Blu-ray Player, connected via HDMI to the TV: prefers sending audio in its encoded format from disc, which is often some flavor of DTS.Sonos Arc can’t handle it right now, should do so after a firmware update. Requires eARC to pass through (and some eARC TVs still may not support it). Nintendo Switch, connected via HDMI to the TV: surround sound is PCM 5.1.For non-Atmos surround sound, Dolby Digital is the standard and works fine with Sonos Arc. ARC should support this, Sonos Arc can handle it. Apple TV 4K, connected via HDMI to the TV: preferred output is Atmos over Dolby Digital Plus (I think-they just call it “Atmos”).Over-the-air TV signals processed natively by the TV: audio is encoded as Dolby Digital, works fine.Netflix on a native TV app: probably sends audio via Dolby Digital Plus over the ARC cable.What this means for some concrete use cases: In a coming firmware update, Sonos has promised to add support for PCM 5.1. It also supports stereo audio as PCM 2.0 (maybe other stereo formats too?). The Sonos Arc only supports surround sound in a Dolby format-Dolby Digital, Dolby Digital Plus, Dolby TrueHD (the latter two are able to carry Atmos metadata to the Arc).Ideally an eARC TV would not have this limitation, but different brands behave differently. And even TVs that support some surround formats will, for other formats, convert to 2.0. Many TVs only send 2.0 audio over ARC, at least when the audio comes from an external device.For the widest range of support, you want a TV with eARC. ARC supports a limited number of surround sound formats.Other devices send their signals to the TV. The Sonos Arc uses a different model: all digital audio signals come from the TV via its ARC HDMI output. Each device has its own preferred digital audio output format the receiver supports most every kind of signal-various Dolby formats, DTS formats, and raw PCM. In a traditional HDMI-centered setup, various devices send digital AV signals to a receiver, which decodes the audio to analog for its speakers, and passes on the video to a TV. Please let me know if I’m understanding correctly, and if there’s anything I’ve gotten wrong. There doesn’t seem to be one definitive explanation for all this, so here’s my best attempt, as someone who hasn’t typically paid much attention to different surround sound formats, and who is new to Sonos products. Even so, some discussions about surround sound support give me pause. I’d also be getting a new TV, and so can make sure it has the right features. I’m using Arcana with my SONOS ARC and a TV that does not offer HDMI-ARC.I’m interested in getting an Arc. A much more expensive arrangement would be Arcana. You would set AppleTV to use Dolby Digital.5.1 (AMP will convert this to 4.1). This optical connection does not support super advanced audio, but this is not a big deal because AMP supports 4.1. The extractor should have an optical output that can be sent to AMP through a ‘dongle’ that is available from SONOS. You could use an audio extractor in the HDMI connection from AppleTV. AMP expects a working CEC connection and uses this to setup HDMI-ARC service from the TV. There is also a CEC (Consumer Electronics Control) two way channel in the HDMI connection that the coax adaptor will not support. With HDMI-ARC the TV can send audio from TV Apps, back to an A/V receiver or to AMP. The coax adapters that I’ve seen send from a source to the TV. HDMI-ARC uses a different set of pins for the audio that AMP expects over its HDMI connection. I doubt that there is a coax adapter that will work in this setup.
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