Forum Discussion
Does audio out to amp have to be optical?
If I use HDMI direct to my TV, I get video and audio. If I use HDMI into my amp and then out from amp to TV, I only get video, but no audio, so I have to use an optical cable. That works fine, but I was trying to clean up my wires and saw that audio is not actually better with optical, so why can't I get audio via HDMI when I run it through the amp?
10 Replies
Okay, so finally got around to trying brand new HDMI cables and then pulled the plug on the optical cable and sound played just fine! So the assertion by Telus support that the only way to get audio was through optical, turns out to be completely false. Not sure why my older HDMI would not work for sound though. Odd.
Not too surprised. I just had a usb to usb 'c' cord that would not charge a device even though it charged others and provided data transfer.
- FuzzyLogic
Community Power User
Check if one of your receiver HDMI ports is labelled as ARC or eARC. This will pass audio through to your TV and should be used for the connection between your receiver and TV. More here:
HDMI ARC and HDMI eARC: everything you need to know | What Hi-Fi? (whathifi.com)
Not sure if my mirror relay is the same as your amp input from HDMI. I still think inserting an optical connection triggers a switch where the sound is sent. Since you did that, removing it may not have closed the switch back to HDMI. Try a power reboot when nothing is plugged into optical. Or plug in the HDMI direct to the TV to see if it is the amp.
I have a mirror relay to second TV setup and a HDMI splitter and sound is carried to both TV locations from HDMI.
Does not make sense that you must use optical audio. But do not have any plugged in as I suspect that would disconnect audio to HDMI.
Yes, I take the optical cable away and no sound comes out of the amp, so the cable is not disabling the HDMI audio and as I say, audio passes through without issue for other devices. Anyway, you are confirming here that you use an amp and have audio from Telus box, to amp and out to speakers via HDMI only, that is, without an optical cable. Now I can go back to Telus and tell them another user confirms that. Thanks.
That would suggest proprietary audio, but why? Nothing plugged into the optic audio at the same time.
Right, but I think my first issue is determining if what Telus told me is correct or not. Does audio from the box to the amp have to go through optical? That would surprise me as HDMI should always carry audio as it does for the other devices, but that's what the agent told me even after checking with her superior.
Have to ask, does your amp HDMI input boost sound from an non Telus source?
Yes, Apple TV and DVD player works with HDMI only for audio and video.
