deeaw

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deeaw

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January 22nd, 2024 00:21

AW3225QF, eARC pass through?

EDIT Feb 1st 2024: I have set up a return for refund for this monitor, it will be picked up by a carrier next Friday. If eARC passthrough/bitstream gets fixed in a firmware update, I will consider repurchasing it in the future.

Original Post:

I recently received my AW3225QF. The main reasons I chose this over the other recently announced 4K OLEDs is the advertisement of Dolby Vision and eARC.

I have a Fire TV Cube 3rd Generation which has an "eARC hub" feature similar to that of the Apple TV 4K that allows eARC to pass audio from other HDMI devices to the Fire TV which can then send wireless audio to a "home theater" group of compatible Amazon Echo speakers, in my case a pair of Echo Studios.

I have the Fire TV Cube plugged into the eARC port, and my PC plugged in to the other HDMI 2.1 port. The PC audio does not pass through as I hoped it would. In the setup instructions, there would normally be an audio setting that needs to be toggled correctly on the respective television for this to work (and the exact name of this feature can vary from device to device).

The AW3225QF has no audio related features in the OSD. The closest setting I could find was HDMI CEC which is set to On.

Has anyone been able to get audio pass through to work via eARC, either to a SONOS or any type of soundbar setup so you get audio from your second HDMI port correctly?

The only other thing I can think of that may be an issue is that I'm using a Fiber Optic HDMI 2.1 cable that is directional, and eARC might require a non-directional cable, so I'll try swapping cables and reporting back.

EDIT: So I replaced the directional cable with the Ultra High Speed cable that came with the monitor, and still no audio passing through. Unless I'm doing something wrong that someone knows how to fix, or there is a confirmed upcoming firmware update to address this, I'm probably going to return the monitor. If it gets patched in the future I'll repurchase it.

Also, I have the monitor driver installed, and my AMD drivers are up to date. Source is a Radeon 6700 XT, system sound output is set to AW3225QF via AMD High Definition Audio Device.

(edited)

  • Chriis23

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    Posted April 9th, 2024 21:25

    In  monitor  menu go to others and turn on HDMI CEC 

    sound bar works now with eARC

    (edited)

  • KotaroSZY

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    Posted May 29th, 2024 22:58

    This works for me now. I’m using Sonos gen 2. Both monitor and soundbar firmware are up to date. 
    HDMI CEC set to ON. 
    Change smart hdr in monitor OSD to something else or disable then change it back. Now it shows up as aw3225qf in windows 11 sound output. 

    (edited)

  • dirty30s

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    Posted June 12th, 2024 03:59

    Hi. I just purchased a aw3225qf, using the m2b105 firmware, and was able to get it working. My setup is:

    - PC connected to displayport

    - Appletv connected to hdmi 2.

    - Cheap amazon arc compatible audio extractor / dac connected to hdmi 1.

    To my delight, eARC audio works for both the displayport audio (i didn't even know this was possible until windows switched to it automatically) and apple tv.

    The trick seems to be from the cm post on the first page.. CEC On and turn auto switching off. When you cycle the power on the audio dongle, there is life!

    Switching between the displayport and the hdmi 2 source switches audio flawlessly as well.

    Hopefully this holds. Also, it would be nice to turn auto switching back on and have this work.. but a small price for being able to remove a soundcard and need to change physical plugs on my setup.

    (edited)

  • chrisz5z

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    Posted March 15th, 2025 18:36

    @BMagny@Sunny1973 

    Can confirm that this works, and outputs Dolby Atmos. I originally used HDMI to pass the audio to my soundbar (JBL Bar 700), but wanted to switch to Displayport since in Linux there is no DSC for HDMI...which means no 240hz.

    7900 XTX DP to DP Monitor > HDMI1 to eARC HDMI on soundbar

    Only extra thing i had to do was reinstall the Dolby Access app on Windows. After clicking setup in the app, Dolby Home Theater becomes an option in Windows sound settings.

  • Vanadiel

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    Posted January 22nd, 2024 15:40

    Check page 63 of the manual: Manual

    HDMI 1 port should have the external device connected.

    HDMI 2 port should have the PC connected.

    Both will need to use a HDMI 2.1 high speed cable. Both cables should come with the monitor.

  • ReadyPlayerTwo

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    Posted January 22nd, 2024 23:58

    @Vanadiel​ I’m also having this issue with my AW3225QF. Both are plugged in right port. It’s a hit and miss EARC Is broken. Sometimes it work and doesn’t but now it’s not working at all. We need this to be fix and updated please. We need EARC to show up in windows it’s not working and plus please fix the HDMI G sync. We need to update the EARC and HDMI G-sync. I am not getting audio from eARC anymore. I changed my hdmi multiple times and turned on the HDMI CEC and there still an issue with eARC not showing up on windows.

    I’m also experiencing this EARC issue it’s not showing up in windows anymore. It worked for a day or two now it not working at all 

    (edited)

  • deeaw

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    Posted January 23rd, 2024 00:00

    @Vanadiel​ Thanks, I wouldn't have found those settings on my own. That gave me a few things to try, but it still seems no matter whether I set to Audio: Main, or Audio: Sub with PIP/PBP enabled, I'm still not getting audio passed through to the Fire TV Cube from the PC.

    I did some searching on Reddit, and it looks like some people were able to get an external Sonos soundbar to work, so it appears this may just be a problem for my specific use case of trying to get eARC audio passthrough to my Fire TV Cube 3rd Gen. Seems Dell would have to enable some settings on their end that would allow the audio to pass through to a Fire TV Cube, and I would be very surprised if that actually ever happens.

    I was really hoping this would work as it would greatly simplify my audio setup for multiple devices without having to unplug and replug a bunch of cables all the time, but oh well. Now I have to decide whether I'm going to return this monitor.

  • ReadyPlayerTwo

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    Posted January 23rd, 2024 00:09

    Dell if you can also update the monitor eARC to be compatible with KEFS LS50 WIRELESS 2 eARC that would be great 👍🏻 

    (edited)

  • Vanadiel

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    Posted January 23rd, 2024 15:46

    @deeaw​ I am thinking a work around would be to use the second HDMI directly to the audio device, instead of using the monitor earc out.

    You would still have sound at the monitor from the HDMI connection.

    Not the best solution, but it would work until some more information is known about what's causing this issue.

  • deeaw

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    Posted January 23rd, 2024 20:32

    @Vanadiel​ Unfortunately going straight into the HDMI IN of the Fire TV Cube from the PC would result in a 4K 60hz limitation which is not going to work for me either. For now I do have audio via a USB-C audio dock, but that's how the setup was being used with my old monitor as well, and only works for the PC it is plugged into. I also have a Corsair USB wireless headset, but again, that only works for the one device it is plugged into.

    I really wanted the eARC support so when I set up my 4 way HDMI switch on the AW3225QF, my Nintendo Switch, PC, Mac Mini, and laptop or any other device that I decide to plug in would all route audio through the one set of Echo Studio speakers via my Fire TV Cube plugged into the eARC input seamlessly.

    (edited)