Sonos AMP Gen 2, HDMI ARC - PCM stereo bit rate & depth

Couple of questions and comments, but no certain answer.

What is a Sonos Amp gen 2? I was aware of only one generation of these devices. I do know there were multiple generations of these previous device, the CONNECT:AMP.

To my knowledge, the connection on the Sonos Amp is ARC (via HDMI), but not eARC, as the chipset inside it wasn’t needed / able to handle Atmos, only ARC based formats, but I’ve never tested to see if that is a true statement. I do know the Amp can not deal with Atmos formats. 

Since this is primarily a user forum, and not a method to contact Sonos directly, what did Sonos Support say, when you called to discuss it? Did they know the specs of the device?

What does your controller say is being received by the Sonos? Sonos has no concept of ‘this application is sending the content’, all it knows it is receiving data from the HDMI ARC connection from the TV,  but not where, beyond the TV, the data is coming from. I’d think the data in ‘about my Sonos system’ would show you what is coming in on the Amp’s input. 

Hi Bruce

It’s the current Sonos Amp model, I’m talking about. Their 2nd gen amp  

Yes, the connection on the Amp is HDMI ARC not eARC.

I followed your link to Sonos support page. The chat bot was pretty good. The response is below

“Regarding your question: The Sonos Amp (Gen 2) supports HDMI ARC for TV audio input. According to Sonos documentation, the Amp supports stereo PCM audio via HDMI ARC, which includes 24-bit/48 kHz signals. This means that if your Apple TV is outputting 24/48 kHz stereo PCM via HDMI ARC, the Sonos Amp will receive and play it at that resolution—there is no down-conversion to 16/44.1 kHz for HDMI ARC input.

If you’d like to check what audio format your Sonos Amp is currently receiving from your Apple TV, you can do so in the Sonos app under the “About My System” section.

If you have any further questions or want to discuss audio quality or settings, please let me know”

Regards

There is no ‘second generation’ Sonos Amp. There is only two generations of the Sonos CONNECT:AMP, and a single generation of the Sonos Amp. You’ll be confusing folks if you speak of a second generation Amp…they’ll think you have a CONNECT:AMP, which was designed and made years and years ago, with different internals than the Sonos Amp. 

If you click on the underlined words in my previous post, or scroll down to the bottom of this page and click on the Contact us link, you’ll be taken to a web page on how to talk to Sonos. My advice is to skip the Chatbot, and call in and speak to a human. 

You are using generation wrong for Sonos.

Products have generations, that usually keep the same name.

New products get new names. 

Play 5 with multiple similar generations, discontinued and a new product the Five was introduced. 

The. Play 1, then One and now Era-100.

The original ZonePlayer amp the ZP-120 became the similar Connect Amp ZP-90 (from my faulty memory) but was discontinued in favor of the new Amp.