S2 is on the horizon and there is talk of support for HD audio - are there any plans to add support for Dolby Digital Plus, LPCM and even DTS over the Beam's HDMI ARC?
It would resolve a lot of long standing issues enabling surround audio with certain Chromecast apps and other devices...
I am eagerly awaiting any news on this, the Beam really should support Dolby Digital Plus…….
We really won’t know until they release more information about S2. Since that has to be released before anyone receives the new speakers, it shouldn’t be too much longer to wait.
But then again, I expect that all new features that could be will be in the first release of S2. It’s entirely possible that the team has their hands full with X number of features to fit in the first release, and other features will filter out as they have time to work on them. So it’s entirely possible that some things we want from S2 won’t be in the first release. Making the additional information still to be released even more enticing :)
I asked about updated support for the Amp and Beam when the Arc was released.
Got the standard answer that there were no news to share and that my interest would be shared with the team.
We can hope for an upgrade but to me it would be strange not to mention upcoming support with Yesterday’s launch and the news of Sonos finally embracing Dolby Digital Plus and Atmos on the Arc.
It would be a real shame if the Sonos Amp and Beam are not upgraded to Dolby Digital Plus. Way to soon to start neglecting such new products, especially the Amp. And if there are hardware limitations that is simply poor design as DD Plus was very much a thing when both products were launched.
Unfortunately, based on Sonos’ track record of never updating the support on the Playbar and Playbase with DTS and still not having updated the Beam with DD Plus I would not get my hopes up.
There’s two issues you have to think about here. One is the ability of the carrier. Optical, of course, is bandwidth limited, and can’t carry many of these codecs. But the other aspect would be software. I’d think it unusual that if the software running on the Arc can accept Dolby Digital Plus, that the same software wouldn’t run on the Beam, assuming both are running S2, and the connection method is not optical.
But that’s speculation on my part. We’ll certainly see soon, when Sonos releases more information about the S2 software. Of course, anyone sticking with S1 will definitely get what they have right now.
ARC can’t support multichannel PCM (or, say, TrueHD), you need eARC for that, and generally an ARC device can’t be upgraded to eARC with a simple firmware change, you need to also update the hardware.
There really is no excuse at all for not supporting multichannel on the Arc, and a rather flimsy one for not supporting DTS, though.
So there is a chance that the S2 update to Beam will give it Dolby Atoms capability?
Otherwise, is there an upgrade program- to send in the current Beam and get the Arc at a discount for the price difference?
So there is a chance that the S2 update to Beam will give it Dolby Atoms capability?
Otherwise, is there an upgrade program- to send in the current Beam and get the Arc at a discount for the price difference?
The Beam has no upfiring speakers. Even if it could decode Atmos, it has no way of playing it properly.
So there is a chance that the S2 update to Beam will give it Dolby Atoms capability?
Otherwise, is there an upgrade program- to send in the current Beam and get the Arc at a discount for the price difference?
And there will definitely not be an upgrade-program.
The current upgrade-program are for the few, very old products, which will not be able to support the General S2 update and thus will no longer function together with a modern Sonos-system.
The Beam still does everything it was advertised to do and even if it’s not updated with new codecs (e.g. Dolby Digital Plus) it is still very much capable of being updated to S2 and functioning alongside the Arc and any other new products coming in the near future. I for one hope that Sonos will bring Dolby Digital Plus to the Beam and the Amp given their fairly recent release-dates but I am rather skeptical.
And for the avoidance of doubt, I wouldn’t be expecting any hardware updates in the near future either. Most likely any hardware update is still some years to come.
Goodluck with that. Even though the Beam can supply lots of other codecs, Sonos will never give it cause why would they
Goodluck with that. Even though the Beam can supply lots of other codecs, Sonos will never give it cause why would they
I think your right. If new codecs were coming, I am sure they would have announced it to boost sales.
+17
So there is a chance that the S2 update to Beam will give it Dolby Atoms capability?
Otherwise, is there an upgrade program- to send in the current Beam and get the Arc at a discount for the price difference?
The Beam has no upfiring speakers. Even if it could decode Atmos, it has no way of playing it properly.
But DD+ would be a possibility for the Beam on S2 software?
Theoretically. The HDMI Arc in the Beam should support it. I wouldn’t know in terms of processing power etc.
But again, don’t get your hopes up. Sonos has to this date never updated codec support of any of its home theater speakers since the Playbar was introduced in the beginning of 2013.
Theoretically. The HDMI Arc in the Beam should support it. I wouldn’t know in terms of processing power etc.
But again, don’t get your hopes up. Sonos has to this date never updated codec support of any of its home theater speakers since the Playbar was introduced in the beginning of 2013.
That’s a good point, and from what I have read, for a TV to fully support the new Arc bar, the TV needs to handle “eArc” connection, which many TVs do not. Is this correct? so someone getting the new Arc should make sure their TV handles it first?
Dolby Atmos can be carried across two different codecs, Dolby Digital Plus, and Dolby TrueHD. The first can be carried by HDMI ARC, the second requires eARC.
My bet at this moment is that when using the Sonos Arc, you won’t be able to tell the difference between the two. If you had a full Atmos setup, using ‘all’ the necessary speakers, it’s possible you might. Or not. For a sound bar system, it seems unlikely that there would be an audible difference.
Time will tell if I’m correct or not.
Theoretically. The HDMI Arc in the Beam should support it. I wouldn’t know in terms of processing power etc.
But again, don’t get your hopes up. Sonos has to this date never updated codec support of any of its home theater speakers since the Playbar was introduced in the beginning of 2013.
That’s a good point, and from what I have read, for a TV to fully support the new Arc bar, the TV needs to handle “eArc” connection, which many TVs do not. Is this correct? so someone getting the new Arc should make sure their TV handles it first?
As I understand it, the Arc will work fine with a HDMI ARC connection and does not need an eARC connection. However, there are several TV’s that will not be able to pass Atmos over Dolby Digital Plus meaning that it won’t pass over normal ARC. So if your TV does not have an eARC connection it is worth looking into if it’s ARC will carry Atmos before upgrading if Atmos is important.
And I agree
The Arc is definitely a highend soundbar but if things like Dolby True HD makes a difference to you, you are likely better of looking at dedicated receivers and a full range speaker setup.
So, S2 has now arrived and I know several people were speculating if S2 would bring Dolby Digital Plus to the Beam and/or the Amp given support for the format on the Arc.
Has anyone checked if that was the case or if the Beam and Amp have indeed been left behind as I was expecting?
I might try testing it out myself over the weekend if no one else has given it a try.
Beam and Amp have unfortunately been left behind. I have a TV that can output DD+ to my Amp, but when I select this option on the TV (q950r) I get message that the connected device does not support DD+. I’ve read similar reports for the Beam, but can’t test myself since my connected TV won’t output it anyway.
Beam and Amp have unfortunately been left behind. I have a TV that can output DD+ to my Amp, but when I select this option on the TV (q950r) I get message that the connected device does not support DD+. I’ve read similar reports for the Beam, but can’t test myself since my connected TV won’t output it anyway.
That really is disappointing.
When the Amp was released, I was almost certain that Sonos had prepared it to support whatever would be coming with S2 and the new soundbar lurking around the corner (now known to be the Arc).
Given the fairly short time between release of the Amp and the Arc, it should have been possible.
The old Connect:Amp was a key product in Sonos’ lineup for a very long time and I expected the same from the new Amp.
For me personally, this means I have made my final decision to buy a Pioneer or Onkyo receiver to run my home theater setup in the house we are currently building. Will use a 2. gen Connect to utilize Works with Sonos.
Simple can’t justify the price of two Amps to be stuck on DD 5.1 in 2021 (when the house is done).
For the same price, I can get the receiver, a used 2. gen Connect and a decent third-party sub to replace my Sonos Sub.
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