Earc Audio Extraction

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Hi,

I've recently purchased a new TV and I'm a total n00b when it comes to home theatre. I'm currently running the optical out to a Chord 2qute DAC which is fed into my 2 channel systems pre-amp.

I understand that the sample rate of optical out is 48khz whereas HDMI Arc & Earc is 192khz.

Would I receive better sound quality in that case, by losing the Chord DAC, and using an ARC converter which allows for the HDMI in and RCA out to pre-amp?

If an Arc converter is the way forward any recommendations?

Thanks!
 

rabski

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You could just use the HDMI output and convert this to analogue output, but I can't imagine the quality will be any better than what you're doing at the moment. Optical is actually pretty good for TV to hifi, as it neatly kills a lot of noise issues and interference. Basically, any HDMI to RCA converter needs to incorporate a DAC, which is very likely to be worse than the Chord. The only HDMI audio extractors I can find are about £30, so good luck with the audio quality of those...

I have no idea whether there are any 'decent' DACs with an HDMI input, but then to benefit from a higher rate than 48K, the actual program material would need to be higher than 48K. Whether you'd even then hear any difference is debatable.
 
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Lawrence001

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You could just use the HDMI output and convert this to analogue output, but I can't imagine the quality will be any better than what you're doing at the moment. Optical is actually pretty good for TV to hifi, as it neatly kills a lot of noise issues and interference. Basically, any HDMI to RCA converter needs to incorporate a DAC, which is very likely to be worse than the Chord. The only HDMI audio extractors I can find are about £30, so good luck with the audio quality of those...

I have no idea whether there are any 'decent' DACs with an HDMI input, but then to benefit from a higher rate than 48K, the actual program material would need to be higher than 48K. Whether you'd even then hear any difference is debatable.
There are definitely some good DACs with HDMI inputs as I tried one (Nad) with a Sony blu ray player that resampled DSD to PCM from SACDs to the DAC (so you get digital out off the SACD and aren't stuck with the DAC in the player).
 
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tkimages

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I had a similar thought myself, so I bought a HDMI audio extractor for use with my LG OLED and bluray player. It cost around £100, gave 96khz output but added another box to the set up, more wires etc and didn't improve the sound when fed into my Meridian system, which was the same system when using the optical out. So returned it and I'm quite happy with just using the optical out.
 

rabski

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There are definitely some good DACs with HDMI inputs as I tried one (Nad) with a Sony blu ray player that resampled DSD to PCM from SACDs to the DAC (so you get digital out off the SACD and aren't stuck with the DAC in the player).
I can see the point of using the HDMI out to extract hi-res digital from SACD, as normally SACD players are prevented from outputting a digital stream.

For TV sound, however, I don't imagine there would be any benefit, and a potential issue from gound noise that is circumvented by using optical.

I've not come across DACs with an HDMI input, but to be fair, most of the DACs I've seen, reviewed and borrowed have been high-end NOS or similar, so it's no surprise.
 
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karlinamillion

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As Rabski says, optical to your Amp/DAC. Big advantage of using an output fron the TV is that what is the sound you hear will always be whats on the screen.

Oh, BTW I my job is mixing TV drama, and we run pro tools at 48Khz.
 
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