Thinking of buying 5.1 surround sonos

I used something like that initially with my Samsung TV. Connected to it was my Xbox, Freesat DVR, BT Box and Blu-Ray.

Although it worked I hated it. The remote only had a range of a few feet and as I had to hide the box behind the TV I had to walk up to the TV to make it work. The other thing is that it did some unwanted decoding of the audio so I had to cycle through various options to get it to pass DD 5.1 (the instructions were very basic). Sometimes it took me more than 5 minutes to get the unit to pass the DD 5.1 signal I knew was available.

I ended up just getting an Optical switch and taking optical out (audio) from TV, BT Box and Humax DVR. It's cheap and nasty looking but you just manually switch and it works fine.

Either would work

As I said above I didn't get on with the 4 x HDMI video/audio splitter.

This is the one I bought from Amazon https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0119J94FM/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1
As I said It worked but the control via the remote was bad and it did weird things to the audio

In the end I plugged all my sources into the TV via HDMI but too the audio out of each (optical) into a switch I bough tfrom Maplin.
https://www.maplin.co.uk/p/3-way-optical-digital-audio-switcher-l34ak

And yes I have audio out from TV to the switch as well

Works for me

Just buy whichever suits your length requirements. Don't be tempted to spend stupid money on those that make outlandish claims either. A bog standard non-branded should do just fine

One of us is confused, and I'm not sure if it's you or me.

This soundbar you have...is it a Sonos? If not, then the PLAY:1s will not work as surrounds. If it is, all that is required for 5.1 sound to work is 1) the TV must have an optical output and 2) there must be a dolby digital signal passed out of the optical output.

Well, then both 1) and 2) need to exist. Since it is a Sonos already, I'm assuming 1) does exist.

I’m thinking of purchasing a pair of play 1s to complement my sound bar and sub ! I’m wanting 5.1 surround but worried I won’t get that as my tv isn’t listed on the recommended list of tvs on the sonos forum

What this boils down to a question of what happens to Dolby Digital. That's what the compatibility list is all about.


When a source and a TV connect via HDMI there's a handshake between the two devices. Part of this handshake is the TV telling the source device (PS4 and Xbox One in your case) what sound format to send. From your description then it would seem the TV will request stereo sound from these two sources.

That stereo sound (Stereo PCM) will be passed to the Playbar. It will apply some audio processing (an algorithm) similar to Dolby ProLogic II that generates a pseudo-surround effect for the rear channel speakers.

In short then, you'll get a surround effect from the rear speakers, but it won't be as clear and precise as when the Playbar receives Dolby Digital 5.1.


The next logical question is "Can this be improved? "

The answer is Yes, but not easily.

To get DD5.1 to the Playbar requires an Optical connection direct from each source. Currently you have three Optical sources. These are the two consoles and the TV. You could decide to swap the Optical cable between sources. It's a solution, and it's cheap, but it's not elegant.

Alternatively you could use an Optical switch. They come in two versions: manual (a rotary dial with three or four stop points), or a remote-controlled switch. The manual Optical switch will cost between £7 and £18 depending on whose badge is on the outside. Quality and reliability is a bit variable. Don't be surprised if you have to send the first one or two back as faulty.

The remote-controlled switches work far better but at a cost. The Lindy 4-way is £79.


Set both consoles to output DD5.1 (bitstream) via Optical and you should be in business. This will give you discrete (proper) rear surround information delivered to whichever versions of the Play speakers you use for the rears.

Morning m8 I just checked on my sonos and it says my PLAYBAR is stereo ! I just don’t understand all this lol I’ve just checked on my Samsung menu in sound and I’ve 3 options dtv audio level , digital audio out , Dolby Digital comp rf ! Only option that’s highlighted is the Dolby audio out and when pressed I get another option which says audio formet pcm and audio delay ! If I choose audio format I get a list pcm dd dts dts neo 2:5 ( only pcm and dts neo available )

If it’s a blu ray player and doesn’t do dd then that may be problem. Most blu ray don’t do dd you have to have one that does.

Check your Xbox output