Dolby Atmos

Just like 4K being few and far between, Atmos will soon be everywhere and the norm. All in time...

Sonos CEO told someone in September that they are actively looking into incorporating Atmos. There was a Reddit thread on it.

According to the information here: https://www.lifewire.com/digital-optical-connection-1846881

It is important to note that digital audio signals, such as 5.1/7.1 multi-channel PCM, Dolby Digital Plus, Dolby TrueHD, Dolby Atmos, DTS-HD Master Audio, DTS:X, and Auro 3D Audio cannot be transferred via Digital Optical connections - These formats require HDMI connections.

Which means that if indeed Sonos is looking at it, they're looking at a new device that has HDMI, and none of us who have PLAYBARs or PLAYBASEs will be able to play without a replacement device.

This is the reason I use the Sonos System ONLY for Music. I have a Receiver and wired speakers to get all the toys that Movie Media has to offer. I came to this site to see if I could use Sonos for everything and sadly I cannot. Only music, which is fine with me. I'll keep checking though to see what the future offers.

A little outdated comment in that we know an hdmi capable playbar is getting announced in June.

I cannot wait, I sold my playbar few years ago.i still love Sonos just been waiting for an update I hope this is it I'll gladly ditch my receiver setup and wires for an updated playbar that can do true 5.1 I don't even care about Atmos that would just be icing on the cake.

What does "true 5.1" mean?? The Playbar/bases already do that.

True.

I assume he must be saying 5 seperate speakers.

And now Apple TV 4k will be supporting Dolby Atmos....

Just wanted to comment on the point made a couple months ago that if Sonos can handle 32 speakers in a system, then they would be able to handle a 7.1.4 system, or whatever it is. I don't think that's a great comparison though, as the standard wholehouse setup is a net, meaning each unit passes the stereo signal on to others without the original source having to make the connection to all the units in the group itself. It also is done over 2.4 GHz and has a nice buffer. The Home Theatre setup is different in that the playbar unit has to send the right channel of sound to the right speaker by itself. It's not a net, it's more of a master slave situation. It also has to be done at 5 GHz with no real buffer in order to keep the audio in sync with the video. So in order for a new playbar to do dolby atmos , it's got to be able to send around maybe 5- 12 separate signals to all the speakers in the atmos group, with not much buffer to work with. A lot more difficult.

Not to mention, are there going to be that many customers that want to buy that many speakers and have the ability to plug them in where they need to go. I realize that a lot of the channels can be built in to the soundbar, but it's still quite a bit.