New Sonos ARC - DTS support

Now that the pipeline supports lossless (due to earc multichannel pcm support), I’m not going to buy a product that forces me to use a lossy transport stream. Might as well have stuck to arc.

I am definitely not defending the decision not to include DTS. I don’t find it a reasonable omission from any soundbar in this price range and the issues Sonos is creating for their users with their generally limited codec support both now and in the past are not reasonable. 
 

I am simply stating that if one ends up buying the Arc, there is no use in pleading for DTS support or spending time waiting for it. It will likely never arrive and the only real option is to get a player capable of transcoding. 
 

If DTS matters to you, you should buy something else. It is that simple. 
 

Despite its relatively high price tag, this is still a product intended for the more casual consumer who doesn’t spend too much time worrying about detailed codec support, lossless audio etc. If those things matter, a dedicated receiver and a more comprehensive speaker setup will always be a better option. 

I don’t even care about “full” DTS support, as Sonos doubtlessly have their reasons for their obstinacy here.

In fact, I mostly agree with your points, but I have a nagging feeling that the casual consumers are going to come in with a lot of “why am I not getting any audio from my x, y or z when it worked fine with my $ 100 soundbar” threads in a month or two.

Again, I just repeatedly want to point out that this is only a problem due to lack of multichannel PCM support, as any player I am aware of can output any sound source, whether a type of Dolby, DTS or native PCM output (as on the Switch and possibly on PS5) as lossless multichannel PCM, bypassing the need for lossy compression and decoding at the Arc. This is how things were done when the first blu-ray discs came out, when codec support was all over the place, and it’s a perfectly reasonable option now that the earc tech supports it.

My reason for repeating this ad nauseam is that I’m tearing my hair out not wanting to go back to a full system to get “front, back and bass with a little bit of up” in my small apartment. The Arc with the ones and sonos sub is as close as I’ve come so far, only to be let down with this problem, which is an absolute deal-breaker for me.

While I’m sure there will be some of that, there’s no reason to think it will be in higher volume that there was for the Playbar, Beam, or Sonos Amp.  In fact, good reason to think it will actually be much less for a couple reasons.   People are watching less and less bluray discs and more and more streaming.  As well, people who buy this are focused on Atmos, and will be looking to play Atmos content.  Will they even notice that the Arc doesn’t DTS?  The other is that a lot of the Arc customers are probably people upgrading from a Playbar or Beam, in which case they know what to expect from the Arc.  In contrast to Atmos, DTS is becoming less and less necessary, while Atmos is becoming something people are looking for more and more.

Even some TV manufacturers are stopping support for DTS, an example being the LG CX which will neither decode it nor pass it through. It’s almost as if the industry is trying to kill it off.

Sonos will never support DTS. Join a webinar and ask and you’ll find out either by a vague non-answer or total ignorance. 

Soooo… I currently have a Playbar, Sub and 2x play one rear speakers. I also have sonos speakers in all the 5 other rooms in ouer house.
I would have been willing to pay for addding DTS to the old playbar since i have hundreds of DVD’s and Bly-Ray movies.
Right now i am going to wait for some kind of official response from Sonos on DTS for the ARC. Make no mistake here. I would be willing to pay 100+ USD extra for a DTS license as an add on purchase. But if there is no solution i will we looking for a new soundbar from one of the sonos competitios. 
If i end up going that i may as well switch all the way to a different system meaning the two old play 5 speakers i have will probably not be replaced by new sonos speakers.
I do understand that sonos has some kind of DTS but i really think Sonos has quiet a bit to loose by not supporting DTS.
And if there is no response then the end of 2020 is my final deadline for buying a new surround system.

Wait all you want. History is absolutely clear: Sonos will never bring DTS-support. 

It will also be technically unnecessary, once they add the now-promised lpcm earc functionality. You will be able to unpack the dts at the source and transfer it as lpcm.

If you think DTS royalty per unit is £1, I want some of what you’re smoking. It’s MUCH higher.