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ARC / eARC enabled DAC?

Lattiboy

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Hello,

I was unclear where to put this, but here goes:

I currently have a THX Onyx and a Topping E50. Both work great, but I'm looking for a device which can preserve ARC and/or eARC volume control. Basically I'd like to be able to use my Apple TV 4K (2021) controller as I do now, without having to use an additional remote or a Logitech Harmony thing to adjust volume. I'm only looking for 2-channel audio and will have the ATV4K downmixing, so I don't think eARC actually matters, but I'm not too keen on any of this, so I'll let the experts weigh in.

Any idea if such a product exists?

PS All the HDMI audio extractors I see don't actually support volume control, even if they have "ARC / eARC" in their description.
 

staticV3

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It's not the audio extractor that has to support volume control afaik (they just convert). It's the device that's outputting the HDMI signal.
 

mdsimon2

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Hello,

I was unclear where to put this, but here goes:

I currently have a THX Onyx and a Topping E50. Both work great, but I'm looking for a device which can preserve ARC and/or eARC volume control. Basically I'd like to be able to use my Apple TV 4K (2021) controller as I do now, without having to use an additional remote or a Logitech Harmony thing to adjust volume. I'm only looking for 2-channel audio and will have the ATV4K downmixing, so I don't think eARC actually matters, but I'm not too keen on any of this, so I'll let the experts weigh in.

Any idea if such a product exists?

PS All the HDMI audio extractors I see don't actually support volume control, even if they have "ARC / eARC" in their description.

Why not use a HDMI extractor and control the E50 volume via the Apple TV remote via IR?

Michael
 

Atanasi

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It's not the audio extractor that has to support volume control afaik (they just convert). It's the device that's outputting the HDMI signal.
I think what is meant is an audio extractor that interprets HDMI CEC commands to control volume, like an AVR would do. They are most useful when the HDMI sound is a bitstream like Atmos, because raw PCM can usually be adjusted at the source but bitstream cannot. On the other hand, audio extractors don’t usually decode bitstreams and if they output through Toslink, HDMI CEC cannot be passed through.

I don’t have experience with Apple TV, but there could be an option to adjust volume at Apple TV, at least for PCM. Then audio extractors don’t have to interpret HDMI CEC.
 
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Lattiboy

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- Good call on ATV4K remote learning feature, completely forgot!

- Yes, being able to have the device send a volume control signal over HDMI to my projector would be the main goal here. My projector has eARC and my PS5 and ATV4K are both connected to it. I'm fine with those devices downmixing to 2CH for me.

- I get the obvious answer is a HT processor, but I'm really just interested in 2 channel output and this is kind of a test to see if I can ditch my fancypants LG Atmos soundbar I kinda of hate. Not looking to spend modern processor money.
 
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Lattiboy

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Alright everybody, I'm a total dumbass.

My PJ has an optical out I didn't even realize was there. Going to output over that to the E50 and use the ATV4K remote learning feature per @mdsimon2 idea.

If that doesn't work I'll come crawling back here.

Thanks!
 

AdamG

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I believe that the Bluesound Node, the new version, supports ARC/eARC via HDMI connectivity. In case your above solution doesn’t pan out. Good luck Sir!

 

AudioJester

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This question pops up a lot. Still not convinced why a cheap avr is not considered a viable option - I mean they were designed for this. Many advantages over a pure dac with various piture and sound modes, has amps for efficient speakers, room correction etc and all in 1 devce. To me seems perfect for a tv/projector. I bought an old high end yamaha avr for my son which he uses in his bedroom with an oled and neuman speakers plus sub.
Unless you can hear a difference between avrs and dacs?
 
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