Since I'm building a new system, my first decent stereo setup, I'll go with the Node as my 'all in one' solution. HDMI ARC, subwoofer out (with the hpf option), streamer (with a physical connection to the Datenautobahn!), dac, digital out, two way bluetooth, just about everything I need. I'm happy you're one of the great people in this community recommending this to us. Thank you for your work, Darko team. 🙏
John, I fully agree with you not wanting to wire up your room for nine loudspeakers behind and above you, but an important benefit of multi-channel audio for movies and TV is the center channel because it carries over 90% of the dialogue and having just that third speaker massively improves dialogue intelligibility over relying on the stereo speakers' phantom image. I used stereo speakers with my TV for years, but always had trouble understanding the dialogue, especially at low volumes. For that reason I like to use a 3.1 soundbar with my TV (bad for music, but much better for movies/TV) and have a completely separate stereo system that's good for music.
I switched from a stereo to a 3.0 "surround" setup connected to my TV (HDMI/ARC) and having a dedicated center channel was a welcome upgrade - can recommend!
This is great content.. I chose to turn my back on multi channel when things (and I) got to 7.1.... Instead choosing to chase higher fidelity with stereo underpinned with sub. .... I've never been happier with my sound.... The current crop of streaming/DAC/Pre make a convenient digital hub.
I dove deep into this idea a few years ago and spent months researching the best way to connect my tv to my stereo setup. The best solution I found was the NAD M32 preamp which has the capability of adding a HDMI module with 4 HDMI ports
I always use a toslink connection. At first, many years ago, my M-audio Superdac 2496 was the device to select the sound from the tv or cd-player. This dac I think is 20 years old and still running great. Since last year I use the dac of the cxa81. Also a great dac.
Great video‼️My audio-visual system is my old stereo hifi set up (including the sub) using an AppleTV to stream using AirPlay and my iPad as a wifi server. Or, of course free to air TV. Simple, fab stereo sound. Use an hdmi lead from AppleTV to TV set and phono jacks from amp to external TV input for audio ✌️🌻 Btw a correction Mr D. Netflix dumped the AirPlay applet which is why I dumped Netflix…
Thanks! Good information. Multi-Channel does not work well for urban apartment dwellers in my opinion. It is more a single home owner format. I am blessed to have a theater room and a separate 2-channel room. So I enjoy both worlds. Though I spend most of my alone time in the 2-channel room. When our daughter comes over, we enjoy movies in the theater room.
Thank you John. I love your exploring the TV and Hifi connection. I have 2 setups both with Apple TV running Plex from a NAS along with Apple Music. In the living room I am running that to the HDMI connection on the Klipsch the Fives. The main problem I had with that was the Samsung TV defaulting to the TV speakers but that has been fixed. I have not had the problems with the Klipsch EQ and Bass that you hard but the Fives were very fidely at the start especially the firmware update. I bought these specifically to be able to control volume with the Apple TV remote and that works great. To be able to scroll through Plex and play whatever I like with voice control and a big now playing screen is tremendous! In the bedroom, the set up is from pieces that I had upgraded in the living room. So an 19 inch computer monitor running Apple TV to an HDMI splitter, that gives me an optical out to a pair of Edifier powered speakers. So no volume control but I do have a Soundavo dac that my brother was not using that controls volume. After watching your video I tried using the WiiM mini AirPlay2 to the speakers but this WiiM never worked right and now the optical out is broken so I am getting a very basic Belkin soundwave AirPlay2 to see if that will be more stable. So thank you for that suggestion. All this highlights that there are not many inexpensive speakers or DACs with HDMI inputs. Keep up the great work!❤
I've always got to be different lol. I use a PC as the source for all audio and video. Audio goes from usb dongle dac to old school stereo amp and the TV is just a dumb screen. Wireless keyboard with trackpad controls everything from the sofa. Windows isn't a slick interface for the living room but it's a price worth paying for the ability to access any content on any service ever uploaded to the internet.
Great video. I totally agree with you on all of it. I use optical out. But I will say that with Apple TV the remote does control both content selection and volume control. At least in my system.
I use toslink out, since my amp doesn't have HDMI in. Got a Google TV dongle and programmed the included remote to adjust the volume of my hifi amp. It has replaced both my tv and hifi remotes which is a nice elegant solution for me.
Hey John, I like your pragmatic and geeky approach to HiFi! Very different from many other reviewers who do nothing but throw around nebulous adjectives about sound quality. I have a LG TV connected to my HiFi DAC via toslink. Works great except for a minor annoyance. I sometimes connect the TV to my AirPods Pro via bluetooth for late night watching. When I disconnect AirPods the TV reverts back to the internal speakers instead of toslink. I wish it would just revert to the previous selection.
Thanks John,didn’t realise I could connect my Apple TV to my Cambridge Audio CXA81 wirelessly till you got me thinking.I love stereo for music but use a separately wired soundbar for tv/movies as the dialogue is impossible to follow otherwise.Thx
Thanks John, I use toslink into a my dac (Schiit modi 3+) for when I want to put my tv through the hifi. I’m looking to upgrade the dac (Ares ii or the new Bifrost 2/64), but I’ll be keeping hold of the modi as I believe there are some DACs (Denafrips Ares ii being a notable one) that create a very noticeable lag whilst processing the audio. Obviously this is not an issue with pure audio, but when you want that to be synced with a visual image then it is tricky, hence I’m keeping the Modi for that purpose. Thanks for the great channel, I particularly like the way you focus on the music, as after all that’s what it’s all about. Cheers
I use a Linn Akurate DSM with HDMI 2.0 as the heart of my system. TV is connected via HDMI ARC, because of the apps on the TV. All other HDMI and non HDMI sources are connected to the DSM. The DSM has so many connection options, it is almost a nobrainer as the heart of my system.
When you paire your Bluetooth Headphones directly to the Apple TV Box instead of the TV, you have no Delay and perfect Lip Sync. Tested it with a few Headphones and it worked every time. Just go to Settings/ Remotes and Devices/ Bluetooth…pair your Headphones there and you can enjoy Lip Sync Video Content. Thank‘s John for your funny and enthusiastic Videos, a little illumination even on dark(o) days
I use a node 2i and studio monitors, If your using a phone by Samsung just use their smart view icon in the quick settings panel and start casting which ever app on your phones screen.
Hi, in my system I use the headphone output (3,5 mm) of my Sony TV (KE-48A9 of 2020) with a simple mini jack to RCA cable to the line input of my Pass Labs XP10 pre-amp. Cheap solution and perfect sync. of sound and image of my TV. Reason: My Lumin T2 media player and PL XP-10 do not have a digital input!! (Sixth way!!!)
I just use the RCA Line outs (analog) of my LG OLED (you have to buy an adapter for RCA out for LG) to my preamp or integrated amp. Only if you want an as simple as possible 2-channel from your existing set up..
@@goonerinSP Yeah, especially for BluRays/4k Bliurays, Streaming movies and series it depends, and some UA-cam live gigs uploaded by users.. Pretty happy with the sound.. Although with my older (circa 2014) Sony LED 4k TV, the SQ I think is a tad better..
If my Dac had a Toslink input, maybe that’s the route I would have gone, so I had to make do with my TV’s analog outputs. Besides, it’s the “old school” way.. My Dac only has S/PDIF and USB inputs.
I use a TP Link bluetooth reciever on my solid state Sansui amp and big B n W boxes connected to my Samsung 4K tv works a treat and use sammy remote for tv stations Plex etc cheap option at $40
I like that you said that Toslink is okay because that's what I use but through the World's cheapest DAC. as the NAD C 316BEE amplifier does not have an internal DAC. I watch UA-cam through TV and stereo via Chromcast.
I’ve been down this rabbit hole for years. I too only care about stereo. I’ve never looked into WISA as it’s a little too niche for my liking aka the likelihood of mass adoption is probably pretty low…BUT, I did arrive at a solution that wasn’t mentioned here. USB! I bought a Nvidia Shield whenever the Apple TV ‘updated’ to the ‘temporary audio’ selection for using an airplay receiver. This update totally broke what was once perfect (sending audio over airplay use to not be ‘temporary’) and my AirPlay receiver is no longer supported with software updates. After doing some research I discovered you can use a USB DAC with the Nvidia Shield, and the rest is history. I’m all in on the Apple ecosystem, but flat out, the Shield is sooooo much better than Apple TV in every way AND I can get hi res audio over a cable how God intended it 😂. Hope this helps someone out! P.S. there is an app called AirScreen for the shield that is $20 a year and allows you to AirPlay audio quite well to the Shield. I did this due to no native Apple Music app for the Shield.
Hi John, thanks for another informative video. You mentioned bluetooth as an option. I found using BT connection to my the Frame 2022 very poor. Stream frequently drops an crackles. Got this using both airpods pro gen 2 and sennheiser urbanite. Do you have better experience with such a combination? Thanks, Wim
What I am about to ask is probably heresy, but would this work in the opposite direction? Why would I want to do that I hear you ask? Long story short, I’m finally retired but do not have a huge amount to spend. What I do have, is a new LG 55” OLED TV and the sound from it is not bad and have (so far) resisted the temptation to buy a Sound Bar for it as well. My problem, is that I have a collection of over 400 albums, many singles, cassette tapes and music CD’s, but have not had the means to listen to them for a very long time. Even if I acquired the equipment to play all this media, would it be practical to contemplate having this play out via my TV (with a sound bar if necessary) as ‘good enough’, especially given my living room (very long and narrow) is never going to be an ideal acoustic space anyway?
I’d say get a dac that accepts toslink and use a high quality hdmi cord to carry the sound from your dvd/blu ray player converting it to toslink directly in your tv over to your dac that’s what I’m using and It sounds great with the schiit modi 3 dac going into a preamp
ALL "video" content come from service VOD or BD or video file have audio at 48khz, 48khz is the standard for "video" content. ...so it's bit-perfect. Also youtube lot of content are 48khz.
You constantly see claims that you can't hear vocals well through a 2.1 setup and really need a centre speaker for TV/Movies. I don't understand it - I can hear vocals fine in music? Is there any logic behind this, whats going on?
I’m no expert so I’m not 100% sure about this. But I believe movies are mixed mostly with 5.1 or some kinda of audio that uses center channel for voices. That doesn’t translate very well to 2.0/2.1. Where music is mostly recorded and mixed in stereo. Someone can correct me but I think it’s the reason.
I use optical to my DAC. Disadvantage crappy clock in my TV (A Toshiba TV oh Irony), but TV has crappy compressed sound anyway. I can control volume with either my DAC's remote or Google Home when I'm streaming to the Chromecast. Amp is from 1978 so has no remote control.
By the time you get this you will probably had the stiches removed from your eye. Hope all went well. I have an old -fashioned analogue amp and was wondering how to connect my tv to the amp... hdmi/optical to external dac and dac to line in on amp?
Great video, John. Can one of you tell me, if I choose the Toslink version, how I can get the picture signal (album cover etc.) from my hi-fi system (DAC streamer) to the TV (LG)? Without the Apple TV version Best regards Jörg
I've my modern Samsung Smart TV connected to my pretty old Denon AV receiver via Toslink and it magically let's me control the Denon's volume with the TV's remote. I was surprised by this but it works! 🥳
Can you help me with tech problem. After installing my new TV (Sony XR75X90L) the sound doesn’t work thru my existing surround sound. The sound works for the cable channels, but the no sounds thru streaming service thru surround sound (the sound work thru TV speakers) My receivers is a Yamaha RX-V863 from 2009.
Apple will probably include Hi-Res to a new Apple TV and a new Airplay. No sense they wouldn't if they use it in Apple Music. Just a question of time..
Not a good idea! As other reviewers and as I found out for myself, metallic screen will affect your soundstage and not for the good. ask Paul has a video on this.
On the multichannel question... I also am not a big fan of the setup/complexity either. I have an NAD M10V2 on order and my understanding is that you could add two wireless rear speakers for surround sound. Yes it wouldn't have a true center channel but it would have a surround effect without all of the wiring complexity. Has anyone tried it?
My limit is at a 5.1 system.. And that seems to be the standard in the industry since Atmos(and all the others systems I dont about know.. like you) movies pretty much always have a 5.1 compatibility track along with all the Atmos-stuff.. So I dont need to bother with all the atmos and what not eithet
What about using a home theater receiver for music? They have HDMI ARC, mains high pass, room correction etc... Would you consider reviewing one of those? If not why? Thanks and keep up the great videos 👍👍
My experience is that there are not many hi-fi quality home theatre receivers. But that begs the question "Why are there no high quality, reasonably priced home theatre receivers?" A person can buy a Chinese $200 portable hi-fi music player, hook it to a great sounding $99 Chinese hi-fi amp and then follow that up to good headphones or decent speakers. For just a few hundred dollars. But God forbid a video signal enters the situation. Then a person has to break the bank and buy a $2000+ home theatre receiver to get both hi-fi audio and 4k output. How can the electronic components for video alone cost so much? If one is just dealing with audio, spending hundreds of dollars will do. Add video to the mix and cheap Chi-fi solutions disappear and one has to spend thousands and thousands. I don't get it. Am I missing something? What am I missing?
I've bought one of these because my smart tv has only HDMI ARC output for the audio but my my amplifier hasn't got an HDMI input port. The quality of the audio is non very good though...
This is perfect, thank you! My partner has a high-end stereo and a TV and they're not connected. We have an external Roku Streambar and I'm always like 'why don't we connect the TV to the stereo' 😂
This works great! I have a Sony that mutes the TV's speakers when headphone jack to powered loudspeakers are plugged in. Plus you can use the TV remote to adjust the volume to the powered loudspeakers.
Great vid as always! I prefer watching tv through my hi-fi stereo set up too, for the same reasons as you stated. Even so, I think there a lot of people, including myself, that would like to have the capability of running a centre channel speaker for movie watching, from a ‘stereo’ amp rather than an AVR with multi-channel capability, which I think can compromise the quality and output of sound…. I think audio companies are missing a trick. What are your thoughts….? Thanks
Or…. I have a topping Dac connected to the USB socket on the TV (Sony With Google TV OS). Automatically mutes the TV speakers and does full bit rate (via Amazon Music TV app for example). Try it.
Hello there! I have thought to do that very same route. I have an amp and a Phillips TV (Android TV) + Chromecast with Google TV, and I saw a Topping Dac tempted to buy it, first thinking to use the optical cable or looking to connect it directly by USB to the TV, but I doubted that work, I haven't found a very clear answer on the internet. How did you manage to make it work?, and it recognizes more than 48kh for example?.
I’ve got a NAD M10 connected to my LG OLED via HDMI Arc. Pretty flakey most of the time. Was just as easy to connect via toslink and use a learning smart remote to control everything
The most professional, non biased, factual and genuinely informative audiophile content, even the ad break’s are marked. Wish other channels were this good.
I listen to Amazon Music using my Firestick, I like to see the album art and lyrics etc on screen, I input the Firesticks hdmi into a hdmi->optical extractor, the extractor has hdmi output to the TV, the optical toslink can go to the amplifier (in my set up it goes via an external dac then analogue to the amp), this method gets me 24bit/192khz into the amp. Great quality.
My Samsung TV, sending audio via Toslink, to a $20 prozor DAC sounds surprisingly good. My Schiit Bifrost 2 had too much delay with lip sync, so for this application the $20 DAC wins the day. You don’t need to spend a lot to improve your TV sound! (The rest of that chain is a Rotel A11 tribute, with Wharfedale Denton 85th and SVS 3000 micro sub)
There are times, just every now and then, when I do wanna just scrap all that I have invested in multichannel and go back to simple stereo for tv and movie viewing. Especially in the family room. No more catching up to the latest standards, no more sneaking cables over mantles or behind couches, less equipment clutter, and just less fuss overall. However, those moments fade pretty quickly and once set up, living with multi channel in the main room is fine. I do like movies almost as much as music and since I’m not a reviewer and thus not changing out equipment all the time, the burden of living with a multi channel is all on the front end. Once set up, operation and use is easy and the rewards the extra speakers bring is worth it to me.
I guess I'm going to be that guy who says you are missing out on multichannel music, though I understand entirely your reasons. Starting with SACD and moving on to DVD-Audio, then Blu-ray Audio and now Dolby Atmos on Blu-ray I have loved multichannel mixes of some of my favourite albums over the years. And Dolby Atmos on Blu-ray is astonishing. Still niche but I'm hoping this time it will take off. I do find Atmos on streaming disappointing so far, however.
I don't have atmos height speakers installed but the mix down to 7.1 on the only album I know of, "Point" Yello, SACD, Atmos is really fun to listen to with the sound/sound stage moving around the room. Any others you recommend?
My Samsung Frame (bought a few month ago) does not have the extensive list of options for Sound Settings as yours does. Why is that? Also the TV doesn't recognise when my HDMI to RCA converter is connected to the HDMI eARC socket in the tv's top box, even having set HDMI to Auto. Why is that?
I'm the same not interested in home cinema just music out of stereo speakers Don't even have my tv connected to my hifi In saying that I do love how you have your tv connected to show what's playing Brilliant
Mr. Darko, My apologies if I somehow missed this in the video: On the back of my HDTV is the orange Digital Coax output. I simply select the output on my tv to Digital Coax Out, and run the coax cable to my DAC -- in this case a Schiit Modi II. Works like a charm -- plus it can play higher quality audio streams.
I wish google released a new model of the chrome cast audio device since google current chrome cast audio device works with any audio source up to 24 bit 96khz over a wifi connection instead of bluetooth.
I want to do it the other way. How do you connect your streamer so the albums art work show up on your TV, but you still get the hi-res audio to come out of your speakers. Right now I use an old 2011 Apple mini with all my music on it running Jriver media center and tidal, which has an HDMI output, so it displays my album art on the TV. But I’m thinking of getting rid of the Apple Mini, and get an Eversolo with a SSD, but how do I get my Album art on the TV with that?
I Use toslink from my 10 year old Samsung plasma into my 20 year old sony 5.1 receiver and ENJOY 5.1 multi Channel soundtrack movies DTS. Or dolby digital are both supported via toslink
Wifi on 2.4 and 5GHz is basically a package system. If you are reading data and transferring files you don't notice that it glitches and fixes itself. In audio it drops the signal. WiSA is 5GHz but on different frequency to Wi-fi, has less interference but more limited range (works in a room not multi-room. HDMI eARC carries the highest digital rate needed for 8K video and beyond. The audio part is less demanding. If you have an audio system with HDMI ARC they don't all control or transmit to surround. There are HDMI de-bedders to 8 channel line level analogue and also to stereo Coaxial and Toslink (PCM stereo or compressed 5.1). I have not found a way of getting the digital sound to separate Toslink or Coaxial output to feed 6 speakers or in pairs front l/r, centre/sub, rear l/r. I have speakers with coaxial input, a decent DAC in them but have to use analogue inputs.
Bluesound Powernode or Edge are excellent. I have the Bluesound Node 2i which sadly doesn’t have HDMI but I think the new Node does but the Node needs an amplifier but is slightly cheaper. Then there is the new Sonos Amp which is very good also. All of the above have Apple Airplay.
Thanks for the video. But you talk about sending audio from TV to hifi, but you don't talk about the other way you use your TV with your hifi - displaying album art (or lyrics). How do you do that?
Well that would come from your PC or external Chromecast or mi box etc that is connected to the tv or inbuilt smart tv app. That will display some album art , track listing depending on the app. I have a PC with HDMI out and that connects to my screen so I can display anything. The USB sends the audio to the dac.
Bluray is the only thing that plays poorly for me, soundbars have modes, but these nice systems just change treble and bass so when the dialogue is much quieter than the effects, i cant use my speakers :(
I'm with you on this one. My take is that you can have a great stereo system for music, and it'll usually do an almost-as-great job with movies as well (especially the dialogue and bassy explosions) - but in most cases, in my experience at least, when playing music over even a "pretty good" home cinema setup, the music usually sounds terrible and really over-processed, and it seems to take a lot of tweaking just to get a less terrible sound out of it. I'm done chasing the evolving audio standards of the video world, to the point that I just bought a TCL TV with a built-in "Harmon/Kardon" sound bar and called it a day since currently my TV and stereo are on opposite sides of my lounge. Maybe I'll invest in a good value soundbar for the bedroom TV because its built in speakers are the usual average junk you find on most TV's, but that's about as far as I'm willing to invest in it right now.
I'm using a logitech Bluetooth, this was the only option for me as I have a late 80's technics amp. It doesn't have delay it works perfectly with the image, and also has volume control. It transformed my audio setup. The technics su-v 500 still holds up good
Hi @Darko Audio, I would like to hear what you think about the German Budget Brand Teufel. I never heard of it before but it seems to be more up and coming where I'm from. And their combo packs just seem to be, too good to be true, considering the price level.
i'm primarily a vinyl and tube amp guy but wanted to use my klipsch forte iv's with my tv. figured it'd be kind of a waste to have them sitting there idly while using the tv's poor internal speakers or a sound bar. i picked up a bluesound node, connected it to my integrated amp, and used the eARC connection between the node and my tv. i also used the node for occasional music streaming via airplay from my macbook to at least take advantage of the better sample rate over bluetooth. this mostly worked fine, but occasionally the audio would frustratingly drop while using eARC and i'd have to toggle the audio output on my tv to fix it. not sure if it was my hisense tv or the node causing the problem, but i eventually got annoyed with it and decided it also wasn't worth burning my tubes watching tv, so i recently got a pioneer vsx-lx305 home theater receiver and a beresford tc-7210 switch. now i have my speakers connected to the output of the switch, and my home theater receiver and 2 channel tube amp connected to both inputs, and i can switch between them as needed. not the most elegant solution, but the pioneer sounds surprisingly good and gives me access to some useful features even just for 2 channel use.
Ok John. Good video. Now do one for connecting a TV in the other direction. IE for rich visuals of now playing content, album art, visuals to accompany music such as slideshows and visualisers. I have options for all of the above, but it took some figuring out and a video like this would have been very useful… Requirements: Smart TV Apple TV Roon Roon remote AppleTV app Radio Paradise Plex M1 Mac Mini connected via HDMI The holy grail for me is a decent visualiser with no lag, like the one on PlexAmp but for a TV.
Since I'm building a new system, my first decent stereo setup, I'll go with the Node as my 'all in one' solution.
HDMI ARC, subwoofer out (with the hpf option), streamer (with a physical connection to the Datenautobahn!), dac, digital out, two way bluetooth, just about everything I need.
I'm happy you're one of the great people in this community recommending this to us.
Thank you for your work, Darko team. 🙏
John, I fully agree with you not wanting to wire up your room for nine loudspeakers behind and above you, but an important benefit of multi-channel audio for movies and TV is the center channel because it carries over 90% of the dialogue and having just that third speaker massively improves dialogue intelligibility over relying on the stereo speakers' phantom image. I used stereo speakers with my TV for years, but always had trouble understanding the dialogue, especially at low volumes. For that reason I like to use a 3.1 soundbar with my TV (bad for music, but much better for movies/TV) and have a completely separate stereo system that's good for music.
I switched from a stereo to a 3.0 "surround" setup connected to my TV (HDMI/ARC) and having a dedicated center channel was a welcome upgrade - can recommend!
This is great content..
I chose to turn my back on multi channel when things (and I) got to 7.1.... Instead choosing to chase higher fidelity with stereo underpinned with sub.
.... I've never been happier with my sound.... The current crop of streaming/DAC/Pre make a convenient digital hub.
I dove deep into this idea a few years ago and spent months researching the best way to connect my tv to my stereo setup. The best solution I found was the NAD M32 preamp which has the capability of adding a HDMI module with 4 HDMI ports
6:50 Camera conspiracies in the house hahah
I always use a toslink connection. At first, many years ago, my M-audio Superdac 2496 was the device to select the sound from the tv or cd-player.
This dac I think is 20 years old and still running great. Since last year I use the dac of the cxa81. Also a great dac.
Finally the video I’ve been waiting for. Thank you buddy. You and your team are the best.
Great video‼️My audio-visual system is my old stereo hifi set up (including the sub) using an AppleTV to stream using AirPlay and my iPad as a wifi server. Or, of course free to air TV. Simple, fab stereo sound. Use an hdmi lead from AppleTV to TV set and phono jacks from amp to external TV input for audio ✌️🌻
Btw a correction Mr D. Netflix dumped the AirPlay applet which is why I dumped Netflix…
Completely agree.. two ears… two speakers ☺️
Thanks! Good information. Multi-Channel does not work well for urban apartment dwellers in my opinion. It is more a single home owner format. I am blessed to have a theater room and a separate 2-channel room. So I enjoy both worlds. Though I spend most of my alone time in the 2-channel room. When our daughter comes over, we enjoy movies in the theater room.
Thank you John. I love your exploring the TV and Hifi connection. I have 2 setups both with Apple TV running Plex from a NAS along with Apple Music. In the living room I am running that to the HDMI connection on the Klipsch the Fives. The main problem I had with that was the Samsung TV defaulting to the TV speakers but that has been fixed. I have not had the problems with the Klipsch EQ and Bass that you hard but the Fives were very fidely at the start especially the firmware update. I bought these specifically to be able to control volume with the Apple TV remote and that works great. To be able to scroll through Plex and play whatever I like with voice control and a big now playing screen is tremendous! In the bedroom, the set up is from pieces that I had upgraded in the living room. So an 19 inch computer monitor running Apple TV to an HDMI splitter, that gives me an optical out to a pair of Edifier powered speakers. So no volume control but I do have a Soundavo dac that my brother was not using that controls volume. After watching your video I tried using the WiiM mini AirPlay2 to the speakers but this WiiM never worked right and now the optical out is broken so I am getting a very basic Belkin soundwave AirPlay2 to see if that will be more stable. So thank you for that suggestion. All this highlights that there are not many inexpensive speakers or DACs with HDMI inputs. Keep up the great work!❤
I've always got to be different lol. I use a PC as the source for all audio and video. Audio goes from usb dongle dac to old school stereo amp and the TV is just a dumb screen. Wireless keyboard with trackpad controls everything from the sofa. Windows isn't a slick interface for the living room but it's a price worth paying for the ability to access any content on any service ever uploaded to the internet.
Great video. I totally agree with you on all of it. I use optical out. But I will say that with Apple TV the remote does control both content selection and volume control. At least in my system.
I use toslink out, since my amp doesn't have HDMI in. Got a Google TV dongle and programmed the included remote to adjust the volume of my hifi amp. It has replaced both my tv and hifi remotes which is a nice elegant solution for me.
Hey John, I like your pragmatic and geeky approach to HiFi! Very different from many other reviewers who do nothing but throw around nebulous adjectives about sound quality. I have a LG TV connected to my HiFi DAC via toslink. Works great except for a minor annoyance. I sometimes connect the TV to my AirPods Pro via bluetooth for late night watching. When I disconnect AirPods the TV reverts back to the internal speakers instead of toslink. I wish it would just revert to the previous selection.
Thanks John,didn’t realise I could connect my Apple TV to my Cambridge Audio CXA81 wirelessly till you got me thinking.I love stereo for music but use a separately wired soundbar for tv/movies as the dialogue is impossible to follow otherwise.Thx
Thanks for this content as always, love your shows
You really need to check out the nvidia sheild. It is the one for all streaming device. USB Dacs work flawlessley with the shield.
Thanks John,
I use toslink into a my dac (Schiit modi 3+) for when I want to put my tv through the hifi.
I’m looking to upgrade the dac (Ares ii or the new Bifrost 2/64), but I’ll be keeping hold of the modi as I believe there are some DACs (Denafrips Ares ii being a notable one) that create a very noticeable lag whilst processing the audio. Obviously this is not an issue with pure audio, but when you want that to be synced with a visual image then it is tricky, hence I’m keeping the Modi for that purpose.
Thanks for the great channel, I particularly like the way you focus on the music, as after all that’s what it’s all about.
Cheers
I use a Linn Akurate DSM with HDMI 2.0 as the heart of my system.
TV is connected via HDMI ARC, because of the apps on the TV.
All other HDMI and non HDMI sources are connected to the DSM.
The DSM has so many connection options, it is almost a nobrainer as the heart of my system.
This video fits my needs perfectly.👍
When you paire your Bluetooth Headphones directly to the Apple TV Box instead of the TV, you have no Delay and perfect Lip Sync. Tested it with a few Headphones and it worked every time. Just go to Settings/ Remotes and Devices/ Bluetooth…pair your Headphones there and you can enjoy Lip Sync Video Content. Thank‘s John for your funny and enthusiastic Videos, a little illumination even on dark(o) days
No tv for me but i always enjoy your videos.
Another advantage nowadays is that we can use the streamer on modern TVs :)
I use a Chinese HDMI ARC audio extractor. With a linear power supply and spdif 'purifier' it plays quite well 😅
I use a node 2i and studio monitors, If your using a phone by Samsung just use their smart view icon in the quick settings panel and start casting which ever app on your phones screen.
Thank you!
Hi, in my system I use the headphone output (3,5 mm) of my Sony TV (KE-48A9 of 2020) with a simple mini jack to RCA cable to the line input of my Pass Labs XP10 pre-amp. Cheap solution and perfect sync. of sound and image of my TV. Reason: My Lumin T2 media player and PL XP-10 do not have a digital input!! (Sixth way!!!)
I had this working with my Samsung TV and NAD M10 but it stopped working with a nad upgrade
I just use the RCA Line outs (analog) of my LG OLED (you have to buy an adapter for RCA out for LG) to my preamp or integrated amp. Only if you want an as simple as possible 2-channel from your existing set up..
And how is it? Are you happy with the sound?
@@goonerinSP Yeah, especially for BluRays/4k Bliurays, Streaming movies and series it depends, and some UA-cam live gigs uploaded by users.. Pretty happy with the sound.. Although with my older (circa 2014) Sony LED 4k TV, the SQ I think is a tad better..
If my Dac had a Toslink input, maybe that’s the route I would have gone, so I had to make do with my TV’s analog outputs. Besides, it’s the “old school” way.. My Dac only has S/PDIF and USB inputs.
If you use the HDMI earc output of the TV, do you also need the HDMI eArc of the soundbar? Or the HDMI arc/HDMI will suffice on the soundbar?
They both need eArc
I use a TP Link bluetooth reciever on my solid state Sansui amp and big B n W boxes connected to my Samsung 4K tv works a treat and use sammy remote for tv stations Plex etc cheap option at $40
Great and useful video.
Is the digital audio Pass-Through mode on TVs equal or kind of like 'Bit-Perfect?
Alright!!! "Camera Conspiracies". One of the most entertaining camera channels on UA-cam!!
I like that you said that Toslink is okay because that's what I use but through the World's cheapest DAC. as the NAD C 316BEE amplifier does not have an internal DAC. I watch UA-cam through TV and stereo via Chromcast.
Clear as a bell..thanks
I’ve been down this rabbit hole for years. I too only care about stereo. I’ve never looked into WISA as it’s a little too niche for my liking aka the likelihood of mass adoption is probably pretty low…BUT, I did arrive at a solution that wasn’t mentioned here. USB! I bought a Nvidia Shield whenever the Apple TV ‘updated’ to the ‘temporary audio’ selection for using an airplay receiver. This update totally broke what was once perfect (sending audio over airplay use to not be ‘temporary’) and my AirPlay receiver is no longer supported with software updates. After doing some research I discovered you can use a USB DAC with the Nvidia Shield, and the rest is history. I’m all in on the Apple ecosystem, but flat out, the Shield is sooooo much better than Apple TV in every way AND I can get hi res audio over a cable how God intended it 😂. Hope this helps someone out!
P.S. there is an app called AirScreen for the shield that is $20 a year and allows you to AirPlay audio quite well to the Shield. I did this due to no native Apple Music app for the Shield.
Hi John, thanks for another informative video.
You mentioned bluetooth as an option. I found using BT connection to my the Frame 2022 very poor. Stream frequently drops an crackles.
Got this using both airpods pro gen 2 and sennheiser urbanite.
Do you have better experience with such a combination?
Thanks, Wim
What I am about to ask is probably heresy, but would this work in the opposite direction? Why would I want to do that I hear you ask? Long story short, I’m finally retired but do not have a huge amount to spend. What I do have, is a new LG 55” OLED TV and the sound from it is not bad and have (so far) resisted the temptation to buy a Sound Bar for it as well. My problem, is that I have a collection of over 400 albums, many singles, cassette tapes and music CD’s, but have not had the means to listen to them for a very long time. Even if I acquired the equipment to play all this media, would it be practical to contemplate having this play out via my TV (with a sound bar if necessary) as ‘good enough’, especially given my living room (very long and narrow) is never going to be an ideal acoustic space anyway?
I’d say get a dac that accepts toslink and use a high quality hdmi cord to carry the sound from your dvd/blu ray player converting it to toslink directly in your tv over to your dac that’s what I’m using and It sounds great with the schiit modi 3 dac going into a preamp
ALL "video" content come from service VOD or BD or video file have audio at 48khz, 48khz is the standard for "video" content. ...so it's bit-perfect. Also youtube lot of content are 48khz.
You constantly see claims that you can't hear vocals well through a 2.1 setup and really need a centre speaker for TV/Movies. I don't understand it - I can hear vocals fine in music? Is there any logic behind this, whats going on?
I’m no expert so I’m not 100% sure about this. But I believe movies are mixed mostly with 5.1 or some kinda of audio that uses center channel for voices. That doesn’t translate very well to 2.0/2.1.
Where music is mostly recorded and mixed in stereo.
Someone can correct me but I think it’s the reason.
🤗👍 HERE JOHN TO SUPPORT YOUR CHANNEL 💚💚💚
Hi John.was listening to a cd last night that I think will be up your ally.Four80East..."Straight Round".Thought about you when it was playing.👍
What do you think about DSD audio? Specially from PS audio CD.
I use optical to my DAC. Disadvantage crappy clock in my TV (A Toshiba TV oh Irony), but TV has crappy compressed sound anyway. I can control volume with either my DAC's remote or Google Home when I'm streaming to the Chromecast. Amp is from 1978 so has no remote control.
CEC is a feature of HDMI not HDMI eARC…
By the time you get this you will probably had the stiches removed from your eye. Hope all went well. I have an old -fashioned analogue amp and was wondering how to connect my tv to the amp...
hdmi/optical to external dac and dac to line in on amp?
Great video, John. Can one of you tell me, if I choose the Toslink version, how I can get the picture signal (album cover etc.) from my hi-fi system (DAC streamer) to the TV (LG)? Without the Apple TV version
Best regards
Jörg
No picture with Toslink, only audio. Sorry.
I've my modern Samsung Smart TV connected to my pretty old Denon AV receiver via Toslink and it magically let's me control the Denon's volume with the TV's remote. I was surprised by this but it works! 🥳
Which Receiver and TV do you have?
@@Berlinerkind123 I have a Samsung TU8079 and a Denon AVR-1905
You are in heaven
Is the sound good from the tv is the built in amplifier of the tv any good
Can you help me with tech problem.
After installing my new TV (Sony XR75X90L) the sound doesn’t work thru my existing surround sound.
The sound works for the cable channels, but the no sounds thru streaming service thru surround sound (the sound work thru TV speakers)
My receivers is a Yamaha RX-V863 from 2009.
Might be DRM. What are you using to output the signal from the TV to your receiver?
Coaxial?
Another option - plug an AudioQuest DragonFly into one of the USB ports of an Nvidia Shield.
2:27 in my setup with toslink I can control my HIFI with tv remote...
Apple will probably include Hi-Res to a new Apple TV and a new Airplay. No sense they wouldn't if they use it in Apple Music. Just a question of time..
Not a good idea! As other reviewers and as I found out for myself, metallic screen will affect your soundstage and not for the good. ask Paul has a video on this.
You are cursed with good ears! One question though, why does a TV do this, when the wall behind it doesn’t? What’s going on?
On the multichannel question... I also am not a big fan of the setup/complexity either. I have an NAD M10V2 on order and my understanding is that you could add two wireless rear speakers for surround sound. Yes it wouldn't have a true center channel but it would have a surround effect without all of the wiring complexity. Has anyone tried it?
My limit is at a 5.1 system.. And that seems to be the standard in the industry since Atmos(and all the others systems I dont about know.. like you) movies pretty much always have a 5.1 compatibility track along with all the Atmos-stuff.. So I dont need to bother with all the atmos and what not eithet
I use a 4 year old TV connected with Toslink to a 20 year ago receiver (Kenwood) outputting to 40 year old wired speakers (JBL). Works for me.
What about using a home theater receiver for music? They have HDMI ARC, mains high pass, room correction etc... Would you consider reviewing one of those? If not why? Thanks and keep up the great videos 👍👍
My experience is that there are not many hi-fi quality home theatre receivers. But that begs the question "Why are there no high quality, reasonably priced home theatre receivers?" A person can buy a Chinese $200 portable hi-fi music player, hook it to a great sounding $99 Chinese hi-fi amp and then follow that up to good headphones or decent speakers. For just a few hundred dollars. But God forbid a video signal enters the situation. Then a person has to break the bank and buy a $2000+ home theatre receiver to get both hi-fi audio and 4k output. How can the electronic components for video alone cost so much? If one is just dealing with audio, spending hundreds of dollars will do. Add video to the mix and cheap Chi-fi solutions disappear and one has to spend thousands and thousands. I don't get it. Am I missing something? What am I missing?
@@esperago I assume because all the Dolby, Atmos, DTS stuff costs money for the licence.
Such a great idea... help out the beginner. Thank you.
Stereo is the best of both worlds for me and I consider myself a music and movie guy.
HDMI Arc audio extractor as other way to connect HDMI Arc if your system do not have HDMI Arc input by default.
I've bought one of these because my smart tv has only HDMI ARC output for the audio but my my amplifier hasn't got an HDMI input port. The quality of the audio is non very good though...
This is perfect, thank you! My partner has a high-end stereo and a TV and they're not connected. We have an external Roku Streambar and I'm always like 'why don't we connect the TV to the stereo' 😂
Movie to stereo is good enough for me too. Don't want too many wire and speaker. Ugly.
I just conect my tv using the headphone output to the RCA's of my amp like a hobo
This works great! I have a Sony that mutes the TV's speakers when headphone jack to powered loudspeakers are plugged in. Plus you can use the TV remote to adjust the volume to the powered loudspeakers.
Great vid as always! I prefer watching tv through my hi-fi stereo set up too, for the same reasons as you stated. Even so, I think there a lot of people, including myself, that would like to have the capability of running a centre channel speaker for movie watching, from a ‘stereo’ amp rather than an AVR with multi-channel capability, which I think can compromise the quality and output of sound….
I think audio companies are missing a trick. What are your thoughts….?
Thanks
Or…. I have a topping Dac connected to the USB socket on the TV (Sony With Google TV OS). Automatically mutes the TV speakers and does full bit rate (via Amazon Music TV app for example). Try it.
Hello there! I have thought to do that very same route. I have an amp and a Phillips TV (Android TV) + Chromecast with Google TV, and I saw a Topping Dac tempted to buy it, first thinking to use the optical cable or looking to connect it directly by USB to the TV, but I doubted that work, I haven't found a very clear answer on the internet.
How did you manage to make it work?, and it recognizes more than 48kh for example?.
I’ve got a NAD M10 connected to my LG OLED via HDMI Arc. Pretty flakey most of the time. Was just as easy to connect via toslink and use a learning smart remote to control everything
How far can you run a ARC HDMI cable ?
3.1 channel is my sweet spot for tv/movies, the center channel for dialogue makes a big difference
@@kwilj true, I have a 3.0 with big 3-ways
The most professional, non biased, factual and genuinely informative audiophile content, even the ad break’s are marked. Wish other channels were this good.
I listen to Amazon Music using my Firestick, I like to see the album art and lyrics etc on screen, I input the Firesticks hdmi into a hdmi->optical extractor, the extractor has hdmi output to the TV, the optical toslink can go to the amplifier (in my set up it goes via an external dac then analogue to the amp), this method gets me 24bit/192khz into the amp. Great quality.
My Samsung TV, sending audio via Toslink, to a $20 prozor DAC sounds surprisingly good.
My Schiit Bifrost 2 had too much delay with lip sync, so for this application the $20 DAC wins the day. You don’t need to spend a lot to improve your TV sound!
(The rest of that chain is a Rotel A11 tribute, with Wharfedale Denton 85th and SVS 3000 micro sub)
There are times, just every now and then, when I do wanna just scrap all that I have invested in multichannel and go back to simple stereo for tv and movie viewing. Especially in the family room. No more catching up to the latest standards, no more sneaking cables over mantles or behind couches, less equipment clutter, and just less fuss overall. However, those moments fade pretty quickly and once set up, living with multi channel in the main room is fine.
I do like movies almost as much as music and since I’m not a reviewer and thus not changing out equipment all the time, the burden of living with a multi channel is all on the front end. Once set up, operation and use is easy and the rewards the extra speakers bring is worth it to me.
All comments are moderated by a third party.
I guess I'm going to be that guy who says you are missing out on multichannel music, though I understand entirely your reasons. Starting with SACD and moving on to DVD-Audio, then Blu-ray Audio and now Dolby Atmos on Blu-ray I have loved multichannel mixes of some of my favourite albums over the years. And Dolby Atmos on Blu-ray is astonishing. Still niche but I'm hoping this time it will take off.
I do find Atmos on streaming disappointing so far, however.
I don't have atmos height speakers installed but the mix down to 7.1 on the only album I know of, "Point" Yello, SACD, Atmos is really fun to listen to with the sound/sound stage moving around the room. Any others you recommend?
the films just aren't good enough to warrant the effort. There are some but not enough.
My Samsung Frame (bought a few month ago) does not have the extensive list of options for Sound Settings as yours does. Why is that? Also the TV doesn't recognise when my HDMI to RCA converter is connected to the HDMI eARC socket in the tv's top box, even having set HDMI to Auto. Why is that?
I'm the same not interested in home cinema just music out of stereo speakers
Don't even have my tv connected to my hifi
In saying that I do love how you have your tv connected to show what's playing
Brilliant
Mr. Darko,
My apologies if I somehow missed this in the video: On the back of my HDTV is the orange Digital Coax output. I simply select the output on my tv to Digital Coax Out, and run the coax cable to my DAC -- in this case a Schiit Modi II. Works like a charm -- plus it can play higher quality audio streams.
This is a good point for those with that option.
Eyyyy, Chris Gore on the TV, yo.
I wish google released a new model of the chrome cast audio device since google current chrome cast audio device works with any audio source up to 24 bit 96khz over a wifi connection instead of bluetooth.
I want to do it the other way. How do you connect your streamer so the albums art work show up on your TV, but you still get the hi-res audio to come out of your speakers. Right now I use an old 2011 Apple mini with all my music on it running Jriver media center and tidal, which has an HDMI output, so it displays my album art on the TV. But I’m thinking of getting rid of the Apple Mini, and get an Eversolo with a SSD, but how do I get my Album art on the TV with that?
If you find an answer let me know, this bloke always has the album art work in his YT videos and looks cool.
I Use toslink from my 10 year old Samsung plasma into my 20 year old sony 5.1 receiver and ENJOY 5.1 multi Channel soundtrack movies DTS. Or dolby digital are both supported via toslink
Listen to the new Brian Eno album in Atmos, it’s amazing!
so what about Wifi?2.4gh/5gh.NFC?....upscaling hdmi cable?.......upscaling blue--ray players......2.0 to 2.1HDMI speeds?........
Wifi on 2.4 and 5GHz is basically a package system. If you are reading data and transferring files you don't notice that it glitches and fixes itself. In audio it drops the signal. WiSA is 5GHz but on different frequency to Wi-fi, has less interference but more limited range (works in a room not multi-room. HDMI eARC carries the highest digital rate needed for 8K video and beyond. The audio part is less demanding.
If you have an audio system with HDMI ARC they don't all control or transmit to surround. There are HDMI de-bedders to 8 channel line level analogue and also to stereo Coaxial and Toslink (PCM stereo or compressed 5.1). I have not found a way of getting the digital sound to separate Toslink or Coaxial output to feed 6 speakers or in pairs front l/r, centre/sub, rear l/r. I have speakers with coaxial input, a decent DAC in them but have to use analogue inputs.
Could you please recommend a stereo amp with HDMI arc to connect to TV?
That’s become a more and more popular choice
Bluesound Powernode or Edge are excellent. I have the Bluesound Node 2i which sadly doesn’t have HDMI but I think the new Node does but the Node needs an amplifier but is slightly cheaper.
Then there is the new Sonos Amp which is very good also.
All of the above have Apple Airplay.
I get picture and sound sync. Issues using the digital out, toslink.
Thanks for the video. But you talk about sending audio from TV to hifi, but you don't talk about the other way you use your TV with your hifi - displaying album art (or lyrics). How do you do that?
Well that would come from your PC or external Chromecast or mi box etc that is connected to the tv or inbuilt smart tv app. That will display some album art , track listing depending on the app. I have a PC with HDMI out and that connects to my screen so I can display anything. The USB sends the audio to the dac.
Bluray is the only thing that plays poorly for me, soundbars have modes, but these nice systems just change treble and bass so when the dialogue is much quieter than the effects, i cant use my speakers :(
I'm with you on this one.
My take is that you can have a great stereo system for music, and it'll usually do an almost-as-great job with movies as well (especially the dialogue and bassy explosions) - but in most cases, in my experience at least, when playing music over even a "pretty good" home cinema setup, the music usually sounds terrible and really over-processed, and it seems to take a lot of tweaking just to get a less terrible sound out of it.
I'm done chasing the evolving audio standards of the video world, to the point that I just bought a TCL TV with a built-in "Harmon/Kardon" sound bar and called it a day since currently my TV and stereo are on opposite sides of my lounge.
Maybe I'll invest in a good value soundbar for the bedroom TV because its built in speakers are the usual average junk you find on most TV's, but that's about as far as I'm willing to invest in it right now.
Perhaps your most useful video ever. Thank you
I'm using a logitech Bluetooth, this was the only option for me as I have a late 80's technics amp. It doesn't have delay it works perfectly with the image, and also has volume control. It transformed my audio setup. The technics su-v 500 still holds up good
Hi @Darko Audio, I would like to hear what you think about the German Budget Brand Teufel. I never heard of it before but it seems to be more up and coming where I'm from. And their combo packs just seem to be, too good to be true, considering the price level.
Old school here, RCA out from the TV into my Rotel RA03
i'm primarily a vinyl and tube amp guy but wanted to use my klipsch forte iv's with my tv. figured it'd be kind of a waste to have them sitting there idly while using the tv's poor internal speakers or a sound bar.
i picked up a bluesound node, connected it to my integrated amp, and used the eARC connection between the node and my tv. i also used the node for occasional music streaming via airplay from my macbook to at least take advantage of the better sample rate over bluetooth.
this mostly worked fine, but occasionally the audio would frustratingly drop while using eARC and i'd have to toggle the audio output on my tv to fix it. not sure if it was my hisense tv or the node causing the problem, but i eventually got annoyed with it and decided it also wasn't worth burning my tubes watching tv, so i recently got a pioneer vsx-lx305 home theater receiver and a beresford tc-7210 switch.
now i have my speakers connected to the output of the switch, and my home theater receiver and 2 channel tube amp connected to both inputs, and i can switch between them as needed. not the most elegant solution, but the pioneer sounds surprisingly good and gives me access to some useful features even just for 2 channel use.
Ok John. Good video. Now do one for connecting a TV in the other direction. IE for rich visuals of now playing content, album art, visuals to accompany music such as slideshows and visualisers. I have options for all of the above, but it took some figuring out and a video like this would have been very useful…
Requirements:
Smart TV
Apple TV
Roon
Roon remote AppleTV app
Radio Paradise
Plex
M1 Mac Mini connected via HDMI
The holy grail for me is a decent visualiser with no lag, like the one on PlexAmp but for a TV.