Thanks a lot for testing and the feedback!
LibreELEC 9.2 uses the old display driver so it doesn't support HBR audio passthrough.
As the new display driver requires audio data in IEC958 format (converted from S16/24/32 etc by alsa-lib) you can't check for the actual audio format used by programs via /proc, you have to enable verbose or debug output in the programs to see what they use.
Not 100% sure about the sox player, but IIRC kodi uses 32bit float for internal PCM audio processing and will in general use 24bit for output (enable debug logging in kodi to see the details). This gives you enough headroom to apply volume attenuation to 16bit audio data, without loosing bits, and ensures 24bit audio will be transmitted fine, too. So in general there's nothing to worry about PCM and compressed audio in kodi.
so long,
Hias