Producer I

NO DTS on NEW PlayBase and thats not due to hardware limitations.

43 replies
24084 views

http://www.theverge.com/circuitbreaker/2017/3/7/14828738/sonos-playbase-tv-speaker-soundbar-announced

"But home theater enthusiasts might be disappointed with some of the technical details. For one, the Playbase doesn’t support DTS multichannel audio. Neither does the Playbar. Here’s what a company spokesperson had to say about that decision (emphasis ours):

For home entertainment, DTS content is only found on physical media such as DVD, Blu-ray and Laserdisc – no video streaming services such as Netflix or Hulu support DTS. Sonos is focused on modern listeners who predominantly stream and because most physical discs encode DTS at bitrates substantially similar to Dolby Digital, we have decided to not support DTS on PLAYBASE as we don’t believe it offers a better listening experience for the majority of owners."

I really love my SONOS system. The sound is indeed great, but I cannot understand how it comes that SONOS isn’t paying any attention to all the users that have been claiming for DTS support for years now.

Apparently, they don’t plan to support anytime soon because they are affirming that SONOS is made for the modern users that uses streaming and no streaming service offers DTS at the moment. Ah they also said on the interview that there is not much difference on DTS sound.

SONOS was one of the first speakers to support Hi-Fi and always have been on the vanguard for audiophiles. I really think that these comments are discrepant and are at least conflicting with the company’s past. I really hope that SONOS reconsider.

There is also a segment about HDMI support on the article.

“While newer HDMI standards such as HDMI ARC and CEC promise increased control functionality, they are unlikely to be found on TVs that are several years old and are still implemented in a fragmented way across newer TV models,” the Sonos spokesperson said. “We continue to monitor the state of HDMI audio implementations in the market for future roadmap products.”

Apparently, we cannot expect SONOS to be on the vanguard anymore.

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sjw

Local Superstar

There's a world of difference between DD and silence. People don't necessarily want core DTS for better sound - it's more that it's present on most discs now and means they don't need to plan a multitude of workarounds, extra/new hardware and more cabling.

nicka99

Local Superstar

you would think that the new CEO, with his experience at Blackberry, would be all too aware of the risks of not moving with the times !

Stuart_W

World-Class Superstar

I don't accept the notion that because they, Sonos, have not adopted DTS that "SONOS isn’t paying any attention to all the users that have been claiming for DTS support for years now" - Sonos DO pay attention to their users. Not only do they read and engage with users of this forum they doubtless perform in depth analysis of the Playbar use and the audio sources thereof.

Also, I agree that if I were to listen to a DD5.1 source and then a DTS soundtrack through a DTS enabled Sonos 5.1 setup I doubt I would be able to tell the difference.

Given that Sonos do not market the Playbar as a Home Theatre audiophile solution and rather have taken the clear step that the Playbar should be as simple as possible it is hardly surprising that they have taken the pragmatic decision to side step DTS which, after all, represents a tiny proportion of the audio input (obviously those with DTS sources have to convert or will get nothing) into the Playbar.

Arc + Sub (Gen 1) + 2 x Play 1/ Stereo Play 3s/ Era 100 Stereo in Kitchen, One Stereo in Bedroom, Play 1 stereo pair in Study, Play 1in Bathroom, Sonos Move 2

Cazualchatter

Enthusiast I

Sonos is playing to a larger common base here. While hdmi standards have changed versions over the years primarily due to video, optical audio has not changed much, if at all. So they may want to play safe to make sure there is longevity to their products at the cost of not adapting unstable technologies or those on the faste lane to obsolescence.

Music + Movies on 2x Play 1s + Sub + Playbar. Amazon Echo Dot + Google Home Mini. Beautiful impulsive music.

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sjw

Local Superstar

I understand (but don't necessarily agree with) the belief that no HDMI makes things 'simpler'.
I don't understand for one second how lack of DTS decoding does.
It is completely missing the point for Sonos to suggest people can't tell the difference or even mention bitrates. Fact is, with DTS decoding, people don't need to care - it will just play.
I have an amp that has no HDMI ports but does have optical. I feed 4 HDMI sources into my TV and an optical from the tv into the amp. My TV passes all audio, inc. DTS, through its optical output and I have true surround for all sources. If I connected the optical to the Playbase, I wouldn't.
I'm not sure where the notion of DTS being a tiny proportion of audio output comes from unless we completely ignore and alienate people with dvd and bluray players where it is the most common audio format. Even if the disc is DTS HD it would still contain 'standard' DTS too.
As for not being able to tell the difference between DD5.1 and DTS, with the current hardware and without any user instigated workarounds, the difference is stark. One will be rather quieter than the other....

Paulw123

Virtuoso

Iam exactly like you. I have just bought a LG OLED 4K tv with 4hdmi 2.0 ports. As my sony av amp is prior 4k, I have moved all HDMI's to the tv and just have optical out to the amp. The tv passes DD5.1 & DTS through, all good. If I decided to tidy things up and invest in this new playbase, I would have no sound from my blu-rays or UHD discs playing through PS4, which gives better quality visuals than any streaming service will for many years to come.
A potential sale lost, I would more likely buy a 4K av amp replacement.

Smilja

How many people really have space for a surround system? Possibly market analyses and survey data speak a different language than "Home theater" supporters.

Two years ago I had a "no name"-soundbase with HDMI input and from the start changing tv input proved as a source of annoyance, either the picture froze or the screen turned black; after a couple of months I sh..canned it. With Toslink the sound latency sometimes is annoying but at least it does not refuse to cooperate with HDMI switches.

»And the world is like an apple whirling silently in space, Like the circles that you find in the windmills of your mind.« (›Windmills Of Your Mind‹ [1967]. Music by Michel Legrand ; English lyrics written by Alan & Marilyn Bergman)

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HeerovanderVeen

Lyricist II

Netflix streams audio in DD+ which is not supported over toslink, only HDMI. Not supporting HDMI is such a bad choice.

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descb600f

Avid Contributor I

I'm guessing my wireless surround budget is going elsewhere. If I'm buying that else where I am going to investigate changing my whole system over I don't want to have to change app depending on which room I'm in or be unable to link room to make sure the sound in each room is synced and not out of phase. I have nearly bought a soundbar a few times and this is the ONLY reason I stop myself each time. Had I bought the bar I would have by now bought a sub and a couple of 1's or 3's for the rear so the revenue loss is very real.

MikeV

It's unfortunate that Sonos feels that they only need to support audio formats from streaming services. There are TONS of topics here wanting DTS support... lots of topics about what Blu-Ray players will convert audio to DD since the Playbar (and now Playbase) don't support DTS... even a topic about NEW 4K Blu-Ray players that support this conversion!

WAKE UP SONOS!

There may be a large desire for streaming in the world today, but that doesn't mean that discs and physical formats are going away anytime soon! REAL movie enthusiasts will NEVER stream movies exclusively (they might do it as a matter of convenience occasionally, but they'll still have their discs)!

While I personally don't have any issues with supporting only Dolby Digital 5.1 - I have a good game console that can handle this conversion for everything fed through it, disc or streaming - I still think it's horribly short-sighted for Sonos to continue to not support DTS after the big showing of support for it there is here in this community over the years. If it really isn't a hardware limitation, there is no reason it shouldn't be supported.

The S in IOT stands for Security.

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