No new Playbar? Really Sonos?

totally agree. I have 2 playbars and I want to buy another, but I’m waiting for a new one. God knows how long I will have to wait. Sonos once a leader now lagging behind. Please update this soon please. 

I’ve been a fan of Sonos for years. Bought the Playbar on the release date in 2012. Soon upgraded with the sub and two Play:3’s just to learn that I had to jump through hoops to get surround from my Blu-rays as the Playbar did not support DTS. I fixed that with a new Blu-ray player and a switch. 

I expected that Sonos would bring DTS at some point and lived with that.
 

I later bought a Playbase for my bedroom and even got a Playbeam when that was released. 
 

However, 7(!) years down the road there is still only one single surround format supported by the entire Sonos lineup: Dolby Digital 5.1. Even the new and super advanced Playbeam only does the same format as was used on non-HD DVDs so many years back. 

Also the lack of HDMI on the bigger systems is annoying as I can't turn volume up or down with the IOS Apple remote as these are limited to infrared controls. 

I recently moved temporarily to a smaller flat as we are building a new house. I took the opportunity to sell my oldest Sonos gear: the Playbar, three Play 3s and a 1st Gen Play 5.

This has given me the opportunity to consider switching from Sonos entirely and upgrade to something that supports more modern formats as Atmos and Dolby Digital Plus. 
 

As my remaining lineup of Sonos-gear all support Airplay 2, I guess they could still have some use in a new setup. I have always preferred Sonos’ solution rather than streaming from my phone or another local device with Airplay, but the limitted support for file formats and lack of HDMI on the bigger systems have become deal breakers for me.
 

Being the fan that I am, I am still hoping for something new from Sonos before our house is completed in about a year. If not, I will likely be looking at dedicated receivers  with Airplay 2 and build-in speakers or perhaps the new B&O Stage 

Well over here the Playbar does not sell well. I’ve spoken to several electronic stores - they sell far more soundbars from LG/Sony/Samsung/Panasonic etc than Sonos - even Bose soundbars move far more units and get more space for their in store displays. The Sonos 1/3/5 do move, people like voice automated music speakers but as far as home theater goes, the Playbar sales numbers are very low so the stores here don’t stock many Playbar units. 

To everyone here that may not have seen all of the threads on codec support: The simple reason that Sonos has not, and will not add DD+ or Atmos to the existing soundbars is that it simply cannot be done, the hardware will not support it. DTS 5.1 is possible over optical/HDMI-ARC, but given its inherent connection to physical media, which Sonos has always said not to be their focus, I don't expect them to ever change their stance.

Change will have to come from new hardware. And then, we inevitably come to the question of: how far should Sonos venture into Home Theatre? What hardware choices do they make, what codec choices do they make?

On the codec level, I think they should by now have realized that DD5.1 no longer cuts it. In 2013, when the Playbar was introduced, DD5.1 was the format of choice for linear TV and no doubt Sonos expected streaming services to also adopt this. In 2019, we see DD+ as the format of choice, with Atmos/TrueHD as a high-end option. So even for the most basic user to have a product that “just works” out of the box, they will need to make sure their hardware/software supports this. eARC with proper codec support should do the trick, provided you have a TV with eARC.

I own a projector that I’m not replacing anytime soon, it’s in my living room, so I’m not looking for a dedicated HT system. Like most projectors, it doesn’t do ARC, let alone eARC or any audio processing for that matter, so I don't really subscribe to Sonos’ philosophy of letting the TV do all the work. Instead of eARC, I'd rather see multiple HDMI ports on a Playbar 2.0, like on most receivers. However, Sonos may think this overcomplicates the product and might even raise expectations too high, because people will think Sonos will be able to do what other HT receivers can do.

This brings me to adding channels, supporting discrete speakers for front/left/center, supporting full Atmos setups and the like. Firstly, I think people on here wildly underestimate how challenging it would be to do that wirelessly - and then providing the customer support! Secondly, I think for Sonos, this is a niche market that they don't want to enter. 5.1 seems to me the maximum an average living room or significant other will bear. Sonos simply want to provide a HT solution as part of their multiroom system, and not sell a multiroom system as an extra to a complete, dedicated HT system.

So while I’m hopefull that Sonos will, in time, update their HT offering, I have no illusions that the changes they will bring are going to be revolutionary, nor do I expect them to fulfill the hopes and dreams of people on these communities.

If I’m being honest - The only reason I own a sonos playbar is because I was deperate for a sound upgrade - and at that time, none of the electronic stores around me had stock of the top of the range Sony/Samsung Atmos soundbars - if they did I’d not own any Sonos products  right now.

Sonos is dead to me, they acted to slow (and still havent acted), they had a chance to be the new BO since BO started their brand sell out and they blew it.

I think most people have several HDMI devices and want sound.  Not sure how a Playbar with 1 HDMI input would factor into that.  You either need to get the sound from the TV with optical (which doesn’t usually have 5.1) or use HDMI-ARC, which the beam has.  

In a perfect world there’d be some sort of Sonos AVR, with 4 inputs, and 1 or 2 outputs.  But that seems to be a little out of Sonos’s wheelhouse.  

If there was a Playbar 2 with All the features of the Beam, but the speakers and volume of the Playbar. I am sure that would sell well.

The current playbar just looks so dated. I have a few sono speakers but went with another brand for the TV sound bar, cause the beam does not have the volume for me  and the current Playbar….looks bad.

I used to be 100% Sonos but I am now slowly changing to another brand cause, Sonos does not appear to be keeping up with other providers anymore.

This isn’t really needed though since most modern TVs already have 4 or so inputs plus their internal smart streaming.   And HDMI-ARC (or eARC) allows you to get all the sound out of your TV without having to have a separate switching device.  Even if you did have this separate, you would still need HDMI-ARC and do input switching on the TV if you use smart apps at all.

Just my opinion, but I don’t think lack of sales is what’s holding back a playbar 2.  I think Sonos is waiting for eARC or some other features to be more readily available.  In other words, they don’t want to release a playbar 2 now only to have a need for an playbar 3 a year or two later.