To some, the HDFury Arcana will appear to be an overpriced gadget that doesn’t add something to their dwelling theater setup. For everybody who owns a pre-2019 good TV and a comparatively high-end soundbar able to decoding object-based soundtracks (i.e., Dolby Atmos or DTS:X), it will likely be nothing in need of a miracle.
The $199 4K Arcana fills a really particular want: As described by the corporate, the small field allows “full audio to any eARC sound system for as much as Dolby Atmos, Dolby TrueHD, Dolby MAT Atmos, DTS:X, DTS-HD Grasp Audio and older codecs.” In layman’s phrases, it means a high-end soundbar such because the Sonos Arc will ship full lossless audio to your soundbar even when your TV doesn’t assist eARC.
This isn’t a uncommon downside for individuals who worth high-quality audio. Whereas most trendy televisions assist HDMI ARC (the Audio Return Channel that sends sound out of your TV to your audio system over an HDMI cable), ARC doesn’t present sufficient bandwidth to hold high-resolution lossless audio codecs corresponding to Dolby True HD and DTS-HD Grasp Audio. A brand new customary known as eARC (Enhanced Audio Return Channel) delivers extra than sufficient bandwidth, however solely newer TVs—beginning with high-end fashions offered in 2019—assist eARC. Learn this story for a deep dive into the 2 requirements.
Michael Simon/IDGThe HDFury Arcana will add some additional cable litter to your setup.
Should you’re like me, you’re going to seek out out the arduous means that your private home theater system isn’t all that it might be—after you’ve invested a whole bunch of {dollars} in a brand new soundbar. Few issues are extra irritating than splurging on an costly new gadget solely to find that one other element within the chain prevents it from delivering all that it’s able to. That’s precisely what occurred to me: I excitedly arrange my new Sonos Arc, placed on a film with a Dolby Atmos soundtrack, and heard solely lower-resolution, Dolby Digital Plus. (This Sonos assist article explains what’s wanted for every audio format).
Granted, it nonetheless sounded significantly better than the five-year-old Sonos Playbar I changed, however for the value I paid, I needed nothing lower than full 3D spatial sound. And I wasn’t about to interchange the 82-inch TV I purchased final 12 months simply to get eARC assist.
That’s when I discovered the HDFury Arcana, a field particularly designed to deal with my concern. It has one enter and two outputs, one which goes to the Sonos Arc’s HDMI port, and one which goes to my TV’s ARC port. It’s not in contrast to an exterior GPU for a laptop computer—the Arcana upgrades your TV’s ARC port to an eARC one as for those who had bought a model new set. It’ll even work with TVs or projectors that don’t have a devoted ARC port, and it solved the occasional lip-sync points I used to be having with common ARC.
Michael Brown / IDGAs an alternative of your TV, the Sonos Arc will plug into the Arcana.
However for those who’re studying this, your scenario is probably going the identical as mine: To procure a Sonos Arc to go together with your kinda-new big-screen 4K TV that may’t ship full lossless Atmos sound to it. And for that alone, The HDFury is properly price its $199 price ticket.
Plug and play
Organising the Arcana is extremely easy, although it’ll clearly add to the cable litter behind your TV. The field is sufficiently small to cover, however you’ll want to offer AC energy to the Arcana and add one other HDMI cable to your assortment.
Take into account that the Arcana doesn’t include any HDMI cables, so that you’ll have to deliver your individual; particularly, one labeled Premium Excessive-Velocity HDMI, which supplies bandwidth of 18Gbps. The cable that comes with the Arc will do the trick, however in case you have any points with sound or image high quality, strive swapping out one among your different cables earlier than operating different diagnostic fixes.
IDGWhenever you see the Dolby Atmos emblem within the Sonos app an angel will get its wings.
The field has a small OLED show with numerous menu choices and a considerably clunky navigation wheel, however you shouldn’t need to enterprise past the Audio menu (which can doubtless keep set to “eArc Solely”). There’s additionally an choice for firmware updates whenever you insert a USB stick. Mine arrived updated, so I haven’t used it.
When you have just one gadget to attach, you’ll plug the HDMI cable instantly into the Arcana and also you’re executed. Since that’s not real looking and also you in all probability have multiple gadget in your setup, the Arcana helps HDMI switches between the field and your TV. I used to be in a position to combine my present Caavo Management Heart and use the total performance of its distant with out a problem.
Michael Simon/IDGYou’ll have to obtain forware onto a USB keep on with replace the Arcana.
You may additionally have to reconfigure your 4K UHD Blu-ray participant to ship the right audio bitstream to your soundbar. My Sony UBP-X800 participant defaulted to PCM 7.1 sound (which continues to be higher than I obtained with out the Arcana), however a fast journey to the settings fastened it. All I wanted to do was flip BD Audio Combine off to inform the participant the Arc would deal with audio decoding.
Small hiccups don’t spoil the present
I’ve skilled a couple of quirks with my setup that you may additionally encounter, however nothing was a deal-breaker. Every time I energy on my system, a message from the Arcana seems on the underside of the TV display screen for a couple of seconds. Additionally, after I play or cease a present inside some apps, the display screen goes black for a second or so. I’ve tried numerous settings on the Arcana to repair it, however nothing has helped, so it might be because of my Caavo. At any fee, it’s a minor nuisance.
Michael Brown / IDGThere are a couple of hiccups right here and there, however the Arcana will unleash the total energy of high-end soundbars such because the Sonos Arc.
I additionally misplaced the power to manage the Sonos Arc utilizing my Caavo distant. My Samsung TV doesn’t acknowledge the Arc as a receiver prefer it did when the speaker was plugged instantly into an HDMI port on the set, so the TV thinks I’m controlling its inner audio system (and shows “TV speaker” on its display screen). All I wanted to do was reconfigure the Caavo distant to manage the Arc’s quantity as an alternative of the TV’s. That took seconds within the Sonos app.
I’ve been utilizing the Arcana as a part of my dwelling theater setup for a few weeks now, and I haven’t had any points with connectivity. Nor have I wanted to regulate settings or fiddle with something. Once I energy on my Caavo, the Arcana sends the right alerts, and after I play an Atmos film or present, the Dolby Atmos emblem seems and I get absolutely lossless sound from my Blu-ray participant. It’s a good looking factor to see. And listen to.