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Sony TV sound

Since I installed an 85" Sony TV with eARC last week I've tried several widgets aimed at connecting it to a Bryston SP3 processor that predates ARC.  I assumed the surprisingly good sound from the Sony would be fine for TV, but not for movies.  Last night I discovered how wrong I was.  I played a version of Legend of the Ring and was astonished by the sound:  immersive with a large frequency range.  How Sony achieves that is beyond my understanding, but my quest for connecting my audio setup with the TV is over.  The Ayre gear will be reserved for DSD and Blue Ray, except the Ayre DX-5 DSD sends superb video to the full LED array TV.  I'm a very happy camper.    

dbphd

Showing 3 responses by dbphd

dbphd OP
1,632 posts
 

I finally received a $25 widget that accepts eARC and outputs HDMI, so I was able to compare the sound using the TV speakers and using my audio setup. The two sound a bit different, and I'm not sure which I prefer. It’s not worth powering up the Ayre preamp, amp, and Bryston processor. The Ayre DX-5 DSD sends superb video to the full-array TV -- I was perhaps unreasonably leery about OLED.

dbphd OP
1,632 posts
 

Tonight I turned off the power of the Ayre preamp and confirmed that the amp was in standby mode then played selections from two Blue-rays, Legends of Jazz and Beethoven's 7th and 9th symphonies, using my Ayre DX-5 DSD with HDMI to the 85" Sony TV.  The sound was excellent, a quality I would be happy to live with.  It occurred to me that a satisfying downsized setup could be the Ayre disc player and Roon Nucleus with HDMI to the Sony TV.  A two shelf Salamander rack might sit below the TV.

dbphd OP
1,632 posts
 

The sound of my 85" full-array Sony TV has all the characteristics associated with acoustic surface technology.  It's immersive, full range, and with pin-point imaging that's especially noticeable with dialog that seems to come from the speaker's image.  Jazz and classical music played from my Ayre DX-5 DSD via HDMI is impressive using the TV audio.  The same cannot be said for my 75" full-array Sony.  I use KEF Wireless II with that.  I think I'd like to keep my rack of Ayre gear for stereo, not sure about the SP3 processor and NAD surround amps.

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