OK… This sounds great!
Apologies - did not expect this answer from CTO.
My respect!
Wait, hope and see… 
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Soooooo glad to hear! I was about to mention the channel mapping issue myself as I’ve been tearing my hair out for two days wondering what was wrong with my multichannel music! Mostly seemed like the center/sub were being swapped but sometimes I’m wondering about front/rear as well.
I’ve also noticed glitchy playback in terms of sometimes those multichannel FLAC files only voicing on L+R (while the PCM streams to my receiver still show all 6 active). But if I switch to playing a movie (with DD or DTS) and then go back to playing the same music I was earlier - suddenly all the channels are voicing again (though the mapping problem remains)
Elan - Any movement on the Apple TV update? It will be 3 years tomorrow.
It’s in the beta that’s gone out today, to be released in a week and a half! If you’re in the beta/Testflight you could get it today.
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That is great news! Thank you! Got a spare invite?
You’d have to ask in the appropriate beta forum 
Tested and not working at all. Every files I tried from different artists load indefinitely.
Open a thread and post some logs so we might have a chance of figuring out what the issue is?
Sorry for asking @elan because it’s confusing for me:
Are we talking about Apple TV here or about 5.1 (FLAC or mka) music playback as stated by the title of this thread?
I am on Beta 1.27.0.5878 and did not see any 5.1 announcements so far,
I generally do not care about Apple - I have asked about 5.1 music playback.
Would by great if you can shine some light on me (and probably other users).
Thanks a lot!
I was answering specifically about Apple TV. On Windows if you configure your sound card correctly I believe 5.1 plays. I’m not sure what specifically you’re looking to do and where.
Please let me explain:
I have a lot of music tracks with 5.1 encoded in MKA and/or FLAC files.
When I play these files with Plex App on NVidia Shield with HDMI connection to my AVR they just are played in PCM 2.0.
When I play movies (MKV’s) with DD 5.1 / DTS 5.1 / Atmos 7.1 etc… they all play with their original sound format.
Plex does not play music tracks in 5.1 - that’s what this thread is about IMHO. Anything is just down-converted to PCM 2.0
This has nothing to do with soundcard settinigs in Windows/Linux/Apple.
You said " On Windows if you configure your sound card correctly I believe 5.1 plays"
NO - this is why I asked here!
I’m using DD 5.1/DTS 5.1/etc… capable hardware but playing music with Plex App on any hardware (FireTV/NVidia Shield) comes to PCM 2.0 on my AVR.
The 5.1 tracks are OK - I can play them with 5.1 with a user written Plex plugin for Enigma2 recievers! This is from a german hobby developer and it’s great!
But of course I would expect that any Plex player can do this - and of course the offical ones!
Final conclusion: Official Plex Apps (regardless on which platform) do NOT stream/play 5.1 music tracks in orignal format.
Why does any Plex client downconvert 5.1 music to PCM 2.0?
EVERY movie plays with it’s original sound profile. Why not music tracks???
Again: It’s all about MUSIC tracks in 5.1 (MKA or FLAC) containers.
Hope this post makes things clear.
Thanks and regards.
Multi-channel audio isn’t (yet?) supported on the Shield, unfortunately.
This is exaclty what I’m asking for!
And this is what I tried to say/ask in this thread since about 2 years.
You say:
“Multi-channel audio isn’t (yet?) supported on the Shield, unfortunately.”
Sorry - that’s not true! It’s working perfectly with ANY audio format in movies. The Shield plays every audio format on the market. Just not with the Plex client.
It also even does not work on latest FireTV hardware.
And I have also installed the Plex client on my LG OLED TV just 2 years old.
Same here : Any movie with multi-channel audio plays fine - just NOT music!
Where is the problem to implement this? It’s working for movies. I cannot understand. It’s no voodoo magic. Plex client should just playing music “as is”.
But it does NOT!
But anyway - thanks for your feedback.
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Sorry, but it’s true. Video playback uses a totally different pipeline for audio than music playback does.
And why does Kodi play the same music(!) track on my NVidia Shield in 5.1 to my AVR?
Please see my screenshots:
I installed Kodi on Nvidia Shield and played the same(!) track with Kodi and with Plex.
Please see the difference from my AVR input infos (in red circle).
This is a missing feature in Plex client. Kodi can do.
Have you ever tried this on your own?
I really do not want to be impolite. But please don’t tell me that NVidia Shield is not able to play multichannel music.
My screenshots (and my ears) prove the opposite.
Of course you can now say: Then go to Kodi.
But I like my Plex - except the missing multichannel music ability. That’s all about I’m asking for.
I understand that Video/Music is a different pipeline. But what is so difficult to implement the same for music regarding multichannel playback?
Best regards
It turns out to be a hard issue to prioritize, and I’m not sure what it would entail to hook up the music stack with multi-channel on the SHIELD. I’m sorry, it sounds like it should be easy, and I realize other apps support it, it’s just not something we can offer at the moment.
Well it was quite a surprise to see a post from someone commenting on the fact that they discovered plexamp played their 5.1 music. I immediately opened plexamp on my Windows 10 computer to be amazed that in fact it is now playing my 5.1 FLAC files. Thanks to all that worked on this upgrade, it is a very welcome upgrade and one I have been looking forward to and wondering when it might happen. That day is here and I truly appreciate it. Very happy indeed!!! Thank you.
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thanks for posting with happy news instead of reporting a bug, it’s a welcome change for us to read
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I’m listening to 5.1 AC3 music using PlexAmp on an iPad to control
playback from HTPC on a Mac Mini directly to DAC. I now realize that people want FLAC 5.1, but thought I’d mention something I’m using to get bye.
It’s wonderful and I certainly appreciate how active and involved in the forum the top brass at Plex is, but I do have to join the chorus, here. This is a pretty odd feature to choose not to prioritize.
Plex prides itself on being a go-to service for cinephiles and audiophiles. The Shield is THE go-to premium home theater stream box. Supporting multichannel on everything except music is a disappointing and glaring oversight, to be sure.
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