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Two channel home theatre - HDMI versus Spdif for stereo

Since I gave up surround about four years ago, I have continued to use HDMI for my Sky Q satellite tv box and other AV sources. I thought that the convenience of HDMI switching by my Linn DSM was the most important factor. More recently, my attempts to improve the sound of streaming have led me to think otherwise.

I decided to try switching off the HDMI option in my DSM, to see if I got better sound from streaming without it. I was aware that the Sky box was source of noise and wondered if isolating it with a Optical Toslink cable might be beneficial. Also, I hoped separating the PCM digital audio of the Blu-ray player by Coaxial Spdif from the picture signal in HDMI might improve the stereo sound quality of music video discs of concerts, etc.

I came as a surprise how much better it actually was. My wife’s Bruce Springsteen Blu-ray, London Calling was previously unlistenable, in my view. Now it sounds great. Last night, I really enjoyed the sound of Tangerine Dream’s Dante’s Inferno, another one I hadn’t been able to get into. I am quite excited about watching more of the few music Blu-ray and DVDs that I have, such as One Giant Step, Paul Simon, Talking Heads and Rickie Lee Jones.

I am not knocking HDMI because it’s clearly great for the surround formats and is very convenient. However, for stereo PCM, I can get much better sound quality with Coaxial Spdif.  

newton_john
faustuss's avatar
faustuss
884 posts
 

@newton_john 

I've been revisiting this subject myself considering purchasing an 85-inch Bravia 3 II flat panel TV for the living room and don't want to deal with the hassle of multi-channel but would like better quality sound than the system built into the TV. The solution I'm considering is an eARC/ARC 4K HDMI audio extractor that contains the necessary processing to down convert multi-channel to 2.1. You can find them configured many different ways depending on the specific kind of connectivity you require and the main considerations are your TV's native refresh rate if you want to use the HDMI passthrough and whether it's output is ARC or eARC as the HDMI is configured. If its only the audio you want, you just connect your ARC or eARC HDMI to the extractor and it will deliver any format to a pair of stereo RCAs. Attached is at least one such model I'm looking at and the prices range from as low as $6 to several hundred.

https://www.bestbuy.com/product/j-tech-digital-4k-60hz-hdmi-earc-arc-audio-extractor-black/J3GW774JJJ

This one will probably work for me as long as I'm only interested in the audio and not the HDMI passthrough since it's video refresh rate doesn't match the TV's 120Hz. There are other brands such as Orei, Insignia, Ethereal, Simplified and I'm sure countless others if you search the WEB.

mahler123
4,100 posts
 

My Bryston DAC3 has several inputs including HDMI.

They all sound the same to me

faustuss's avatar
faustuss
884 posts
 

@newton_john 

Further discovery has revealed to me that if your TV outputs eARC your extractor has to be compatible and you need to use the highest spec HDMI interconnect between the two otherwise it will not decode 7.1 Dolby Atmos or DTS sources properly resulting in inferior sound or none at all. A short run of eARC HDMI cable in not expensive.

 

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