Sound Touch 300, Xbox One X and Samsung JS9000

[Davester]

Hey guys. This is my first post but I hope you can help me.

I bought a shiny new Sound Touch 300 last weekend and I’m getting to grips with it. Overall, I’m still messing around with the settings. While I’d be lying if I hadn’t found any snags, I thought on Tuesday I finally got it worked out with these settings on my tv.

HDMI output: PCM
Audio output: Dolby Digital.

The bass was purring and it seemed like I could hear speech well. But then I came across a problem. When I turned my Xbox One X on, I noticed, at least in the home menu that the audio would drop. I wanted it not to drive me crazy but it did. Which is more, on the audio output, unless I selected DTS Neo 2.5, there were drops. I asked Microsoft why they will only let me send my audio out in only Stereo uncompressed and not bitsteam but they blamed the TV.

Anyway, tonight I put the HDMI audio output back to Bit Stream on my TV and there seems to be no drops which is good. The audio is also clear but I can’t help but think the bass is a little muted.

So am I doing anything wrong? Is this just an issue with Xbox? Is Bitstream the right way To get the best sound? I’m truly clueless about this so I appreciate your help.

[Tony_A]

HI Davester

Thanks for posting in the community!  Sorry to hear about the setup issues, but I'd be glad to assist!

Can we try this configuration?

Samsung TV:

• HDMI Out - Bitstream
• Audio Output - Dolby Digital

Xbox:

• HDMI Out - Bitstream
• Bitstream format - Dolby Digital

Let us know how it goes!

Warm Regards,

Tony - Community Support 

[Davester]

Hello, part of the problem is that I actually couldn’t select bitstream.

However I’m seeming to have an even bigger problem now which is that with the settings on the Samsung of Bitstream and Dolby Digital, I’m actually losing sound with navigation menus on Apple TV in the same way I lost the navigation clicks on my Xbox before. I’m starting to get concerned that the Sound Touch as inherent issues with my system.

[Davester]

Hey there,

A more detailed update. I have had a lot of problems including a number of power cycles and reinstalling.

I’ll be as detailed as I can be.

The TV is a Samsung JS9000

I have 4 HDMIs

1 x Xbox One X
1 x UHD BluRay player
1 x Apple TV 4K
1 x SoundTouch

In the SoundTouch itself is Sky HD.

I have done all the set ups as per instructions.

On my TV, the audio settings are:

HDMI Audio Format: Bitstream
Audio Format: Dolby Digital
Dolby Digital Compression: RF
HD Audio: On

I haven’t had a chance to properly set up the UHD yet BUT

Apple TV 4K Settings:

Surround Sound: Dolby Digital
Audio: Auto

Xbox X
Bitstream and Dolby Digital.

The problem originally happened with the Xbox in the HDMI Audio Setting as PCM.

Essentially while navigating the menus, the navigational clicks/sounds would not appear until after multiple scrolls. The only option in PCM to get it to work was by using DTS Neo 2.5.

Luckily through changing the Xbox to Bitstream and changing the TV to Bitstream too, I could get Dolby Digital to work correctly.

However, I have now noticed the same problem in Apple TV 4K in Bitstream as well. First swipe there is no sound but then the subsequent ones it turns up. I find this rather baffling. It’s also truly annoying. Again, the only option that seems to work correctly is DTS 2.5 but this isn’t the best sounding option by any means. Indeed, I think I give up 5.1 as a result.

I can’t believe this is a fault device (I can’t have that much bad luck) but I’m desperate for a resolution.

I have also noticed the same problem with the clicks on the Samsung menus as well!
If you any thoughts or advice, please help me.

Thanks.

PS. Side Note:

1) I am also having problems using my Samsung TV controller charging the volume. When I press to turn up the volume, it jumps up multiple hits instead of just going up by one. The only way it works properly is with the Bose controller.

2) when I turn the soundbar on, despite me pairing my soundbar with with the Acoustimass, sometimes when I turn it on, the pairing light doesn’t come on with the Soundbar. Sometimes it does. Sometimes it doesn’t. Is it not pairing in these instances? The bass module still appears in the app so I’m confused!!!!

[Tony_A]

Hi Davester

Thanks for the detailed notes, we definitely appreciate it!  It sounds like you've gone through all the possible combinations to the navigational clicks to come through.  To confirm, has the TV and soundbar both been connected to the network and possibly updated as well?  

I would also start by connecting only one source device to the setup, and see if there is a conflict between the other devices.  Let's start by only having the Xbox One X connected directly to the soundbar.  I'm curious to see if the TV is processing the audio incorrectly, and this would certainly help rule this out.  If it plays fine with this setup, let's try and connect the Xbox directly to the TV again and see if this helps narrow down the issue.

Warm Regards

Tony 

[Davester]

Hi Tony,

As an update, I'm thinking it might be some issue between the TV and Soundbar. By setting the Xbox to Bitstream and the TV to Bitstream and Dolby Digital, the Xbox sound drop vanished. HOWEVER, I am having this issue with Apple TV and with the Samsung settings menu as well. This is particularly curious why it has happened with the TV menu. 

It's quite disheartening really and I'm not sure why this is happening. I was really excited about getting this sound system, it was a dream chance, and it's definitely been a bit of an underwhelming experience. Totally sad right now.