I feel a new, next gen Playbar is in order

Just bought a playbar, badly disappointed so +1

There was a thread last week about rumors there is a gen2 playbar in the works. Supposedly the new hdmi standard fits better to what Sonos would like to do. All rumors but look for the thread a few pages back. There was a news article regarding. I do like the current playbar though for simplicity sake (as long as your TV passes 5.1 and you can get all your sources DD). Sound wise the current playbar is terrific.

https://en.community.sonos.com/home-theater-228993/playbar-and-hdmi-rumor-late-2018-early-2019-6801966

that's the closest you can get to a new at the moment. May be true may be part true or may be all false. We'll find out with time.

While not disagreeing with anything said, my initial reaction to a Dolby Atmos soundbar is 'gimmick'. Yes it can decode the signal, but can it give anything like a true Dolby Atmos surround experience? I just ask the question, as I haven't heard a soundbar yet that does, and that includes the Playbar by itself.

John B wrote:

While not disagreeing with anything said, my initial reaction to a Dolby Atmos soundbar is 'gimmick'. Yes it can decode the signal, but can it give anything like a true Dolby Atmos surround experience? I just ask the question, as I haven't heard a soundbar yet that does, and that includes the Playbar by itself.

Both the upcoming Sennheiser Dolby soundbar and the Sonic Carrier soundbar have gotten stellar reviews from people who have listened to them.

It’s not my intent to disparage what Sennheiser has accomplished regarding a virtual Dolby Atmos or 3D Sound Bar. However, this reminds of soundbars that were produced claiming to provide the DD 5.1 experience from a single unit. That was quickly proved inaccurate outside of a specially designed listening environment (room).

The picture below shows some uniquely designed speakers (concave looking) that are obviously needed provide the illusion of Dolby Atmos or 3D Sound. Although not shown there are probably rear speakers as well. Reading the caption you begin to understand how people are allegedly impressed by its sound…

"A long line of eager listeners stretches outside a small, dark room at the heart of Sennheiser’s CES booth. Inside, they will experience the new secret weapon in…."

Point being is that specially designed listening rooms make anything sound great. However, I wouldn’t expect the same experience in the average home. Sonos realized that merely having a sound bar that mimicked FL/C/FR speakers was not enough to provide the DD 5.1 experience without a sub and surrounds.

That said I doubt Sonos will bring something to market half-baked. Meaning they’ll probably try to find a way to incorporate a few requisite satellite speakers to at least provide a realistic Dolby Atmos 5.1.2 experience.

I always figured Sonos is revamping the play 5 and the playbar since they both can be found at costco -- that said, I bought the playbar anyway. I figured they're dumping inventory to make way for a new product. Just a hunch. 2018/2019 sounds accurate to me.