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TV digital audio - Home theatre vs Stereo audio

Hi,

I have a question that is confusing me quite a bit. I just set-up a brand new 2 channel system which also has a Oppo BDP-95 Blue Ray player from my legacy system and a new OLED LG 4K TV. I trying to get the best sound from my TV. I usually view sports through the now-TV (cable TV provider in HK), Netflix (through my TV connect) and Blue-ray through my Oppo.

The TV has a HDMI ARC connection and an optical digital audio out. Currently I have connected the optical digital audio out to my Auralic Vega G2 DAC and then play the TV audio through my McIntosh/ B&W Diamond 2-channel set-up. I also have connected the digital Coax output from my Oppo to the Auralic DAC and hence I have bypassed the Oppo DAC as I consider the Auralic DAC superior.

However, I read up some material saying that an optical connect from the TV and the Coax output from the Oppo will not carry full Dolby Atmos and other higher end digital audio from the Blue-Ray and hence the audio from both my blue-ray discs through the Oppo and the Netflix that I play through the TV will both be downgraded to normal 2-channel audio.

My question is that if I anyways have only a 2-channel music system set-up through which my TV sound plays, does it matter whether I use the optical out from my TV or the more advanced HDMI ARC?

The second question is that the only way I can see to get the higher end digital audio is to buy a surround sound bar and connect it through the HDMI ARC connect on the TV and play the sound through the sound bar rather than the 2-channel set-up. The problem is that I do not have space to keep the sound bar and hence will need to go through substantive pain to get this done. Is it all worth it?

Thanks in advance.

128x128sudhirgoel
audioengr
3,282 posts
 
Not saying many old/new DACs have great jitter suppression, but most modern ones do reduce it better than CD quality.


CD quality (from a CD player) is a low-bar for me.  My digital is much better than that.  There is no way that I would have gotten best of show several times with a CD player in the system.

I have had a lot of different DAC's in my system since I modded them for many years.  None of them were jitter immune, none.  I have heard from customers that the Benchmark DAC3 is jitter immune, but I have not heard it in my system.

Steve N.
Empirical Audio
mzkmxcv
777 posts
 
@audioengr

I’m assuming you mean jitter immune as in total suppression, or at least past 24Bit. I’m talking at least a fair deal of reduction.

You state the 96dB of dynamic range that unditered 16Bit offers is too low. Can you explain how you can hear noises of around 5 decibles in a room where the noise fooor is roughly 30dB? The hum of a lightbulb at 2m away is ~10dB I believe.

Also, it may be a different measurement technique than what you’ve used for your Syncro-Mesh, but here is the picosecond amount of jitter when using a Topping D10 as a USB to Toslink convertor, and not using a J-Test like you’ve stated many times.
audioengr
3,282 posts
 
My room is specially designed and treated. However, it does not require anything special in the room to hear the difference between 20psec of jitter and 7psec of jitter. It only requires a system with a really low noise floor and low distortion, such as my own. My system has zero ground-loops and minimal analog stages. One analog stage in the DAC and two stages in the tube SET monoblock amplifiers. Simple is better.

You state the 96dB of dynamic range that undithered 16Bit offers is too low.

What? I never said this.

The plot you show is still through a DAC, not a direct measurement.

Send me the Topping converter and I’ll post the actual jitter from it.

I recently tested two other USB converters that are well-regarded, including the Singxter SU-1. The Jitter from the Singxer was 4nsec and the other was 500psec. A far cry from the 10psec from my own USB converter.

Steve N.
Empirical Audio
mzkmxcv
777 posts
 

You state the 96dB of dynamic range that undithered 16Bit offers is too low
What? I never said this


Uhh:

CD quality (from a CD player) is a low-bar for me.

CD is 16Bit, which if undithered has a noise floor averaging -96dBFS.

Let’s say your room is so well treated with components so quite that your noise floor is 14dB across the spectrum (even though that’s unlikely), that would still not allow you to hear the benefits of 24Bit over undithered 16Bit, unless the music is mastered with unity being 110dB, which would be uncommon as 105dB is usually what’s chosen (-30dBFS C-weighted with slow measuring registering 75dB).

Thats not even accounting for dithering, which can make it better than 110dB.
audioengr
3,282 posts
 
Jitter plots of two popular reclockers:

https://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?topic=157348.msg1727698#msg1727698

Steve N.
Empirical Audio 
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