+2
This feature request is for Sonos support Dolby Digital Plus, also known as E-AC-3 or DD+. This would permit a higher quality audio experience when watching surround sound-enabled videos.
Sonos currently supports PCM stereo and Dolby Digital (AC-3) surround sound. This made sense for the Playbar and Playbase, which only have a S/PDIF connection.
With the Sonos Beam's HDMI ARC connection, it is now possible to deliver a Dolby Digital Plus bitstream to the Sonos 5.1 system. Many Blu-rays include a 1.5Mbps Dolby Digital Plus track. Many streaming services including iTunes, Netflix, and Amazon Prime Video support the Dolby Digital Plus codec both for efficiency and in order to deliver Dolby Atmos. Further, it is possible for an app (like Plex) to transcode in a perceptually transparent manner from lossless codecs like TrueHD and DTS:X (as well as lossy codecs like DTS that are unsupported by Sonos) to Dolby Digital Plus. This is because DD+ can support up to 6Mbps throughput versus Dolby Digital's 640Kbps cap.
A simple software upgrade would deliver higher audio fidelity to systems with a Sonos Beam in a 5.1 arrangement (i.e. a Beam + 2x Sonos Ones + a SUB).
Note: this request is separate from delivering true home theater Dolby Atmos in a 7.1.4 speaker arrangement.
For more details:
https://developer.dolby.com/blog/dolby-audio-over-hdmi-part-1-codecs/
https://developer.dolby.com/blog/dolby-audio-over-hdmi-part-2-signaling-and-carriage/
https://developer.dolby.com/blog/dolby-audio-over-hdmi-part-3-reality/
https://developer.dolby.com/blog/dolby-audio-support-on-apple-tv/
https://www.avsforum.com/forum/39-networking-media-servers-content-streaming/2378442-dolby-digital-plus-dd-atmos-over-hdmi-arc.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dolby_Laboratories