HI, I have an issue with an S95D TV and a Q-series soundbar. I use a Sony Blu-Ray player connected to the TV at HDMI1. I then connect the HDMI eARC from the TV to the eARC input on the soundbar. This works fine for almost everything. But when I play one of my small but well-chosen collection of SACDs, I notice the following. Background: The SACD format usually has three layers: compatible CD audio, SACD stereo, and SACD multi-channel.
1. If I play the SACD multi-channel layer, no sound.
2. If I play the SACD stereo layer, sound OK.
3. If I connect the Blu-Ray player SACD multi-channel directly to the soundbar on HDMI2, sound OK.
So the soundbar can play the multi-channel layer, except when it goes through the TV. Yes, I do have the TV set to HDMI pass-through, which is supposed to send the HDMI through without any changes. But it apparently does something to it, since it doesn't work for the soundbar. But it does work with a direct connection.
Ideas, explanations? I don't mind listening to the stereo layer, it sounds great. I could leave the direct connection hooked up, but the soundbar switches back to eARC at every opportunity, and I have to switch it back manually, which is too much trouble. I just want the eARC to work the way it should, as it does for everything else.
The answer is to connect the Blu-Ray player HDMI AV out to HDMI2 (or 1) on the soundbar. Then the soundbar can handle the sound without it being touched by the TV. The connection between the soundbar eARC and the TV eARC remains, and the soundbar passes the video signal on to the TV. This works very well, and maintains correct auto switching between soundbar inputs. If you switch the TV to the cable box, the soundbar switches smoothly to TV-eARC input. And vice versa. SACDs and Blu-Rays play fine this way, and the soundbar display calls out DTS HD or whatever audio is on the Blu-Ray.
There is one disadvantage, the Q-Symphony mode is not available for audio from the Blu-Ray player, but this is far from a deal-breaker for me. It is still around for audio coming through the TV. It continues to work with the cable box.
So I guess this demonstrates that the TV indeed monkeys with the SACD multichannel audio signal. The fix is to take it out of the hands of the TV. Don't know why I didn't think of it before. Remember, the HDMI eARC is a two-way channel! The audio can go from the TV to the soundbar, or the AV can go the other way. The HDMI Anynet stuff continues to work either way.
Got it — thanks for laying out all the details so clearly. I think I can explain what’s happening and why you’re getting silence on SACD multichannel when running the player → TV → soundbar chain.
What’s going on:
SACD multichannel uses DSD (Direct Stream Digital) as its native format. Very few TVs — including the Samsung S95D — can handle or forward DSD over HDMI/eARC.
When you set your TV’s HDMI audio to pass-through, it still doesn’t always pass every format untouched. Most TVs only pass through PCM, Dolby Digital, DTS, Dolby TrueHD, DTS-HD MA, and Atmos. They usually drop DSD completely.
What happens then is: the Blu-ray player is sending DSD multichannel → TV → TV doesn’t know what to do with DSD → silence.
But when you connect the player directly to the soundbar, the soundbar does recognize DSD (or the PCM that your player converts it into), so it plays correctly.
Why stereo works:
The SACD stereo layer is often either standard PCM or gets downconverted by your Blu-ray player into PCM. PCM is universally supported by TVs and eARC, so it comes through fine.
Your options:
Set your Blu-ray player to convert DSD to PCM (multichannel).
Most Sony players have a setting like DSD Output Mode → set it to Off, or set DSD to PCM Conversion → On.
That way, instead of sending DSD, the player sends multichannel PCM → TV → eARC → soundbar → sound works.
You’ll still get full high-res multichannel, just not in native DSD.
Keep the direct connection (player → soundbar) but tame the auto-switching.
Some Q-series bars let you disable “auto source” or lock the HDMI input so it won’t jump back to eARC. Worth checking your bar’s input settings.
Split the HDMI signal.
Use an HDMI splitter/extractor that sends video to the TV and audio directly to the soundbar. This way, the TV never touches the audio path, so DSD/PCM goes straight in.
Bottom line:
The issue isn’t your TV being broken — it’s just that Samsung TVs don’t pass DSD over eARC. The simplest fix is to tell your Sony player to convert SACD multichannel DSD → PCM, which will then go through eARC just fine.
👉 Do you want me to walk you through the exact Sony Blu-ray menu settings that will make it convert SACD to PCM multichannel automatically?
That sounds very logical, but I couldn't get it to work.
By the way, Sony UBP-X800M2 is the player.
Set Digital Output Mode to PCM. Set DSD Output Mode to OFF (or AUTO, didn't make any difference.) Still OK on stereo, no sound on multichannel.
Also tried setting TV Digital Output Audio Format to PCM instead of Pass-Through. That killed stereo playback and multichannel.
I notice that the Blu-Ray display on the TV calls out both stereo (2ch) and multichannel as being DSD. This problem is consistent over several discs and labels. Now I'm about as confused as I've ever been!
One more datum I found today. I can hit the info button twice on the soundbar and it displays what kind of signal it's seeing. When the BD player is set to DSD 2ch I see STEREO PCM on the soundbar and get audio out. When the BD player is set to DSD MULTI, I get MULTICH PCM on the soundbar. So if there readings can be believed, I am getting PCM signals through in both cases, but the soundbar is incapable of playing the multichannel one for some reason.
Next stage: to patch the BD HDMI audio to another HDMI connector on the soundbar and see if it also reports that as MULTICH PCM, because when I do that, I get good audio. If that happens, I suppose I will suspect the TV is somehow altering the signal so as to be incompatible with the soundbar, maybe.
The answer is to connect the Blu-Ray player HDMI AV out to HDMI2 (or 1) on the soundbar. Then the soundbar can handle the sound without it being touched by the TV. The connection between the soundbar eARC and the TV eARC remains, and the soundbar passes the video signal on to the TV. This works very well, and maintains correct auto switching between soundbar inputs. If you switch the TV to the cable box, the soundbar switches smoothly to TV-eARC input. And vice versa. SACDs and Blu-Rays play fine this way, and the soundbar display calls out DTS HD or whatever audio is on the Blu-Ray.
There is one disadvantage, the Q-Symphony mode is not available for audio from the Blu-Ray player, but this is far from a deal-breaker for me. It is still around for audio coming through the TV. It continues to work with the cable box.
So I guess this demonstrates that the TV indeed monkeys with the SACD multichannel audio signal. The fix is to take it out of the hands of the TV. Don't know why I didn't think of it before. Remember, the HDMI eARC is a two-way channel! The audio can go from the TV to the soundbar, or the AV can go the other way. The HDMI Anynet stuff continues to work either way.
