There's no much point in adding an HDMI input, all TVs nowadays have an optical input and all formats the Sonos Ray supports can be fully transmitted through Toslink. By experience optical is less of a hassle than HDMI ARC/e-ARC.Not sure why Sonos have bothered with this lump. No HDMI inputs in 2022. Really?
The thing is that those codecs aren't supported by the Ray, so that's not really a problem.It depends on what you expect. A toslink connection can’t handle some of the newer codecs. Without HDMI the auto switching facilities are lost, and so on. For me, it’s a weak product, one that I’ll certainly never consider.
Yeah you have a point there.True, I suppose, but the lack of HDMI control is still an issue.
They could but it probably would have increase the price by another £80-100 taking it closer to the Sonos Beam which will effect the purpose a little.Not sure why Sonos have bothered with this lump. No HDMI inputs in 2022. Really?
An HDMI input is really cheap so no it wouldn't have increased the price, in an interview they said (and I believe them on this one) that they wanted to keep this product as simple as possible. Which is why there's also a reversible toslink connection - you can plug the cable in upside down. That really makes sense in Sonos' view, just like they didn't add passthrough to the Arc, even if it's not really the best thing for consumers.They could but it probably would have increase the price by another £80-100 taking it closer to the Sonos Beam which will effect the purpose a little.
HDMI is cheap but you're clearly forgetting the Sonos premium here, they've had this principle for years now and you can look back through all their products over the past 4-6 years. The ones that had HDMI or multiple connections all came at great prices.An HDMI input is really cheap so no it wouldn't have increased the price, in an interview they said (and I believe them on this one) that they wanted to keep this product as simple as possible. Which is why there's also a reversible toslink connection - you can plug the cable in upside down. That really makes sense in Sonos' view, just like they didn't add passthrough to the Arc, even if it's not really the best thing for consumers.
I think it's again more of a simplicity thing. The Ray doesn't need HDMI input, although it would be more convenient to have HDMI-CEC it's not an extremely important feature and it helps keeping the things clean and simple - you plug a cable from your TV to your soundbar, change a setting, and that's it. No need to check if your TV is ARC/e-ARC compatible, no HDMI handshakes issues, it works in the simplest possible way. Which is a very Sonos thing to do, even though it also sacrifices some features like CEC.HDMI is cheap but you're clearly forgetting the Sonos premium here, they've had this principle for years now and you can look back through all their products over the past 4-6 years. The ones that had HDMI or multiple connections all came at great prices.
The fact that with HDMI ARC powering-up the TV will also power-up the soundbar, and when the TV is put into standby, the bar joins it. Optical does not have those capabilities by default. Perhaps Sonos have done something fancy to get round the issue.Forgive me what switching capabilities are you talking about
.The fact that with HDMI ARC powering-up the TV will also power-up the soundbar, and when the TV is put into standby, the bar joins it. Optical does not have those capabilities by default. Perhaps Sonos have done something fancy to get round the issue.
Get the Beam then!For me the main advance of this soundbar is the ability to purchase rears (One SL) and a sub (upcoming rumored Mini Sub) later on, which isn't possible on most soundbars especially at this price range.
But the lack of Bluetooth, of HDMI inputs, of Dolby Atmos support, etc. is indeed a big problem for me.