Avid Contributor I

How can a HTPC setup output Spatial Audio

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I am building a PC to connect to my TV and Sonos Arc. Currently the earc on the TV is connected directly to the Sonos Arc and I can experience Dolby Atmos on streaming content and XBSX via Dolby Atmos app. Though on XBSX I prefer PCM because there seems to be a delay due to up-mixing - I just want whatever that is encoded on the content to pass through and not be altered.

Are the any recommendations for GPU and/or MoBo combo that would allow me to pass through any Spatial Audio?

Do audio codecs on motherboard matter if the Arc will be receiving the pass through?

Does any GPU / Mobo have an eArc port?

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sigh

Prodigy II

Thanks for the reply Ian, which means the codec on the motherboard does not matter right? Since I am connecting the GPU hdmi to the TV.

I don’t think so, but it’s probably worth asking in a forum for the graphics card you’re looking at to confirm. Sometimes you can get some left field off-loading of processing on PC’s… I gave up on HTPC’s a while back as I found it a bit too hit & miss, but I’m not a gamer so … 😉

For gaming it doesn’t matter. The Microsoft Spatial Audio APIs and Dolby Atmos app deal with it and send as Dolby MAT I think, would need to check what my AVR is receiving.

With the plugin graphics card hdmi port it doesn’t use the motherboard codecs. It uses the Amd/nvidia/intel hdmi audio drivers included in their driver package rather than the motherboard drivers.

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