Playbar refresh in 2018?

Hmm, HDMI mentioned in the test report.

HDMI 2.1 could mean Atmos and possibly 7.1

And given it has play controls and voice it is presumably a speaker rather than the ‘super connect’ some have been asking (myself included)

https://www.engadget.com/2018/04/30/sonos-fcc-filing-smart-home-theater-speaker/

HDMI 2.1 could mean Atmos and possibly 7.1
Atmos, wireless transferred – seriously?

Assuming this recent FCC filing does bode for a new Playbar or similar HT ‘control’ unit later this year, does anyone know of a technical limitation why existing Sub and Surrounds would not work for the newer high def audio surround formats if able to pair with a new Sonos HDMI enabled device?

I understand the limitations of optical vs HDMI etc, and I realise anything at this time would be pure speculation. Just curious as to thoughts of others on this point.

Assuming this recent FCC filing does bode for a new Playbar or similar HT ‘control’ unit later this year, does anyone know of a technical limitation why existing Sub and Surrounds would not work for the newer high def audio surround formats if able to pair with a new Sonos HDMI enabled device?

I understand the limitations of optical vs HDMI etc, and I realise anything at this time would be pure speculation. Just curious as to thoughts of others on this point.I'd be surprised if there were such a limitation, although I'm not really qualified to give an opinion! But as I understand it it is the Playbar/base that does the processing of the channels, with the Sub and surrounds getting what they are given, over 5GHz wireless. I wouldn't have thought that that would be incapable of handling the data / channel requirements. If it ever happens.

In 5ghz band with 80mhz spectrum it will have a link speed over 850mbps. So it could hapoen

I don't see any issue, there are multiple wireless Atmos soundbars already on the market that have wireless sub woofer and wireless surround speakers - as one example, google the samsung k950, it supports lossless formats like Atmos and the sub woofer and surrounds are wireless - so there is obviously no issue with wireless tech, it's more than capable (remember that the soundbar does all the processing, it's just telling the other speakers what sound to make and when to make it), all the grunt is done by the soundbar which is connected via HDMI

If a new playbar is released I'm going to feel a bit shitty, because I just bought my Playbar only 1 month ago 😢

Thanks for the replies. Makes sense that the wireless signal could cope. It copes woth 4k video so the audio should be a breeze My original thought was more around whether there might be any limitation in the speakers themselves (memory, cpu etc in a similar vein to the reasons the older kit can’t cope with software based Airplay 2). Hopefully this is not the case.

I bought the playbar knowing full well it was dated technology and happy to enjoy it whilst waiting for the next evolution. Just hoping that the rest of the system won’t be ‘obsolate’ by design or historic limitation. But I guess if it does not work then at least there’s a ready excuse to tell the Mrs when buying replacements ?