If I’m running 2 sub woofers would buying the arc ultra make any difference to the sound.
A new product is coming but I still can’t get the Android app update that was released earlier in the week.
At least I know what Sonos’ priorities are.
If I’m running 2 sub woofers would buying the arc ultra make any difference to the sound.
got to be gen3 subs and above for 2subs on ac ultra
Hi @JakeSteed
My TV is set to „HDMI passthrough“ which is pretty much the only available setting there is. After a lot of google research I read that the TV also needs the dts license, even for passthrough. Which my Samsung hasn’t. Of course.
I don’t disbelieve you, but this is strange to me - the very concept of Passthrough is that the device performing it simply does not do anything at all with the audio - it just passes it along. This is why volume control (sometimes) and audio settings (always) on the TV have no effect when Passthrough is set.
This is not the first time that I have heard of TV manufacturers playing a little with the definition of Passthrough, but I really don’t know if it’s legal requirement that they have licenses to Passthrough certain formats or not - if pressed, I would have guessed they’d only need a license to decode the stream. If you’ve done research, however, then that is more than I have done - I’ll take your word for it!
I have heard of some TVs having both Passthrough and Bitstream options (even though they sound like they should be the same) - is Bitstream available on your TV? If so, please try it out.
I hope this helps.
You gave me quite some homework yesterday in your post previous to this one. I did the whole process (again as I believe I have tried this before) but to no avail. I am not a 100% sure what exactly I am getting from a dts disc. I encountered something stereo from only the Arc while the other speakers were silent and I also had dts discs where the Era 300s played something as well. Not sure about the Subs. My knowledge of different dts formats and their upward or downward compatibility is quite limited so I have no idea what that means.
Sonos app always shows „Stereo PCM“ in the TV tab. Unfortunately the new (iOS) app from earlier this year doesn’t show anything at all anymore in the settings section „about my system“ where every speaker is listed individually with serial, hardware version, IP address etc. The Arc has a „Audio in“ entry that used to specify the detailed audio signal received. Atmos TrueHD or Atmos DD+ for example. Now this entry is just blank.
When I said that passthrough is the only option the TV offers when linear PCM is selected I meant that everything else is greyed out. Also when I set the PS5 to linear PCM the audio volume drops significantly and I really have to pump up the volume so that when you switch back to tv you feel like McFly testing Docs guitar amp.
This just doesn’t seem to work. At least not with my current setup. But thank you so much for your time and effort to troubleshoot my stuff. I really appreciate that.
Hi @JakeSteed
It did occur to me last night that McLPCM cannot possibly be licensed - it is the format that all digital audio is in (well, PCM is) when it’s not compressed for transmission to another device. Every digital audio device on the planet uses it.
You gave me quite some homework yesterday in your post previous to this one. I did the whole process (again as I believe I have tried this before) but to no avail. I am not a 100% sure what exactly I am getting from a dts disc. I encountered something stereo from only the Arc while the other speakers were silent and I also had dts discs where the Era 300s played something as well. Not sure about the Subs. My knowledge of different dts formats and their upward or downward compatibility is quite limited so I have no idea what that means.
It’s important that the content you are watching in order to determine if things are working or not actually has plenty of audio coming from the surrounds. RomComs and Dramas would not be good for this - stick a superhero or action movie on, and make sure you are at an “active” part of the movie.
Assuming that’s all good, and if your TV won’t pass DTS, then which version of DTS is in play should be irrelevant - your BluRay player should know that the TV won’t take DTS and provide a different format.
Sonos app always shows „Stereo PCM“ in the TV tab. Unfortunately the new (iOS) app from earlier this year doesn’t show anything at all anymore in the settings section „about my system“ where every speaker is listed individually with serial, hardware version, IP address etc. The Arc has a „Audio in“ entry that used to specify the detailed audio signal received. Atmos TrueHD or Atmos DD+ for example. Now this entry is just blank.
If the Now Playing screen for your Arc shows Stereo PCM, then that is the format that the TV is sending it. About My System is a work in progress, as far as I am aware.
When I said that passthrough is the only option the TV offers when linear PCM is selected I meant that everything else is greyed out. Also when I set the PS5 to linear PCM the audio volume drops significantly and I really have to pump up the volume so that when you switch back to tv you feel like McFly testing Docs guitar amp.
I can’t speak for the PS5 behaviour, but commonly, a TV will only offer more audio output formats when one of them is currently playing - ensure a surround sound track of some kind is playing when you open this setting on the TV.
This just doesn’t seem to work. At least not with my current setup. But thank you so much for your time and effort to troubleshoot my stuff. I really appreciate that.
You’re very welcome! We are straying somewhat from the topic of this thread, however - if you continue to struggle with this issue, I recommend starting a new thread for it.
I hope this helps.
Hi @JakeSteed
My TV is set to „HDMI passthrough“ which is pretty much the only available setting there is. After a lot of google research I read that the TV also needs the dts license, even for passthrough. Which my Samsung hasn’t. Of course.
I don’t disbelieve you, but this is strange to me - the very concept of Passthrough is that the device performing it simply does not do anything at all with the audio - it just passes it along. This is why volume control (sometimes) and audio settings (always) on the TV have no effect when Passthrough is set.
This is not the first time that I have heard of TV manufacturers playing a little with the definition of Passthrough, but I really don’t know if it’s legal requirement that they have licenses to Passthrough certain formats or not - if pressed, I would have guessed they’d only need a license to decode the stream. If you’ve done research, however, then that is more than I have done - I’ll take your word for it!
I have heard of some TVs having both Passthrough and Bitstream options (even though they sound like they should be the same) - is Bitstream available on your TV? If so, please try it out.
I hope this helps.
You gave me quite some homework yesterday in your post previous to this one. I did the whole process (again as I believe I have tried this before) but to no avail. I am not a 100% sure what exactly I am getting from a dts disc. I encountered something stereo from only the Arc while the other speakers were silent and I also had dts discs where the Era 300s played something as well. Not sure about the Subs. My knowledge of different dts formats and their upward or downward compatibility is quite limited so I have no idea what that means.
Sonos app always shows „Stereo PCM“ in the TV tab. Unfortunately the new (iOS) app from earlier this year doesn’t show anything at all anymore in the settings section „about my system“ where every speaker is listed individually with serial, hardware version, IP address etc. The Arc has a „Audio in“ entry that used to specify the detailed audio signal received. Atmos TrueHD or Atmos DD+ for example. Now this entry is just blank.
When I said that passthrough is the only option the TV offers when linear PCM is selected I meant that everything else is greyed out. Also when I set the PS5 to linear PCM the audio volume drops significantly and I really have to pump up the volume so that when you switch back to tv you feel like McFly testing Docs guitar amp.
This just doesn’t seem to work. At least not with my current setup. But thank you so much for your time and effort to troubleshoot my stuff. I really appreciate that.
If you use the PS5 settings below when playing a DTS-encoded disc, what audio format does the Sonos app display?
Output Device: HDMI Device (AV amplifier)
HDMI Device Type: AV amplifier
Number of Channels: 7.1 ch (or 5.1 ch)
Audio Format (Priority): Linear PCM
When watching Blu-ray discs, there is another audio setting that must be adjusted when you start the disc. Tap the Options button on the controller, select the “…” and change the Audio Format setting Linear PCM for all DTS-encoded discs.
Audio Format (Priority): Linear PCM
When watching Blu-ray discs, there is another audio setting that must be adjusted when you start the disc. Tap the Options button on the controller, select the “…” and change the Audio Format setting Linear PCM for all DTS-encoded discs.
Thanks. I did exactly that. Switch from bitstream to linear PCM. No effect. Needs to be switched back afterwards to have Atmos again or else it’s stereo all the way regardless of any other settings. The audio format displayed with these settings is always Stereo PCM.
Audio Format (Priority): Linear PCM
When watching Blu-ray discs, there is another audio setting that must be adjusted when you start the disc. Tap the Options button on the controller, select the “…” and change the Audio Format setting Linear PCM for all DTS-encoded discs.
Thanks. I did exactly that. Switch from bitstream to linear PCM. No effect. Needs to be switched back afterwards to have Atmos again or else it’s stereo all the way regardless of any other settings. The audio format displayed with these settings is always Stereo PCM.
Did you change BOTH settings to Linear PCM on the PS5?
Audio Format (Priority): Linear PCM
When watching Blu-ray discs, there is another audio setting that must be adjusted when you start the disc. Tap the Options button on the controller, select the “…” and change the Audio Format setting Linear PCM for all DTS-encoded discs.
Thanks. I did exactly that. Switch from bitstream to linear PCM. No effect. Needs to be switched back afterwards to have Atmos again or else it’s stereo all the way regardless of any other settings. The audio format displayed with these settings is always Stereo PCM.
Did you change BOTH settings to Linear PCM on the PS5?
Yes. I swear 
Once in the PS settings in the upper right corner and then in the context menu „…“ of the player app while the disc is playing.
Audio Format (Priority): Linear PCM
When watching Blu-ray discs, there is another audio setting that must be adjusted when you start the disc. Tap the Options button on the controller, select the “…” and change the Audio Format setting Linear PCM for all DTS-encoded discs.
Thanks. I did exactly that. Switch from bitstream to linear PCM. No effect. Needs to be switched back afterwards to have Atmos again or else it’s stereo all the way regardless of any other settings. The audio format displayed with these settings is always Stereo PCM.
Did you change BOTH settings to Linear PCM on the PS5?
Yes. I swear Once in the PS settings in the upper right corner and then in the context menu „…“ of the player app while the disc is playing.
And the TV is set to these settings?
HDMI-eARC Mode: Auto
Digital Output Audio Format: Pass-Through
Audio Format (Priority): Linear PCM
When watching Blu-ray discs, there is another audio setting that must be adjusted when you start the disc. Tap the Options button on the controller, select the “…” and change the Audio Format setting Linear PCM for all DTS-encoded discs.
Thanks. I did exactly that. Switch from bitstream to linear PCM. No effect. Needs to be switched back afterwards to have Atmos again or else it’s stereo all the way regardless of any other settings. The audio format displayed with these settings is always Stereo PCM.
Did you change BOTH settings to Linear PCM on the PS5?
Yes. I swear Once in the PS settings in the upper right corner and then in the context menu „…“ of the player app while the disc is playing.
And the TV is set to these settings?
HDMI-eARC Mode: Auto
Digital Output Audio Format: Pass-Through
Exactly. The eARC mode can be switched. Passthrough and everything else is greyed out.
Waited for the Arc Ultra and really looked forward to purchasing a complete Sonos home theater with soundbar, surrounds, and sub.
The Arc Ultra not having DTS:X is an immediate no buy for me now. Being a huge movie person and Xbox gamer, no DTS:X is an absolute deal breaker. DTS:X in my opinion, far superior to Dolby.
Very, very sadden to learn of the lack of DTS:X.
Hi @JakeSteed
I’d like expand slightly on @GuitarSuperstar’s excellent answer:
You can set your Blu-ray player to play the DTS audio as lossless Multichannel PCM which likely sounds very similar to DTS-HD Master Audio.
It will actually sound exactly the same - all you are doing is specifying that the player should decode the audio rather than the soundbar. It makes no difference which device does the decoding, and this is the precise reason why we do not increase the price by adding more supported formats - it’s just not necessary. McPCM will require eARC to play, but so does DTS-HD.
I hope this helps.
Thank you so much for the input and clarification. I currently don’t have a TV that supports passthrough since it has no dts licenses either (Samsung Q85R from 2019) so I am getting either something Dolby or 2 channel Stereo. My understanding is that that the TV needs these as well to make passthrough work and a lot of manufacturers don’t have these at all or only in their top model. I am planning on getting a new one like the new Sony Bravia 9 (supporting dts:x) hoping that this will do the trick. As a player I am using a PS5.
I have an Arc, 2 ERA300s, a 2G Sub and a 3G Sub
LG G4 supports DTS:X passthrough.
Samsung has abandoned DTS, so in turn, I have abandodened Samsung TVs. Will never, ever, purchase another Samsung TV until they support DTS:X.
I love all things Sonos I do enjoy their products love the Arc watching movies is a pleasure the last one I saw was Dune 2 the house rocked the sound was everywhere, calling the new technology the biggest thing that has happened to audio for over a 100 years is a bit rich.
