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Domx360
Contributor I
May 30, 2022
Answered

Sonos Beam connecting to Mac Studio

Hi,

Is this possible ?

There is an HDMI on the Mac Studio, is it as simple as connecting this to the Beam?

Would I get Dolby Atmos output from the Mac Studio ?

Help greatly appreciated.

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GuitarSuperstarAnswer
Lead Maestro
May 30, 2022

The Beam requires an HDMI ARC or optical connection. The Mac Studio doesn’t have an HDMI ARC or optical out port.

You could use AirPlay to play audio from the Mac to the Beam but it probably won’t support Dolby Atmos audio.

Read more here about using Sonos as a computer speaker:

 

"Receive with simplicity everything that happens to you." - Rashi
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2 replies

GuitarSuperstarAnswer
Lead Maestro
May 30, 2022

The Beam requires an HDMI ARC or optical connection. The Mac Studio doesn’t have an HDMI ARC or optical out port.

You could use AirPlay to play audio from the Mac to the Beam but it probably won’t support Dolby Atmos audio.

Read more here about using Sonos as a computer speaker:

 

"Receive with simplicity everything that happens to you." - Rashi
wheee09
Lyricist I
June 26, 2022

Given that I spent a lot of time (and some money to solve this), felt like I should share my solutions.

 

Unfortunately, you don’t have any “free” solutions other than the AirPlay option mentioned above.

 

Best solution:

Buy a USB A → Optical cable adapter. 

 

This is the one I bought: 

https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B09W5R6Q2V/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o02_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

Not the cheapest thing, but also not too bad.  No external power supply required which is great!  Despite it saying USB-C (it’s not, I don’t even know why they did that in the first place), it connects to your USB-A port on the Mac Studio, then to your Optical → HDMI adapter then to the Sonos Beam.  Note that USB-C → this device does not work unless you use a USB-C → USB-A adapter.

 

I haven’t confirmed it (yet) but you should be able to connect the device to any monitor with a USB-A output that’s connected to any of the thunderbolt 4 connections of your Mac Studio.

 

Alternative solution - but meh:

Buy a HDMI Extractor. 

 

I also bought this one (before I discovered the solution above):

https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B07BHYXVTY/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o06_s01?ie=UTF8&th=1

 

Connect this to your HDMI output on the Mac Studio, then connect the HDMI output of the HDMI Extractor to a monitor.  Then connect the Optical output to your Optical → HDMI Adapter then to the Sonos Beam.

 

Note that this solution costs a bit more than the USB → Optical adapter, also requires an external power supply and most annoyingly of all, the HDMI Extractor will act as a monitor, even if you don’t connect the HDMI output of the extractor to a monitor.  It messes up the Display configuration, and any hot keys to jump windows from monitor to another can go to this non-monitor.

 

Alternative Solution - also meh:

As mentioned above, you can use AirPlay, but it’s laggy - for example, when you say “stop playing”, it takes about 1-2 seconds for it stop.

 

In terms of the quality of output, I’m actually not sure if you can get Dolby Atmos.  I wonder how I can test that.  But the sound seems great to me.

 

 

Hope that helps!

 

 

 

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