audio processing through my Yamaha receiver. As I previously stated, my faith in the brand is less than at time when I thought Sony was letting me down. They tend to leave products to go to tech heaven relatively quickly. However, they don't ignore a product which has been for sale during less than a year, like this one =(

[Janitorus]

Hi @El Vikingo and who else it may concern. The motherboard of my HW-Q80R soundbar was replaced, issue still remains. This is 100% down to samsung and it's not a hardware or interference issue. They will need to address this in their firmware, which I doubt they will but I'm awaiting a response from a community manager. The motherboard has firmware 1010.5 currently and (I'm not quite sure) the audio pops/clicks might be occurring slightly less often. Either way, issue remains.

Nvidia engineers tested my MKV  on their Shield (Plex) on various soundbars, without issues. Within a couple of minutes of testing things on my side with the new motherboard an audio pop could be heard.

Lets see what happens between now and the short future with their firmware and communication. Upgrading to OLED is tempting and that might be a good time to get rid of this samsung soundbar nonsense once and for all as well. 

[El Vikingo]

Many thanks for the update, @Janitorus . As I previously stated, my experience with Samsung has sentenced my opinion of the brand. I have tried different brands over the years and I have never come across one as bad as this one. I do not understand the reason for advertising the product's compatibility with HDMI 2.1 or e-Arc when, clearly they are not. I have waited patiently for an update to the firmware which would solve the issue causing the popping sound. Meanwhile, my Yamaha receiver has received three small updates which have brough improvements to a near perfect experience. Out of curiousity, I had a look for the firmware update on the net as I found nothing in the TV ecosystem. My TV, which is a 2020 model ceases to exist on the European site. Rather than addressing a software problem, they are focussed on marketing the 2021 models. That is enough for me to repeat that I will NEVER buy another Samsung, as good as the picture quality may be. 

Dreadful disregard for the customers is my reason for a complete lack of faith in the brand

[El Vikingo]

As if by a bad joke, as of yesterday, my television has ceased to work with Alexa. I have just removed and reinstalled everything and she tells me that 'samsung' is not compatible with.... ANY function. I cannot even turn it on or off, less so choose channels or volume. 

Samsung goes from one disappointment to another ... I will tell everyone I know never to buy a Samsung given the total disregard for their customers.

This very message is going on my social networks

[Janitorus]

So it seems support for Alexa was silently dropped all of a sudden? I feel sorry for you about this whole thing man 😕

Meanwhile I've replaced the HW-Q80R with LG DSN10YG and all sound issues are completely gone. No more random pop/click sound with Nvidia Shield TrueHD Atmos MKV content. Also no more cracking/click sound when fast forward/backward content in Plex via Nvidia Shield. HW-Q80R used to do that randomly, more often than not, right when audio and video are resumed and are put back in sync. I've always told samsung that this issue probably was a symptom of a bigger underlying issue, related to audio/video sync once TrueHD is involved.

Once again I'm being told that they "did extensive testing with Netflix 4k and our own testcontent". And that "this is a content vs soundbar issue, can't help you with this". They probably also tested with a bluray player, which is fine but doesn't touch on this specific issue.

It's absolutely disgusting that they even test something like Netflix Dolby Digital+ and report back on it twice as having done some extensive testing, when the issue, as told right from the start, is with TrueHD. I've specifically told them Netflix sounded fine.

I don't think they really wanted to nail this down anyway, as their brand and soundbars are simply infallible of course. You'd think the feedback of Nvidia engineers having tested the Shield with my specific files on various soundbars without issue would also testify for something to them, but no. And not to mention all the testing I did personally.

End of the day a company has to make a profit, but I feel like some companies just renew and  "update" their products year in year out and have started to care less about these types of issues since they simply do not cause a major loss in profit. So who cares.

Everyone reading this facing similar issues; do yourself a favor and just return whatever product is causing you these issues. Your money can be well spent elsewhere instead. Do not wait for firmware or update promises, especially not with samsung. I hope some of this will be useful for someone in the future.