...but I don't want a smaller soundbar

According to the verge article ... Sonos was asked directly about Atmos and their answer was something to the effect of “there’s not a sound bar that handles Atmos really well yet.” ....
Well Hello?!? That’s what we are asking you to make for us! I’m ready to give you my money ... but this new sound beam is an easy pass for me

Doesn’t explain the omission of dts/dd+ etc.
There are plenty of sound bars that handle that well. Sadly none of them work in the Sonos ecosystem!

I’m evaluating options for the future. Honestly I’m very happy with Sonus. For those who are moving on, what are you moving too? I don’t see any viable options that do what I want better than what Sonus currently offers. I love Sonus but I will change in a heartbeat if I see a better value. Currently I do not.

Unfortunately I may have no choice but to consider Samsung's HW-N950 or LG's SJ9 with a pair of H3/H5/H7 speakers.

Yea I agree lol this is a super easy pass for me, I don't even care about no dolby atmos but this thing should have worked like a center channel with play 1/5 for left right and surrounds and able to decode modern codecs...

When I saw they added an HDMI port I was very happy and placed a pre-order for the Beam. A few moments layer I saw they posted an FAQ for the Beam and I was shocked to discover that Sonos still has it head up it's a$$. They still only support Dolby Digital and Dolby 5.1. with the Beam. This is so unbelievably idiotic. Needless to say I quickly canceled my order.
I'm now wondering why I should stick with this company when it so obviously doesn't understand home theater.

I held out for 2 years, dealing with down-sampling Blu-ray audio codecs to DD 5.1 and waiting for the "PlayBar II" to arrive.

This is it? Really? They add an HDMI port and then cripple it.

Time to sell the PlayBar, Sub-woofer and the Play1's and get a real home theater setup.

My sentiments exactly! I’ll stick with it for whole home music, but the HT system is getting broken up and moved into other rooms for music. So I’ll not need to buy any more Sonos gear. Period. The whole lack of hdmi old optical issue will become a non issue. So long as the speakers work and I can stream Spotify I’m set. I’ll spend my remaining AV budget on a more future proof solution.

Going to have to go wired I think. But such is life.

I’m evaluating options for the future. Honestly I’m very happy with Sonus. For those who are moving on, what are you moving too? I don’t see any viable options that do what I want better than what Sonus currently offers. I love Sonus but I will change in a heartbeat if I see a better value. Currently I do not.

https://venturebeat.com/2018/05/13/creatives-x-fi-sonic-carrier-is-best-soundbar-from-5-years-in-the-future/

https://www.techradar.com/reviews/creative-x-fi-sonic-carrier

When I saw they added an HDMI port I was very happy and placed a pre-order for the Beam. A few moments layer I saw they posted an FAQ for the Beam and I was shocked to discover that Sonos still has it head up it's a$$. They still only support Dolby Digital and Dolby 5.1. with the Beam. This is so unbelievably idiotic. Needless to say I quickly canceled my order.
I'm now wondering why I should stick with this company when it so obviously doesn't understand home theater.

I held out for 2 years, dealing with down-sampling Blu-ray audio codecs to DD 5.1 and waiting for the "PlayBar II" to arrive.

This is it? Really? They add an HDMI port and then cripple it.

Time to sell the PlayBar, Sub-woofer and the Play1's and get a real home theater setup.

My sentiments exactly! I’ll stick with it for whole home music, but the HT system is getting broken up and moved into other rooms for music. So I’ll not need to buy any more Sonos gear. Period. The whole lack of hdmi old optical issue will become a non issue. So long as the speakers work and I can stream Spotify I’m set. I’ll spend my remaining AV budget on a more future proof solution.

Going to have to go wired I think. But such is life.
Yea I did that quite awhile ago sold my playbar off and went wired its awesome and supports it all, my denon receiver even works with airplay so its super simple from right within spotify to send music to it, it turns it on and just starts playing. I was hoping this soundbar would have brought me back into the fold because I have atmos ability now but dont use it just want the modern codecs and thought it would be cool to be able to use play 1 or 5 for the L R speaker but I honestly should have known better lol sonos should completely bow out of home theater.

I’m evaluating options for the future. Honestly I’m very happy with Sonus. For those who are moving on, what are you moving too? I don’t see any viable options that do what I want better than what Sonus currently offers. I love Sonus but I will change in a heartbeat if I see a better value. Currently I do not.

Now that he lawsuit is resolved, I think I will be sticking with Heos. They cater more to the high end audio market. The Heos 7 is hard to beat and the Heos Bar and Heos Subwoofer is a great combo.

I’m evaluating options for the future. Honestly I’m very happy with Sonus. For those who are moving on, what are you moving too? I don’t see any viable options that do what I want better than what Sonus currently offers. I love Sonus but I will change in a heartbeat if I see a better value. Currently I do not.

https://venturebeat.com/2018/05/13/creatives-x-fi-sonic-carrier-is-best-soundbar-from-5-years-in-the-future/

https://www.techradar.com/reviews/creative-x-fi-sonic-carrier

A poster had put this on the board after CES and it looks interesting but I’m not spending $3k or more on a sound bar. Apple, Bluesound, Denon, SVS and Paradigm were all on my initial list. Some have features I like better than others but we are a Apple household and Sonus works seamlessly. I’m looking to add home theater sound to our bedroom and have been patiently waiting. Still not ready to jump on a sound bar. I may wait until the fall and see what hardware Apple rolls out for it’s 2nd generation. In the mean time Sonus is sufficient.

I’m evaluating options for the future. Honestly I’m very happy with Sonus. For those who are moving on, what are you moving too? I don’t see any viable options that do what I want better than what Sonus currently offers. I love Sonus but I will change in a heartbeat if I see a better value. Currently I do not.

Unfortunately I may have no choice but to consider Samsung's HW-N950 or LG's SJ9 with a pair of H3/H5/H7 speakers.

Looks like LG have updated the SJ9 with the SK10Y and SPK8-S for rear speakers.

I’m evaluating options for the future. Honestly I’m very happy with Sonus. For those who are moving on, what are you moving too? I don’t see any viable options that do what I want better than what Sonus currently offers. I love Sonus but I will change in a heartbeat if I see a better value. Currently I do not.

Now that he lawsuit is resolved, I think I will be sticking with Heos. They cater more to the high end audio market. The Heos 7 is hard to beat and the Heos Bar and Heos Subwoofer is a great combo.
I like the feature of a single HDMI connection from the Heos Bar to the TV. Avoids the external HDMI switch boxes.