apple tv remote dropping ir connection to soundbar

I recently upgraded my Apple TV to the latest 4K HDR model (Ethernet version). I use / used my Apple TV remote to control my Sonos soundbar through IR. This was working fine with my older model and I’ve been able to get the Sonos to learn the newer Apple TV remote.

However, the newer remote seems to be having issues. 75% of the time it works, but periodically after waking my Apple TV from sleep, I will go to turn the volume up on my soundbar, and I’ll get a message that IR is not setup.

If I go into

settings > remotes and devices > Volume Control

and just highlight Receiver via IR, this will usually restart the connection and allow me to control volume through the Sonos.

A good 15% of the time I’ll try to go into this submenu and it won’t allow me to enter the Volume Control option, instead it will be greyed out and say it’s on auto mode. The only way to fix this so far is to restart the Apple TV.

It’s happening frequently enough that I’m considering going back to my old Apple TV. Maybe I can just use the old remote? Maybe I need to replace this with a universal remote?