Yes, it is true. But from what I can tell, it only appears to be lossy DTS Digital Surround support, not support for lossless DTS-HD Master Audio or DTS:X.

“Sonos also plan to add support for decoding DTS Digital Surround later this year via the S2 platform on Playbar, Playbase, Amp, both generations of Beam, and Arc.”

I also saw this and was surprised at how under the radar this news is!

As a long suffering Sonos user who loves using Disk Format, i’ve had to jump through hoops to get DTS to play on my setup, and after years of Sonos telling me that this nuisance wasn’t their concern, they’re finally bringing DTS support to their home theatre products!!!

It might be a little downplayed because they’ve now allowed all eArc devices to process Multichannel LPCM devices so we’re covered for full surround for more DTS disks (though I’m not sure about DTS:X), but this doesn’t solve anything for the Playbar -- which is part of the DTS update.

It’s still a head scratcher that none of the higher end DTS formats are being supported though - guessing technical issues and too much development cost plays a part.  Lets be honest -- disk using purists who crave the highest level of audio quality are a quickly shrinking minority.

I would like to thank the Sonos team for finally taking into account the request of many customers regarding DTS. This was a huge drawback considering the high price of Sonos products.

As a Sonos Beam+Sub owner, I had invested in a Sony UBP-X800M2 player connected to a Sony TV of the same generation (the only combo allowing DTS->LPCM->Dolby transcoding, a miracle I still don't understand). But I know other people who are not so lucky and are stuck in PCM stereo when playing DVD/Blu-ray with a PS5 and the Beam.

Now you'll have to explain how a DTS-MA or DTS-X track from a blu-ray will play on a Sonos soundbar. Is it absolutely necessary for the TV to have a "Passthrougth" feature that supports DTS? Will the signal be "degraded" to simple DTS or can it be converted to Dolby Digital-True HD/Dolby Atmos? I would like to note that simple DTS 5.1 will be a huge step forward, especially regarding dynamics and surrounds, instead of stereo. Therefore, thank you, I'm looking forward to the details and future announcements.

It is. A lot of TVs simply won’t do it, and that’s probably one of the many reasons why Sonos has been slow to implement the feature - it’s not going to reach everybody. Samsung and LG are big offenders here - they’re probably not willing to pay for the licencing. Recent Sony and Hisense TVs are probably ok. rtings maintain an up to date listing of TVs and passthrough support. I’m not sure if I’m allowed to link it here?

As always a way around it is to use a player that can reencode DTS to Dolby or LPCM on the fly.

A DTS-HD Master Audio and DTS:X track has a core lossy DTS Digital Surround track. This is similar to Dolby TrueHD having a core Dolby Digital track. DTS Digital Surround is what Sonos will begin to support. From what I can tell, DTS Digital Surround has a slightly higher bitrate than Dolby Digital, so the audio should sound a little better than standard Dolby Digital.

• If your TV and soundbar have HDMI ARC (like the Beam Gen 1) and your TV has DTS passthrough, when you play a DTS-HD Master Audio or DTS:X disc, you will get DTS Digital Surround audio (after the DTS update). 
   
• If your TV and soundbar have HDMI ARC and your TV has Dolby Digital passthrough, when you play a Dolby TrueHD or Dolby Atmos disc, you will get Dolby Digital audio. 
   
• If your TV and soundbar have HDMI eARC (like the Arc or Beam Gen 2) and your TV has DTS passthrough, when you play a DTS-HD Master Audio or DTS:X disc, you can get DTS Digital Surround audio (after the DTS update) OR multichannel PCM (depending on your player’s settings). 
   
• If your TV and soundbar have HDMI eARC and your TV has Dolby Digital/TrueHD passthrough, when you play a Dolby TrueHD or Dolby Atmos disc, you will get Dolby TrueHD or Dolby Atmos audio.

I’m hoping this DTS update will be just the first step to Sonos eventually supporting DTS-HD Master Audio and DTS:X over eARC for the Arc and Beam (Gen 2).

It's great news it's better than nothing, considering that Bose announced their atmos soundbar with no DTS at all...

Pretty excited about this update, any idea when it'll happen (outside of the vague "later this year"?)

There is an Audio Advice video that mentions a November 21 update. Start at the 4:06 mark:
 

@GuitarSuperstarThanks for your description above! For players able to output DTS:X as multichannel PCM (e.g., some UHD players), do you think the better sound quality is going to be via multichannel PCM, or the (lossy) DTS Digital Surround? I guess maybe it depends on the quality of the player’s mixing to LPCM (in particular I have the Sony X800M2 so I’m most curious about that one, but also considering a UB820 in another setup)? Of course, once the feature is available from Sonos I guess I could try it both ways - but am curious in the meantime

On a related note (and feel free to ignore if it takes the thread off topic), does anyone have latest word on the Sonos fix/improvements to handling LPCM 7.1? (it’s related to the above b/c today several players can output DTS as multichannel PCM - but sometimes it’s LPCM 7.1 even when the source is 5.1!).

@GDaz Regardless of the player you are using, multichannel PCM will always be higher quality audio than DTS Digital Surround. The former is a lossless, higher resolution audio format that contains much more audio data, whereas the latter is a lossy, more compressed audio format very similar to standard Dolby Digital. But ultimately, use your ears to determine what sounds the best to you.

Sonos is still working on the 7.1 to 5.1 downmixing issue. But I have noticed an improvement with DTS discs on my UB820 player. I have the Arc/Sub/Play:1s setup. Using a 7.1 DTS Sound Check on a DTS Demo Blu-ray disc, the two rear surround channels used to not play any test tones out of my Play:1s. Only the two side surround channels would play audio. Now all four surround channels play audio out of my two surround speakers. The Sonos app still displays the audio as 7.1, but it sounds like the 7.1 mix is being properly downmixed to 5.1.

I particularly like this line:

But ultimately, use your ears to determine what sounds the best to you.

Hi I'm wondering if someone can help me understand how this DTS support will work. I'm really new when it comes to all this audio talk and I don't really understand it. Sorry if this is a dumb question. 

I have an LG C8 TV which is connected via arc to the sonos beam and I have 2 one SL speakers for surround sound. 

I watch a lot of movies and I download the movies then copy them to an external HDD that I then connect to my TV. 

Before I download a movie I always had to make sure it had DD5.1 because I knew my beam supported that codec but with this DTS update will I be able to download DTS hd master audio films and have my TV convert the audio to a DTS codec that my beam will support or will the TV not do that ? 

I'm just really confused as to what DTS codec the beam is going to support and what the passthrough thing means on the TV. I don't even know if my TV even does a passthrough. 

Hi, yes your C8 does passthrough and yes it supports DTS as a codec. You can enable the passthrough option in the audio menu on the TV. DTS is basically like Dolby Digital 5.1 for reference and the one Sonos will be supporting. DTS:HD is like the equivalent of 7.1 and DTS:X is like equivalent of Dolby Atmos although both those two won't be supported, but should get mixed down to standard DTS or multichannel PCM. 

Thank you for the reply, very helpful. 

I am very happy my Sonos ARC 5.1 setup now processes Multichannel PCM 5.1. A huge sound difference compared to the previous Stereo PCM only when playing any DTS Blu-ray formats ( even though it displays as Multichannel PCM 7.1 on the Sonos app)

Not sure what happened in the industry where I guess Sonos thought DTS was on its way out and didn't include support for DTS in their ARC system till very recently?. From my vantage point, it seems many of the new 4K Blu-ray conversion disks I buy are coming with DTS and not Dolby Atmos! 

Unfortunately, I had to buy a second 4K/UHD Blu-ray player to hear Multichannel PCM 5.1 through my TV the LG OLED CX to the Sonos ARC. For some reason, Sonos Arc and the expensive Panasonic DP-UB20 Blu-ray player can't pass/process  Multichannel PCM through the LG CX TV when playing all these new 4K movies that come with DTS. This combination only allows Stereo PCM with a a barely audible fake surround sound coming from the rear speakers. I mean you really have to put your ear to one of the back speakers to hear a slight fake surround sound. So if you own Sonos ARC and looking for a new 4K UHD Blu-ray player, the Panasonic DP-UB20 might not be the best choice if you want to hear Surround Sound on all your DTS blu-rays/4K blu-ray's. 

When I bought and played the same Blu-rays with DTS only through the budget Sony UBPX700 UHD Blu-ray player with the LG CX TV and Sonos ARC, the room filled with true 5.1 surround sound with DTS processing as Multichannel PCM 5.1. Wow what a difference compared to the miserable and muffled PCM Stereo signal! 

Now I wonder what will happen to Multichannel PCM 5.1 when Sonos Arc comes with support for DTS? If I understand correctly Multichannel PCM 5.1 is a better quality sound than base DTS? Will Sonos allow for processing both? Maybe Multichannel PCM 5.1 through the PCM audio setting on the Blu-ray player and DTS through setting the audio to  bitstream on the Blu-ray player?

@LBJ2 The Panasonic UB820 works great. It just doesn’t work with LG TVs to play multichannel PCM. I use a UB820 with my old Panasonic plasma and the HDFury Arcana and it works great with DTS discs.

From my understanding, the CX doesn’t support DTS passthrough. So you won’t be able to get DTS Digital Surround from UHD discs either unless you use a device like the Arcana. Stick with multichannel PCM. The Arc will still support it and it is a much higher quality audio format.

Thank you for the reminder. I have read to the frustration of many all over the internet, the LG CX does not support DTS passthrough and no hint of update or fix on the horizon for the LG CX. You are right this IS the answer to my question regarding when Sonos ARC supports DTS and my LG CX TV + Bluray Player. Thankfully as I wrote, I am able to hear multichannel PCM 5.1 with the Sony player through my setup. 

While the Panasonic UB820 is indeed a reference player, UHD, Dolby Vision + Dolby Atmos is excellent, however for some reason lacks the hand-shake ability in my set up to process Multichannel PCM 5.1 through the LG CX to the Sonos ARC via eARC. So just a precautionary note for those considering which UHD Bluray player for the LG CX + Sonos ARC and DTS only Bluray discs which seem to be the majority. Something I wish I would have known before I bought these particular components.

For now with one going through one HDMI port on the LG CX and one through another TV HDMI port both through eArc to the Sonos Arc:

-When I play a 4K UHD w/ Dolby Atmos/Dolby Digital, I use the Panasonic UB820

-When I play a 4K UHD w/ any flavor of DTS only I use the Sony UBPX700 for multichannel PCM which turns out to be much better than I expected for full Surround Sound. 

The above setup through the gorgeous LG CX 65” is pretty much plug and play as configured above.

P.S. After too much research, I decided against ordering the HDFury Arcana from Asia, but am aware this could have solved my issue as well. In the end, the UBPX700 was a same day buy and deliver option with Amazon plus easy refund if my little experiment didn't work out. 

Are we still expecting/hoping for an update this Sunday? Is that a normal day for Sonos updates?

The update was released today.

Hip Hip! 

v13.4 

In this update:

• Sonos home theater products now support decoding DTS Digital Surround. 
   
• A new Battery Saver mode is available for portable Sonos products.
   
• EQ settings are now accessible by pressing the  icon on the Now Playing screen in the Sonos app for iOS.
   
• An HD badge now shows on the Now Playing screen while Sonos is playing higher quality audio.

https://support.sonos.com/s/article/3521?language=en_US

Sadly my new LG CX TV does not support any form of DTS 🤬

Hmm, so I’ve updated but it’s not working for me. I’m using an LG B9, which I understand has DTS

support. But when I play DTS discs, I’m getting ‘Unsupported TV audio’ on the app and no sound.

Quote from Reddit:

“level 2

meanerJake

· 3h

I am able to play back Dolby DTS-HD and I am hearing all channels correctly, the Sonos App shows the source as Multichannel PCM 5.1.

I tried swapping settings on the TV from passthrough to auto to pcm, only passthrough works properly.

I have an LG OLED C9.

For the audio source I am using a bluray disc.”

https://www.reddit.com/r/sonos/comments/qv9iv5/134_ios_released_and_new_firmware/

Thanks - yeah, still no luck, mine’s set to pass through.

I have a horrible feeling this is down to the blu ray player I have, the dreaded Panasonic UB820.

Does anyone have this setup and can confirm DTS is finally working?

Oh No!  Yes that is the problem. As I commented above, I have the same Panasonic UB820 and it doesn’t play well with Sonos for my DTS only blu-rays. I had to buy a second player just to play DTS only blu-rays in multichannel PCM on the Sonos Arc.