Passthrough of hi-res audio to compatible receiver?

Plex Players Streaming Devices
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Hi all,

I’ve searched but not been able to find a solution so wonder if anyone knows the answer?

I use Plex (with Plex Pass Lifetime) from my Ubuntu NAS to a variety of devices:

  1. Samsung Tizen TV q90r (Plex app); this is connected via EARC HDMI (v2.1) to my soundbar.
  2. Nvidia Shield TV Pro (Plex app); this is connected via HDMI to my soundbar.
  3. Apple TV 4K (Plex app); this is connected via HDMI to my soundbar.

The soundbar is a Samsung Q950a which support 99% of the audio formats thrown at it. All software and firmware are at the latest versions (as of Feb 2025). All audio options are set to passthrough on all devices/software.

I have a collection of Hi-Res FLAC music files (192khz 24bit Stereo) which are on my Plex server. I’d like to ensure that when I play these using Plex, these are sent directly (Passthrough) to the soundbar at the original quality without any conversion or adjustments.

Unfortunately, my soundbar doesn’t report the input signal type, so I can’t use that to establish whether its receiving a passthrough signal or not. In addition, when I check the Plex dashboard, it just says “FLAC playback” and doesnt elaborate on whether its using passthrough or not (oddly it does for video files).

Does anyone know if in scenarios 1-3 with Hi-Res FLAC files, can/does Plex passthrough these to a compatible receiver?

Server Version# Latest
Player Version# Latest

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