Sonos soundbar lip-sync troubleshooting tips

Though it isn’t an issue we see often, when connecting any external soundbar to your TV there's always a small chance that there could be a lip-sync delay.

Not to worry, we do some troubleshooting tips ready to resolve the problem!

Firstly, we need to work out if the audio is delayed or ahead of the video.

Please keep in mind, if you’re only experiencing lip-sync delays on ONE platform (i.e Sky Q/HD or Apple TV) and not all the content you watch it would be best to look at the audio delay feature on the device experiencing the delay. 

Here's an example of how to change Sky Q's lipsync delay:

Settings > Setup > Audio Visual. Then select the Digital audio delay HDMI option and you can choose a delay in 20ms increment.


The audio comes before the picture

If the audio comes first then there’s a delay in seeing the mouths move, please try the steps below. After each step, watch something with a lot of dialogue to see if there’s a difference.

  • Manually change the lip-sync settings through the Sonos App. Go to: Settings > System > Select the room with the Arc > Scroll down to TV Dialog Sync > Then you can manually change the Audio Delay. Increase this setting to see if it makes any difference.
  • Change the audio delay settings on your TV. This will be similar to the step above, though for the TV itself. How to will vary from TV to TV though you should find it in the sound settings.
  • Turn off game mode (if it’s turned on on your TV)

The picture comes before the audio

If your audio and video are out of sync because the audio is behind the video—i.e. already delayed—delaying it further won’t help, unfortunately. This is much less common, though we still have some solutions below:

  • Connect via optical to speed up the audio processing (this would mean no DD+ or Atmos)
  • Turn ON Game Mode in the TV settings if available
  • Make sure audio delay is off on both soundbar and TV
  • Some TV sets do have a negative lip-sync setting, so if that’s the case, change the lip-sync settings to speed the audio up.

The final option would be to try the HD Fury Arcana box. The HD Fury Arcana allows for both the video and audio to be processed within that box, meaning both should line up perfectly. We’ve found in most cases, this has been a good solution.


If you've purchased your Sonos soundbar from us and would like any further technical support please reach out on 0800 677 1100, Live Chat or info@smarthomesounds.co.uk.

Or for information on curing lip-sync problems on Sony Bravia, please try Solving Lip-Sync Issues on Sony Bravia TVs

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