Scrambled / crackling audio on HDMI ARC after long standby period

[pipomolo42]

Hi, I have a strange issue when waking up the device to play audio from the HDMI ARC source, and I'm wondering if anyone has experienced the same.

It can be heard on https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Al72izVL_pHlQwE-YJ16T5PSGW3kwL1Y/view, there's some kind of crackling noise over the TV audio.

It seems to only happen on the HDMI ARC source, and after the Wiim Amp has been on standby for a long time (overnight or a few days).

If I switch to a web radio, it plays fine, but when I switch back to the HDMI input, it's still present.

If I reboot the amp from the app, it also remains present.

It seems that the only way to restore the Amp to a normal state is to pull its AC plug, wait at least five seconds, and plug it back in.

I have:
"firmware": "Linkplay.5.0.613551"
"uboot_verinfo": "231222.180423"
"PCB_version": "5"

Did any of you already experience a similar behavior?

(I created ticket #502844)

 

[Brantome]

Do you have another hdmi cable to try?

 

[pipomolo42]

unfortunately, I don't have another long enough cable, or a closer arc capable device to try

but I think the issue starter to appear well over a month after I started using the device, and I haven't touched the cable

also, I didn't have the issue on the humming PCB rev 2 that I had before, in the same setup and environment

 

[pipomolo42]

2 additional pieces of info:
- it seems to only happen after a hard reset (AC plug pulled for 5 to 10 seconds) OR a firmware update
- with this week's firmware update (5.0.614850), I had absolutely no sound over HDMI instead of the "usual" crackling audio, and I had to do a hard reset to recover audio

 

[pipomolo42]

Do you have another hdmi cable to try?

Well, maybe it was just a bad connection, or my cable dying…

One thing worth noting: even when there is crackling audio or no sound, the Amp still wakes up and goes to standby through HDMI CEC.

I moved the elements closer and tried with a 2 meter cable, and it did not have the issue.

Then I plugged back the original 5 meter cable, and it seems to work fine for now, I'll see how it evolves…

 

[harkpabst]

HDMI cable quality can really make a difference. And just because one HDMI feature works OK that's no guarantee everything else will.

In theory, HDMI cables can be hot-plugged. In practice it never hurts to make and brake HDMI connection only with the power plugs pulled.