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Airplay 2: DD 5.1 format supported by Sonos 5.1 system?

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Airgetlam

If you have an Apple TV, you should connect it to your TV with an HDMI cable. You would then connect your Sonos soundbar to your TV with the necessary connector, be it HDMI-ARC or optical.

The third gen Apple TV has an optical out (I think it was third gen) but the current gen does not, only an HDMI connection.

My understanding of AirPlay 2 signals is that they’re 5.1 when possible between Apple devices, but when sent to other devices, such as Sonos speakers, the AirPlay 2 signal is stereo only. So you could send a 5.1 signal to your Apple TV, which would send it to your TV, which would then send the 5.1 signal to your Sonos system. However, if you stream your AirPlay 2 signal straight to the Sonos system, you’d get only stereo.

So, the only way to answer your question is to ask what your source is.

If it’s the Apple TV itself, then there’s no need whatsoever for AirPlay 2, the audio signal is carried by HDMI to your TV, which would then send it to your Sonos. Or, if you have an older Apple TV with an optical output, you could connect that directly to your Sonos and get a 5.1 signal from the Apple TV. But then anything else you connect to your TV, like game consoles, DVD players, cable boxes won’t send any sound to the Sonos. That’s really why Sonos designed their system for the TV set to be the switch box. Any sounds that go in to the TV, assuming they’re the right codec (Dolby Digital or Stereo) will be sent out to the Sonos via the digital connection.

If that’s not clear, feel free to ask more questions.  I have the feeling I’m not really understanding what you’re trying to do.

Bruce
Airgetlam
Je suis ici,

All 5.1 is not Dolby Digital, there are several other codecs that are also 5.1 encoded, most notably DTS. Sonos can only interpret the Dolby Digital encoding, so it's much better to set that in your Apple TV as the codec being sent.

If the source is in stereo, it will only send stereo, instead, so there's nothing to worry about there.

Essentially, you want the switch to be on pass through, and you force the codec at the source device (the Apple TV in this case).
Bruce
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