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Sonos Arc: Lack of DTS a problem?

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Evander
Userlevel 2
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In answer to my own quest above, having tested this throughly, multi-channel FLAC is not supported either :unamused:  (Sonos say they support FLAC but no mention of channels: https://support.sonos.com/s/article/79?language=en_US). Multi-channel FLAC is down mixed to stereo by the Arc. So that’s not a runner.

 

The DTS debate is a long-standing one, Sonos claims there’s no demand for DTS-support; something I find hard to believe on supposed a cinema system… when the vast majority of high-def cinema content (ie BDs) is encoded in DTS… that said, at the price-range of the Arc, rarely are Atmos and DTS-HD both supported (I only found one or two that did). In comparison, the Arc does still provide better value for money. Once you add the cost of the sub and rear speakers, however, it's far more expensive with far too few features when compared to the competition in the same price bracket.

 

Its not just multi-channel FLAC, or DTS, but even multi-channel PCM which is not supported  (see https://en.community.sonos.com/home-theater-228993/multichannel-pcm-on-arc-6840185). You do start to wonder whether the technical design team are actually having their coffee in the morning or whether the herd buying into Sonos really only cares about streaming music, so Sonos can produce comparably substandard stuff (from a technical POV).

 

Back to the drawing board!!

 

 

# Sonos should support DTS-HD, come on man #
Evander
Userlevel 2
Badge +1

Due you play a lot of blu ray disks? If so, the answer unfortunately is yes, as a lot of them, and even a small number of DVDs are have audio encoded in DTS format.

One key thing that almost everone ignores is that Sonos relies on the TV to pass the track over to the speaker. Precious few TVs can pass-through DTS, and if yours doesn't then its a moot point - you'll end up with stereo regardless of what the soundbar supports.

There are workarounds. Some blue ray players and consoles can transcode the tracks to Dolby on the fly - that's the easiest solution, athough I've found that the PS4 can only do it when using optical output.

I personally rip every disk I buy and transcode the DTS tracks to dolby. I've put the files on a plex server and the disks go in the attic - hard copy formats are slowly on the way out, like it or not. I never leave the couch as a bonus.

If you don't watch many blu rays its a non issue.

​​​​​

 

 

Hello mate, thanks very much for your reply, could I follow up on this (and welcome comments on this from others too). I have been over this well-travelled ground having had a PlayBar… (check out mu last post about this: https://en.community.sonos.com/home-theater-228993/dts-dolby-5-1-on-playbar-2015-edition-6731191 --sorry I never came back to read the replies!) my solution then was to buy a BD-player which transcoded to DD on the fly, however, I lost the best quality of sound and was stuck with Stereo or 5.1 not lossless HD Audio. A lot is made of whether this is noticeable or not, my opinion is that it is noticeable usually with speech. In a scene with background music or ambient sound, the audio is very hard to pick up; this was a big issue with the PlayBar.

 

Having committed to the Sonos eco-system even though I was annoyed about the lack of DTS-HD support, I bought the Arc. My solution this time round is to create lossless copies of by BDs to play via a Hard Disk-based device. I was doing this anyway but it may well assist me now with the Arc.

 

As before, most (and I think its 80% or more) BDs are encoded using DTS-HD-MA or DTS-5.1; so I cant play this unless its stereo on the Arc. I am now testing converting the audio into FLAC using MakeMKV. Do you have any experience of this? I can’t find any posts about this and I am sure I must be wrong because such a solution must have been picked up by others.

 

This way, if I am right, I get the lossless Blu-Ray picture and lossless sound, channels preserved, for play through Sonos Arc. From what I have read, DTS-HD can be losslessly converted to FLAC (see https://losen.win/articles/convert-dts-hd-ma-truehd-lpcm-to-flac-is-it-worth-it/convert-dts-hd-ma-to-flac.html) so this solution should work.

 

I would welcome comments from people more experienced on this subject. I essentially want as close to lossless audio and video as possible so transcoding into other formats (mp4 etc) is not a runner. Disk space no object!!

 

Regards

# Sonos should support DTS-HD, come on man #
D
Userlevel 1
Badge +6

So that’s true that PS4 and Xbox one are no more able to transcode on the fly.

I tried also to connect ARC to TV via optical adapter to my B9 tv (passtrough both DTS and Dolby Digital) but I’m no more able to have audio converted on the fly

Living Room Playbar + Sub + 2xPlay:1 + Boost / bedroom Play:1
H
Userlevel 6
Badge +7

Due you play a lot of blu ray disks? If so, the answer unfortunately is yes, as a lot of them, and even a small number of DVDs are have audio encoded in DTS format.

One key thing that almost everone ignores is that Sonos relies on the TV to pass the track over to the speaker. Precious few TVs can pass-through DTS, and if yours doesn't then its a moot point - you'll end up with stereo regardless of what the soundbar supports.

There are workarounds. Some blue ray players and consoles can transcode the tracks to Dolby on the fly - that's the easiest solution, athough I've found that the PS4 can only do it when using optical output.

I personally rip every disk I buy and transcode the DTS tracks to dolby. I've put the files on a plex server and the disks go in the attic - hard copy formats are slowly on the way out, like it or not. I never leave the couch as a bonus.

If you don't watch many blu rays its a non issue.

I think you’ve hit the nail on the head. After playing around with it for a few days, it’s effectively a non-issue. Would I like for it to support DTS so that I don’t have to think about it at all? Absolutely - it’s been a pain in the butt to have to even consider what problems lack of compatibility would cause. Realistically, though, I haven’t run into a situation yet where it’s caused a true problem.

Like you, I moved to Plex quite a while ago and haven’t looked back. I ripped all my DVDs / Blu-rays and even sold all of the DVDs (kept the Blu-rays, though, as backups). Now it’s just so much handier to have every movie I own available via Plex no matter where I am. And Plex happily (and automatically) transcodes audio on the fly if it runs into something the Player can’t play or doesn’t understand. So DTS-MA automagically becomes Dolby Digital Plus to the Sonos Arc (via Apple TV). 

I’m in the process of re-ripping my Blu-rays to make sure I get all of the audio formats available (I’d foolishly transcoded formats like TrueHD down to regular 5.1 AC3 originally to save space). Plus, that way when I get HDFury’s upcoming little magic box that will let me feed eARC to the Arc, I’ll have full TrueHD (and sometimes Atmos) to the Arc. 

 

Arc + Sub 3 + One SLs = Awesome and Loving It!
M
Userlevel 4
Badge +3

Due you play a lot of blu ray disks? If so, the answer unfortunately is yes, as a lot of them, and even a small number of DVDs are have audio encoded in DTS format.

One key thing that almost everone ignores is that Sonos relies on the TV to pass the track over to the speaker. Precious few TVs can pass-through DTS, and if yours doesn't then its a moot point - you'll end up with stereo regardless of what the soundbar supports.

There are workarounds. Some blue ray players and consoles can transcode the tracks to Dolby on the fly - that's the easiest solution, athough I've found that the PS4 can only do it when using optical output.

I personally rip every disk I buy and transcode the DTS tracks to dolby. I've put the files on a plex server and the disks go in the attic - hard copy formats are slowly on the way out, like it or not. I never leave the couch as a bonus.

If you don't watch many blu rays its a non issue.

​​​​​

 

 

S

Perfectly happy with my Sonos speakers and I Sonos fan. But lots of older media on my NAS and on disc is DTS. So not having DTS on the Sonos Arc -is- an issue for me. 

Then again by not buying the Sonos Arc, I stay away from that issue. 

D
Userlevel 1
Badge +6

Interesting Topic.

previously I had LGB6 + Playbar + Xbox.

Xbox set to bitstream Dolby and TV set as digital audio optical with DD output. No issue with DTS blue ray. They were transcoded by Xbox from DTS to Dolby.

now I moved to Arc and LG B9.

eARC connection, same setup on Xbox and LG TV set to digital audio ARC passtrough to Dolby.

I’m no more able to hear DTS because seems that someone in the chain do not convert anymore to DD.

Does someone have the same issue?

 

thanks

Living Room Playbar + Sub + 2xPlay:1 + Boost / bedroom Play:1
H

most older blu-ray HD disks that I got are ended under DTS family codecs, and about 1/3 of my 4K blurray are coded under DTS. depending on the blu-ray player, Samsung’s OG (and OPPO) 4k blu-ray will decode DTS and re-encoded in DD(+) for Beam/Arc. though this is not an auto switch, before I play a DTS disk, I would have to manually go into sounds to turn on the re-coding to DD. 

Sonos has mentioned that multichannel PCM will be offered via firmware update for Arc, so that means you can set your 4k blurray player to output multichannel PCM (if your TV has eARC) and you can unlock some power of Arc that way. or you can keep your blurry player as bitstream and no coding, then have your TV does the coding if your TV supports DTS.

Those are two ways to get around. unfortunately, Beam (what I got) is only capable of 2 channels PCM. so if I let my TV (LGC9) to decode DTS, then it will only send 2.0 PCM to beam. as my TV doesn't re-encode DTS to DD+ on the fly. hence I end up using my Samsung to do the on the fly encoding to DD(+). 

hope that help :)

 

 

M
Userlevel 4
Badge +6

Same here. Can’t remember last time I had to use DTS for anything. 

jgatie

I long ago abandoned disk based media for streaming, so I’ve not encountered DTS in a while.  

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