Audio extraction (1 Viewer)

[nounours18200]

Hello,

I will get soon my new OLED TV (*), and I would like to get the Audio out of the TV in order to send it to my Hi-Fi system: no HDMI in it, it is a pure high-end Hi-Fi stereo system. I don't plan to buy an HDMI preamplifier for the time being.

I know 2 approaches so far:

1-use an "HDMI audio extractor", that has an HDMI input and a RCA output to be sent to my preamplifier​

2-use the digital TOSLINK TV output, send it into a DAC with Toslink input, and send the DAC output to the preamplifier.​

Regarding option 1, there are plenty if "HDMI audio extractor", byt several persons says that it does not work in their setup
Regarding option 2, I don't if the TV will correctly output the audio on the Toslink digital Out, provided that the stupid DRM are around...

What is your recommendation ?

Thank you
(*): the TV will be a Sony XR83A90J, but I don't believe it makes any difference with most TVs.

 

[JohnRice]

Would you give more info on your audio system? Model brand(s) and number(s) would be great. From what you said, it appears it is strictly two channel, which makes things pretty easy. In that case, option 2 is the simplest and probably the way to go.

 

[Wayne A. Pflughaupt]

Regarding option 1, there are plenty if "HDMI audio extractor", byt several persons says that it does not work in their setup

I’ve experimented with a number of these. They will indeed get you 2-channel audio via RCA jacks. The only problem with them is that the extraction process blows out the 5.1 signal on the HDMI output connection, and stereo is what you get there, too. Perhaps that’s what people were saying about it not working in their set-up.

Regards,
Wayne A. Pflughaupt

 

[nounours18200]

Would you give more info on your audio system?

My system is a bit long to list, so please look at its description on my website on this page: https://www.threshold-lovers.com/2020/05/06/systeme-de-reference-10/

From what you said, it appears it is strictly two channel, which makes things pretty easy.

It is strictly 2 channels, but "competition grade" ...

In that case, option 2 is the simplest and probably the way to go.

so JohnRice recommends Toslink, whereas Wayne prefers the HDMI audio extractor...

This let me think that the 2 options could probably work

I have no idea of which one would give the best audio results... (I don't plan to go to 5.1 in the near future...).

 

[Wayne A. Pflughaupt]

I don’t prefer an extractor. It was merely a “FYI” post to let you know what you could expect from them. The Toslink, since that option is available, is actually better because it doesn’t require extra hardware.

Regards,
Wayne A. Pflughaupt

 

[nounours18200]

Thank you Wayne: I already have a good Toslink fiber and a DAC to convert it to analog RCA: so I am going to start with it...

Thank you very much

 

[Bartman]

If the Sony is like most other TVs, multichannel sound is mixed to stereo LPCM. This means that rear and side channel sound will be coming from the front. If you have excellent hearing this may not affect intelligibility but if you're hard of hearing, it's a nuisance. For that reason, I use an AVR with the rear/side channels enabled but turned right down or not connected.
It's a pity that TVs don't provide more control over the audio down mix. I'm unsure why summing compressed audio is easy but scaling and summing has never been offered?

 

[nounours18200]

If you have excellent hearing this may not affect intelligibility but if you're hard of hearing, it's a nuisance.

I do and I also have a big stereo system, meaning that I will try to get audio quality...
Probably I should use a HC preamplifier, such as an Anthem, in order to separate the front and back channels, get the front ones and send this to my HiFi system ?

It's a pity that TVs don't provide more control over the audio down mix.

I am the webmaster (and creator) of a huge audio website (I am an expert in 2 channels audio, but not at all in HC), so I know this problem...
The major brands have stopped trying to perform in Audio, in the 1980-1990 decade: most of the reputable companies that made the true high end audio (Mark Levinson, Wadia, Infinity, etc...) have been bought by large financial companies, and therefore the quality quickly went down. If you want to have an hysterical laughter , just look what Infinity sell actually, compared to what they manufactured in the 1980, such as the wonderful Infinity IRS Beta....

It went down to a point that a client buying a 1,000$ device or a 10,000$ device eared more or less the same ... shit ! The difference was on the look but not on the audio quality.
Nowdays, only a few people are still interested in audio quality because they have been feed with MP3, iPod and so on, so they have never listen to a true high-end system. When this kind of persons come at home and listen to my system, they just cannot believe what they ear: they have never listened anything so good...

This is the reason for which I try to identify how to get the best sound quality out of the DV/Bluray 4K player, and out of these stupid and useless DRM !

 

[Bartman]

I searched long ago for an inexpensive DD/DTS multichannel decoder to use with a stereo amplifier but the few units on offer were from no-name brands with unknown audio quality, so I decided to go the AVR route. This has worked successfully (so far) because I've found no need to adjust the phantom center channel level, from the default level, to improve speech intelligibility!

 

[nounours18200]

so I decided to go the AVR route

Can you explain to me what do you mean by "AVR route" : I am a newbye in this domain ! just an expert in 2 channels...

Thank you

 

[JohnRice]

If that link earlier to the Threshold site is your system, I’d really just stick with two channel.

 

[Bartman]

Can you explain to me what do you mean by "AVR route" : I am a newbye in this domain ! just an expert in 2 channels...

Thank you

Separate audio video receiver (AVR), stereo speakers and subwoofer versus the TV's internal speakers (with speech clarity enhancement turned on) or a soundbar such as those by ZVOX (with speech clarity enhancement).

 

[nounours18200]

If that link earlier to the Threshold site is your system, I’d really just stick with two channel.

It is !
But when I have seen the image provided by the Sony OLED 83", I have decide to add it in my system, while keeping my two channels of course.

Separate audio video receiver (AVR), stereo speakers and subwoofer versus the TV's internal speakers (with speech clarity enhancement turned on)

It is what I thought, and my question is just: how to extract the best audio from my TV to feed my stereo system...

 

[JohnRice]

I don't know of the other poster understands the system you have now, or the complexities of creating a hybrid system, which is what you'd want to do if you want to integrate surround, or just a center channel, with your current system.

So, the important question is... what do you want to do? Do you want to stick with two channels? Do you want to create a hybrid system using what you have now for two channel, but add the ability for surround/center without degrading two channel playback? Are you willing to shut everything off and swap some cables when you switch between two channel and surround, or do you want to avoid that?

I actually have a hybrid system, since mine is also prioritized for optimum sound quality on music, but with surround added, since I actually use it the most for visual media.