It has been a long time since I last posted in the Saloon as I've been on a 2-channel adventure for some time. I'm hoping the issue I'm having has been discussed somewhere in the Saloon while I have been away.

When I last posted I purchased one of the first 976s along with an Oppo UDP-203 and an 4K LG 55" OLED. It was a big upgrade from my 990, previous 720p Pioneer flat panel and an Oppo BDP-83. My sources beside the Oppo 203 are a cable TV box and an 4K AppleTV and all use quality HDMI 18gbps cables. The cable box and Apple TV perform flawlessly through the 976 but the same can't be said about the Oppo 203.

When playing either a 4k disc or a Blu-Ray I get frequent but random snapping sounds mostly from the center speaker. The volume of the snaps is about the same as what normally comes from the speakers. The picture is unaffected but the snapping makes movies unwatchable. To diagnose the problem I have:

* run the 203's output directly to my LG TV and there is no snapping.
* split the audio to the 976 and video output to the LG from the 203 using HDMI but snapping still occurs.
* run the 203's output to various 976 HDMI ports plus used different HDMI cables and the snapping always occurs.

From what I can tell the Oppo's audio output and the 976's audio processing are not meshing. Has anyone else experienced anything like this? Has there been a firmware update for the 976 that might have addressed this problem? Any ideas from the Saloon? Thanks!