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Sonos Launches New Arc Soundbar With Dolby Atmos Support

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Sonos today announced the Arc, a new $799 premium soundbar option that features Dolby Atmos support and AirPlay 2 compatibility. The Arc replaces the Playbar, with Sonos also discontinuing the Playbase.


Available in black or white, the Arc features a curved grille, with its longer 45-inch design aimed at users who have large TVs. Sonos says the Arc can be mounted discreetly or placed on top of furniture.

The Arc is equipped with 11 drivers to provide multi-directional audio, along with 8 elliptical woofers, 3 silk-dome tweeters, and a far-field microphone array for voice assistant activation (it supports Google Assistant and Alexa). Arc tuning was done with Oscar-winning sound engineers to emphasize the human voice, ideal for use with TV shows and movies.

sonosarc1.jpg

Sonos' Trueplay software tunes the Arc to the acoustics of the room that it's in, while the app provides adjustable EQ settings. A night mode reduces the intensity of loud sound effects.

Sonos has also introduced the new $699 third-generation Sonos sub and the $499 Sonos Five, which is designed to replace the Play:5.

sonosarc2.jpg

Along with the new products, Sonos today announced the upcoming launch of its S2 app, which will work with the new Arc, Sonos Five, and Sonos Sub, along with other Sonos devices. The S2 app includes support for higher resolution audio like Dolby Atmos, plus it features improved security and a revamped design.

The new Sonos app will work with most products, but it leaves behind the original Play:5, Zone Players, Gen 1 Connect devices, the CR200, and the Bridge.

Sonos plans to release the Arc on June 10, and it will be compatible with the Sonos S2 app when it launches. The Arc is available for pre-order on the Sonos website as of today, as are the Sonos Sub and Sonos Five.

Article Link: Sonos Launches New Arc Soundbar With Dolby Atmos Support
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2020/05/06/sonos-arc-soundbar-dolby-atmos/
Picked up a brand new Sonos Beam for $300, a deal that will likely come again. Hard to justify twice the price, but I suppose if you "need" the extras AND stay with the Sonos family, you don't have much of a choice.
 
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ViDeOmAnCiNi said:
Did they really remove the optical inputs on these?
Click to expand...

It says it comes with an Optical Audio Adapter. Not exactly sure where that plugs in though.

Updating to include this
"Connect Arc to your TV's ARC/eARC port using the incuded HDMI cable or your own. If your TV does not have HDMI, Arc comes with the Sonos Optical Audio Adapter."
 
ViDeOmAnCiNi said:
Did they really remove the optical inputs on these?
Click to expand...
I imagine it's the same as the Beam (which I have) - there's only an HDMI port on the Beam, but it comes with an HDMI to optical adapter (which plugs into the HDMI port on the Beam) so you can use optical if your TV doesn't have an HDMI ARC port.

Edit: I stand corrected, the adapter plugs into the optical port on your TV, at which point you can use the included HDMI cord to connect to the TV. With the Beam everything I needed was in the box, so I imagine it will be the same for the ARC.
 
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So they announce a new Sonos Five and a new app, which immediately drops support for the original play:5.
Clearly their products are not future proof if they are constantly dropping support for their older products.

Won’t be investing in anymore of these speakers, my original play:5 and play:1s work perfectly fine, along with my playbar and sub which are probably also not far off the obsolete list!
 
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I have the original playbar plus play 1 & sub to create a 5.1 system. which worked great on my Sony at the time but my 2016 Panasonic doesn't support 5.1 HDMI pass through so the system isn't at its full potential which bums me out.

My questions are

1. is this new play bar when paired with the new sub a 5.1 system because of the Atmos speakers built in?
2. can the new play bar be paired with and work with the old sub?
3. my 2016 Panasonic says it has ARC HDMI so does that mean the new system will output 5.1 on my TV? and more importantly to my Apple TV and XBOX?

Any ideas?
 
entropyfl said:
I have the original playbar plus play 1 & sub to create a 5.1 system. which worked great on my Sony at the time but my 2016 Panasonic doesn't support 5.1 HDMI pass through so the system isn't at its full potential which bums me out.

My questions are

1. is this new play bar when paired with the new sub a 5.1 system because of the Atmos speakers built in?
2. can the new play bar be paired with and work with the old sub?
3. my 2016 Panasonic says it has ARC HDMI so does that mean the new system will output 5.1 on my TV? and more importantly to my Apple TV and XBOX?

Any ideas?
Click to expand...

1. I would think you still need the rear speakers for true surround 5.1 or Atmos. Just the soundbar and sub will probably deliver a good experience just not sure what the exact definition of it would be.

2. Yes, it works with all versions of the Sub.

3. It depends on your TV manufacturer. Most TV's that support ARC will deliver some version of 5.1. However, only more recent TV's will be able to deliver Atmos over ARC or eARC.
 
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macduke said:
I'd buy an Apple soundbar but it would probably cost $3,999.
Click to expand...
scooterv51 said:
Me too, maybe they would discount it down to $3,499 :)
Click to expand...
locovaca said:
Well, yeah, and then another $1000 for the optional wall mount.
Click to expand...
Zeroshiftfactor said:
Hahahahaha yeah! It's one thing if it contained $3,999 worth of technology, but with Apple it'd be like $100 worth of tech at most.
Click to expand...
Only on Macrumors can a non-Apple related thread turn into an Apple bashing thread.
 
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entropyfl said:
I have the original playbar plus play 1 & sub to create a 5.1 system. which worked great on my Sony at the time but my 2016 Panasonic doesn't support 5.1 HDMI pass through so the system isn't at its full potential which bums me out.

My questions are

1. is this new play bar when paired with the new sub a 5.1 system because of the Atmos speakers built in?
2. can the new play bar be paired with and work with the old sub?
3. my 2016 Panasonic says it has ARC HDMI so does that mean the new system will output 5.1 on my TV? and more importantly to my Apple TV and XBOX?

Any ideas?
Click to expand...

3. I ran into this issue with a 2016 Panasonic and playbar.

I initially solved it using an optional switch, which was a pain in the butt.

I eventually found an HDMI ARC to Optical box which works for me, I think it was the 3rd one I tried that finally worked on the Panasonic.

PROZOR HDMI Audio Extractor 192KHz DAC Converter ARC Audio Extractor Support Digital HDMI Audio to Analog Stereo Audio RCA L/R Coaxial SPDIF and 3.5mm Jack ARC Audio Adapter for TV https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07CWMRG2C/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_eSZSEbDBY665H

works well, only slight issue is it seems to interfere with the remote controls, where as on my Sky Q box the TV would power on with a single short press to turn on the Sky Q box, which would then wake the TV.... I have to do a long press to turn on the TV first.... then a short press to turn on Sky Q.
The main TV remote is unaffected and this is the only very small issue I have found.... but once I knew what the problem was, it is fine.

Regarding pass through to the Arc from the Panasonic, it should be fine if using HDMI, if you used optical on the Arc, you would have the same issue as you have now.... but then you would not really want to run Arc with optical as it would not support Dolby Digital + either
 
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I probably have 10 Sonos devices in my home. One “obsolete” Play:5, but as I purchased most in the last 5 years they better darned last me another 10. I can understand not getting high def and other features but it’s not like streaming audio has changed much in 10+ years.

Otherwise very happy with my setup, which includes 2 Playbars in different rooms (one with Sub).
 
Wonder what the new subwoofer offers, since the now-"older" model sounds pretty darn good.
 
Wow! $800! You could buy a receiver, with Dolby Atmos, and have $300 left over to put toward speakers. Easily! Yes, you would need to spend more than $300...but, you’d have an actual Atmos setup, as opposed to one of these “simulated“ ones.
 
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