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rubeo
Avid Contributor III
May 6, 2020
Answered

Multichannel PCM on Arc

Are you really not supporting multichannel PCM on the newly announced Arc?

Why? It’s not a licensing issue this time.

It seems like there is always something missing with your home theater products.

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    Ditte
    DitteAnswer
    November 10, 2020

    Hi all,

    We hear you. With a software update today, Arc now supports multi-channel LPCM, bringing new immersive sound experiences for gaming, Blu-ray discs, and more. To get support for multi-channel LPCM on Arc, download the latest Sonos S2 update from the app store and then update your system in the Sonos S2 app. After updating the app, go to Settings > System > System Updates > Check for Updates.

    All the best,

    Ditte

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    328 replies

    Ryan S
    Ryan S
    Retired Sonos Staff
    May 6, 2020

    Hi Rubeo, I can’t speak to specifics on why it wasn’t included, but I’ll make sure the team knows people are asking for it. Thanks for reaching out!

    Mark good posts by pressing the like button, and select the best answer on questions you've asked to help others find solutions.
      Naekyr
      Enthusiast II
      May 7, 2020

      Hi Rubeo, I can’t speak to specifics on why it wasn’t included, but I’ll make sure the team knows people are asking for it. Thanks for reaching out!

       

      This is the biggest take away I’ve had so far from the announcement.

      I do a lot of gaming on my PC and PC games are nearly all using multi channel uncomrpessed audio. So if this new soundbar is unable to take that multi channel audio and then upmix it into atmos output then I can’t buy it. I’d love to upgrade for Atmos, but it sounds like my PC games will still just have 2 channel audio on this new soundbar.

      Can you confirm if this is the case, or will the Arc upmix multi channel PC gaming sound into surround sound/atmos?

      With the Playbar if I plug my PC in, then the Playbar only outputs 2.1 and the my rear Sonos play 1 surrounds dont output any sound at all. All I want is for the Arc to output Atmos and the rear Play 1s to make some sound instead of sitting dead quiet

       

      I know for a fact that nearly every dolby atmos AVR on the market will upmix multi channel sound from a PC into Atmos or Dolby TrueHD. Surely Arc should be able to do the same

       

      SONOS ARC | SONOS Sub | SONOS Play 1 x 2 | LG C9 OLED | PS5 | RTX3090 Gaming PC | Sennheiser GSP600 Headset | Audio Pro T8L Desktop Monitors
        Bumper
        Bumper
        May 7, 2020

        Are you really not supporting multichannel PCM on the newly announced Arc?

        Why? It’s not a licensing issue this time.

        It seems like there is always something missing with your home theater products.

        No multi channel PCM means no 5.1 for Nintendo Switch. Arghhh agree always something missing. 

          Naekyr
          Enthusiast II
          May 7, 2020

          Are you really not supporting multichannel PCM on the newly announced Arc?

          Why? It’s not a licensing issue this time.

          It seems like there is always something missing with your home theater products.

          No multi channel PCM means no 5.1 for Nintendo Switch. Arghhh agree always something missing. 


          ooh that's a good point I forgot about the switch. Yeah there is no way to get 5.1 sound from the switch on the Playbar, and no 5.1 for the Arc either 

          SONOS ARC | SONOS Sub | SONOS Play 1 x 2 | LG C9 OLED | PS5 | RTX3090 Gaming PC | Sennheiser GSP600 Headset | Audio Pro T8L Desktop Monitors
            Bumper
            Bumper
            May 7, 2020

            Are you really not supporting multichannel PCM on the newly announced Arc?

            Why? It’s not a licensing issue this time.

            It seems like there is always something missing with your home theater products.

            No multi channel PCM means no 5.1 for Nintendo Switch. Arghhh agree always something missing. 


            ooh that's a good point I forgot about the switch. Yeah there is no way to get 5.1 sound from the switch on the Playbar, and no 5.1 for the Arc either 

             

            I don't get it, why wouldn't they include this? Ugh disappointing.

              Hass
              Trending Lyricist I
              May 7, 2020

              Same disappointment here. Google Stadia currently outputs only multichannel PCM as its surround offering so it’s very frustrating to see this unsupported. I don’t see the point in an upgrade here right now.

                Lalligator
                Lyricist III
                May 7, 2020

                Another very disappointed potential customer. My equipment can output the dts/dolby formats in bitstream or transcode everything to pcm, but not dolby. This is, I believe, the standard functionality since roughly the ps3 era.

                Lack of multichannel pcm means I would unfortunately have to pass on this product and not buy further into the otherwise brilliant sonos ecosystem. I hope this tragic oversight can be fixed quickly with a firmware update, in the same way LG is fixing the more or less identical issue with their 2019 and 2020 earc lg tvs.

                  Lalligator
                  Lyricist III
                  May 7, 2020

                  … It doesn’t look like this is even a technical issue, as the device supports Dolby MAT, which is multichannel PCM and additional dolby metadata on top. I mean, I’m not sure how it’s even possible to not support multichannel PCM in this case? I’m starting to hope that this is just a press error, considering how fatal an omission the lack of multichannel pcm would be for a device of this type that does not have DTS support.

                    Terbium
                    Contributor I
                    May 7, 2020

                    … It doesn’t look like this is even a technical issue, as the device supports Dolby MAT, which is multichannel PCM and additional dolby metadata on top. I mean, I’m not sure how it’s even possible to not support multichannel PCM in this case? I’m starting to hope that this is just a press error, considering how fatal an omission the lack of multichannel pcm would be for a device of this type that does not have DTS support.

                    Originally Dolby MAT was used for transporting TrueHD. When atmos was released, they allowed MAT to unpack both DD+ and TrueHD to multichannel PCM. So its possible sonos are supporting TrueHD MAT but not PCM MAT. God knows why not. 

                      Lalligator
                      Lyricist III
                      May 7, 2020

                      … It doesn’t look like this is even a technical issue, as the device supports Dolby MAT, which is multichannel PCM and additional dolby metadata on top. I mean, I’m not sure how it’s even possible to not support multichannel PCM in this case? I’m starting to hope that this is just a press error, considering how fatal an omission the lack of multichannel pcm would be for a device of this type that does not have DTS support.

                      Originally Dolby MAT was used for transporting TrueHD. When atmos was released, they allowed MAT to unpack both DD+ and TrueHD to multichannel PCM. So its possible sonos are supporting TrueHD MAT but not PCM MAT. God knows why not. 

                      Understood, thanks. Still is the difference between getting and not getting one when one has an earc equipped system with anything more than Netflix.

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