Prominent Collaborator I

Can people stop complaining about DTS?

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Not sure where to post but I need to chime in. I love this forum, but a question for all the complainers of DTS not being supported. Did you actually research before you purchased this very expensive equipment? I have read so many people whining “I’m going to return my Sonos” or I’m selling my gear” or “wahhhhhh I’m not buying Sonos unless they give me DTS”. I spent hours researching before I even went to the store to give it a listen. It very clear and in no way hidden that this equipment is geared towards streaming media and music. It clearly states that DTS is not supported. To be honest, I didn’t even know people still watch DVDs! Wait....are VCRs still around too?? People think that Sonos is not listening. I believe they are listening and their answer is NO. They have a very specific brand with one goal in mind. Add music easily throughout your whole home. I think the 5.1 is a bonus but it’s not their claim to fame. I have the 5.1 set up and a couple Play 5s and could not be happier with them. Movies AND Music sound great.
Please stop complaining. If the equipment is not exactly what you want, don’t buy it and please don’t whine that you would buy it “if”. Should I call Apple and tell them I’ll buy thousands of dollars of their brand if they “would simply integrate windows 10” to their interface? Ok, enough venting for 1 day. Phew, that felt good! Bring on the hateful comments, I can handle it.

DTS

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UloPe

Lyricist I

I'm one of those uninformed customers (despite working in IT) that foolishly assumed that any product marketed for home cinema in 2018 would, of course, support all common multi-channel formats.

To learn that the Beam doesn't even accept multi-channel PCM (let's not even speak of DTS, DD+ etc.) is simply shocking.

I still have a Yamaha AV receiver in my basement that I bought in 2003 (that's 15 years(!) ago) that has support for DD5.1, DTS, DTS-ES, and Multi-channel PCM. And all that was over Toslink (HDMI wasn't a thing back then). So telling people that there is *any* kind of technical reason why they can't at least support audio codecs from the last decade is just BS.

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photoluck

Lyricist I

> To learn that the Beam doesn't even accept multi-channel PCM (let's not even speak of DTS, DD+ etc.) is simply shocking.

It is... and the playbar can't play DTS...
But even more, you can't connect Play:5 to the Playbar for audio streaming from your TV. Listen, nice concept, but totally not adequate or practical. Is it so hard to fix these things? Seen from the price point, it should.

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billiejoe87

Chromatic Producer I

I whinge about the shortcomings of Sonos with DTS, No Airplay 2 on the Playbar and the lip sync issues with LG Oled TV's and often think I should have gone with Bose. I always thought the Soundtouch ST300 looked nicer than the Playbar.

However, I then look at Bose and the failed promises of Airplay 2 on any of their soundtouch line, no mesh network, no apple music and now the pathetic situation of the soundtouch line essentially being discontinued and the new wifi speakers being completely incompatible with any soundtouch product and am reminded how much better the Sonos eco system really is.

Think about it, you can have a Zone Player from a decade or more ago in perfect sync with a Sonos One Alexa speaker. Bose can't even manage to allow you to sync a bose soundtouch product bought new today with one of their new home speaker branded products which is what all their new wireless speakers are going to be branded as. Imagine how annoyed you'd be having spent thousands and already being forced into obsolescence?

I used Bose as an example as they are the most obvious competitor to Sonos, however you can use many brands in their place.

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1 x Arc, 1 x Beam Gen 2, 1 x Amp, 2 x Sonos In Ceiling Speakers, 2 x Sub, 4 x Sonos Ones, 2 x Sonos Era 100, 5 x Symfonisk Lamp (Gen 2)

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SOCalistic

Renowned Enthusiast I

I always find it odd that people want to stifle what other people might complain about. If you don't like it then don't read it rather than trying to control other people.

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McMurdeR

Prominent Collaborator I

It's less an issue for me since I almost always rip and compress my blu rays out to a media server as soon as I get them. I convert the DTS tracks to Dolby while I'm at it and all is well. However, it would be tremendously convenient to ocasionally throw a blu ray disk into the playstation (you know, the most common blu ray player on the planet), and have the Sonos system actually play the default surround track as intended.

I did know about this issue when I bought the Sonos Beam, so I abide by it. However, I agree that it's a little disingenuous to advertise the speakers as home theater capable when they can't play the most common audio codec found on most blu ray disks and many DVDs. I'm just not convinced by Sonos's reasoning here - if there's some technical reason why they can't implement the decoder then just come out and say so, but please stop pretending that their customers haven't been begging for DTS support for years.

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Ken_Griffiths

I don’t want to stifle anyone’s opinion, but I would hope Sonos ignore DTS and choose to go along with Netflix/Prime/Apple/Google and aim for Dolby Atmos instead. Discs will likely become a thing of the past or a rare item and replaced by Digital streaming anyway.

I can see Apple opening up their own streaming movie service soon to run alongside Netflix & the others. It’s possible they may do that within the current pricing of their music service.

My hope therefore is that Sonos remains focused on the majority customer base and stick with where those users clearly appear to be heading.

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melvimbe

I did know about this issue when I bought the Sonos Beam, so I abide by it. However, I agree that it's a little disingenuous to advertise the speakers as home theater capable when they can't play the most common audio codec found on most blu ray disks and many DVDs. I'm just not convinced by Sonos's reasoning here - if there's some technical reason why they can't implement the decoder then just come out and say so, but please stop pretending that their customers haven't been begging for DTS support for years.

I'm not sure why making their reasoning public, beyond what they've already stated regarding streaming media, would be of benefit. Like I said, they did say that they're research suggested that most customers stream media, and therefore felt DTS was less important...and that reasoning has mostly been rejected. Why would a new reason now be acceptable to customers? I'm not saying I don't personally want to know all the details about the decision, I just don't see how telling us makes me or anyone else feel better about it.

As for pretending...have they? They responded from time to time, particularly regarding DTS on the new products Beam and Sonos Amp. I have little doubt that they are well aware of what customers are asking for.

To Be clear, I'm in favor of adding DTS if at all possible. I don't need it for myself personally, but in my opinion, it make their home theatre products less user friendly and deters sales. I don't have all the facts around that, just my opinion.

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Danny

Ken_Griffiths

To be clear, I'm in favor of adding DTS if at all possible. I don't need it for myself personally, but in my opinion, it make their home theatre products less user friendly and deters sales. I don't have all the facts around that, just my opinion.Danny,

I wonder what the cost would actually be to now licence the DTS codec from Xperi on every existing Sonos HT device and any future device and I wonder who would be asked to pay for that codec. I can’t see Xperi saying 'have this one on us'.

I’m sure those costs would somehow be passed onto the majority of users too, who may never, or hardly ever, use it, perhaps?

I’m not sure that the majority should be paying for the needs of the minority, so I would still prefer Sonos to ignore DTX and switchover to Atmos instead as I’m happy to pay for something I would be using.. I think that would then hopefully please the majority too and keep costs lower.

I would be happier, if there was the option to pay for a DTS codec add-on/update and Sonos/Xperi allowed the users to decide if they wanted to pay for that feature. I’m not sure what the actual costs would be though, given all the support costs too.

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melvimbe

Yea, I added "if at all possible" for the reasons you specified. I agree that retroactively enabling DTS would surely be cost prohibitive, but would it be so to enable it on a future new product? Would it work if you change the price of a playbar 2.0 to $750 to cover costs? Does it makes sense to have 2 versions of the playbar, with or without DTS? Does it make sense to have a digital pay system so customers can pay for the codecs they want?

I don't have answers. I guess you could say I have an opinion, but not that strong of one.

As for atmos, I'm not sure it's a big improvement with a 5.1 system. If/when additional speakers can be added to a HT Sonos room, then maybe,

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Danny

Ken_Griffiths

Danny,

Yes indeed and just to say I only chose Dolby Atmos as being the road ahead, over DTS, because that’s where all the streaming services say they are now moving to. Not that it would really make any difference, until we eventually see the next gen Sonos hardware, like you say.

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