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I am an owner of a Sonos Beam and I am curious about the support of Dolby Digital plus (DD+).  The only surround codec that is supported by the beam is Dolby Digital 5.1 (DD5.1).

At the moment the beam doesn't support DD+. Nowadays the standard audio codec within streaming services is DD+. Streaming services like Netflix and Amazon prime only use DD+ as audio codec for surround sound. Sonos profiles itself as a company targeting on  delivering good sound for streaming services.

In my opinion it is the Achilles heel of the Sonos beam not supporting DD+. The beam wil produce no sound or poor quality PCM stereo using Netflix or Prime on older TV's that can not transcode DD+ to DD5.1. In the reality it will often result in no surround sound and the beam is preforming under its ability.

Adding the support of DD+ wil solve this problem and make it up to date with nowadays standards.

So my question will DD+ be added in the future as supporting audiocodec for the Beam? 

 

The Beam supporting DD+ will not solve the problem of having an older TV that cannot pass though Dolby Digital 5.1 audio. You would still have to get a new TV regardless of the Beam’s support for DD+.

The TV does support Dolby Digital 5.1. It only can not transcode Dolby Digital plus tot Dolby digital 5.1. I'm using the bildin Netflix app from my TV. Because Netflix only include PCM and DD+. The beam dus not recognize the DD+ and will output PCM instead. Of course when I am watching content with DD5.1 codec than there is no problem. 

Dolby Digital Plus is backward compatible:

Is Dolby Digital Plus content backward-compatible?

Because Dolby Digital Plus is built on core Dolby Digital technologies, content that is encoded with Dolby Digital Plus is fully compatible with the millions of existing home theaters and playback systems worldwide equipped for Dolby Digital playback. Dolby Digital Plus soundtracks are easily converted to a 640 kbps Dolby Digital signal without decoding and reencoding, for output via S/PDIF. The 640 kbps bit rate, which is higher than the standard 448 kbps used on DVDs, is fully compatible with all existing Dolby Digital decoding products such as A/V receivers, and can provide higher-than-DVD quality from Dolby Digital Plus soundtracks when played back through existing systems.

Source: https://www.dolby.com/uploadedFiles/Assets/US/Doc/Professional/dolby-digital-plus-faq.pdf

 

Also, read this comment from the former Sonos Community Manager:

I wanted to clarify that Dolby Digital Plus is fully compatible with Dolby Digital 5.1 per Dolby specifications/requirements. The Beam will also tell whatever device it's connected with via HDMI-ARC that it wants a Dolby Digital 5.1 audio signal, and just about all of the TVs that I've seen will automatically convert Dolby Digital Plus into DD5.1 following that handshake. You should be good to send any Dolby Digital Plus to your TV and it'll send DD5.1 to your Beam over HDMI-ARC.


What model TV do you have? Is the Beam connected via HDMI ARC?

Sorry noticed that when I use the build in app it does the decoding from dd+ to dd5.1 only when I plug in a chromecast and use the Netflix app or any other app with DD+ there is no sound from the Beam. I tryed it on 2 Tv's a Samsung ue32eh5300 and an LG 42LW650S

Chought it be that both Tv's don't pass through Dolby Digital plus only DD5.1 because when streaming content with DD5.1 there is no problem 

@Tim oerle Your TVs are pretty old. They are probably only capable of playing Dolby Digital 5.1 audio from the TV’s internal apps but not from any external media devices. I have an old Panasonic Plasma from 2013 that has the same problem.

Have you been able to get any other type of audio other than stereo 2.0 from an external media device connected to your TVs?

Heh. Just to pile on, I’m in a similar situation. My Vizio TV (from last year, for heaven’s sake) will play Dolby Digital Plus from its internal apps, but will not pass Dolby Digital Plus through a HDMI port that an outside source is connected to. Frustrating, and likely I’ll never buy another Vizio, but at the time I purchased it, I was completely unaware that I needed to be aware of the issue.

@GuitarSuperstar  Yes when I plug in an extarnal device I get 2.0 stereo or DD5.1. Only when the external source is DD+ there is no sound at all. 

What external media device are you getting Dolby Digital 5.1 from? Which app and specific content are you watching? Is the Beam connected via HDMI ARC or optical?

@GuitarSuperstar For testing the system I downloaded some Dolby Digital demo videos. Some with DD5.1 codec and some with DD+ codec. When I stream it to Chromecast from my phone by the VLC app the videos with DD5.1 codec will play DD5.1 surround sound. When streaming the video's with DD+ codec there is no sound. I also tryed is from a Mede8er mediaplayer and getting the same result. 

After doing some research, it seems like the problem is a combination of having older TVs AND using a Chromecast. I think you should try a different media device like an Apple TV, Roku, or Fire TV.

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