PCM 5.1 support on Beam

3 replies
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Hi!

Why does the Beam not support LPCM 5.1? I find this very strange because the Beam is a soundbar and does not support the best and most basic codec. Is it a hardware thing or just software?

Kind regards/ Mathias

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controlavAnswer

Lead Maestro

I found a chart that confirms my statement: https://www.whathifi.com/advice/hdmi-arc-and-hdmi-earc-everything-you-need-to-know

eARC is necessary for uncompressed 5.1 and 7.1 audio, ARC cannot do them.

Author of the leading independent Sonos apps for Android, MacOS, iOS, Windows and Xbox.

N

nik9669a

Senior Virtuoso

You'd have to ask Sonos that, not the user community.

Sonos only supports DD on all its (current) 5.1 devices.

Sonos do not share roadmaps; when a new product is ready, they announce it.

controlav

Lead Maestro

I believe it is because HDMI ARC cannot pass LPCM 5.1. Everything I have read about ARC says it supports the same codecs as S/PDIF which means PCM 2.0, DD 5.1 or DTS 5.1. (Sonos don't do DTS of course).

Author of the leading independent Sonos apps for Android, MacOS, iOS, Windows and Xbox.

controlavAnswer

Lead Maestro

I found a chart that confirms my statement: https://www.whathifi.com/advice/hdmi-arc-and-hdmi-earc-everything-you-need-to-know

eARC is necessary for uncompressed 5.1 and 7.1 audio, ARC cannot do them.

Author of the leading independent Sonos apps for Android, MacOS, iOS, Windows and Xbox.

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