I had an smsl that had the same garbage range..not to mention a lot of crap from many elite/elusive hifi manufacturers as well.
Funny thing is...I have a 50 dollar Google chromecast dongle plugged in/buried behind a cluster fk of things in a rack. Its remote can reach/work perfectly from 20 ft away or more at any freaking angle.i can even talk to it amd make it do all kinds of things (all of that on a 50 dollar device).
These Hifi manufacturer bozos (special olympics level in execution, but are somehow elite/elusive apparently!) should be schooled by Google on how to make a Fing remote control.