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Can I plug a Zen Air DAC straight into a TV?

lupin3rd

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I use a QN90A as my monitor for my PC and my PS5, so I want to plug a Zen Air DAC straight into the TV rather than the PC.

Here are the ports on the back. The Zen Air DAC seems to need only 5v & 0.5a, so I can just simply plug the DAC's USB straight into either of the USB ports, right...?
 

antcollinet

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You can't normally send audio from the USB of a TV - they are more inteneded for attaching USB storage with media on them.

You'll need to use the optical output from the TV into your DAC. But the Zen Air has no optical input so I don't think you are going to get this to work.
 

staticV3

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The TV won't output audio via USB.
Here are all connection types you can use to connect external audio devices:
Screenshot_20221220-191219_Drive.png

Edit: what @tonycollinet said. Since the Zen Air DAC's only input is USB, you won't be able to connect it to your TV, unless you put something like a Raspberry Pi in between (TV->Toslink->Toslink to USB Adapter->Pi->USB->Zen).
 
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lupin3rd

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Thank you guys!! Guess I'll just get the Zen CAN then since that will be way easier to setup.
 
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lupin3rd

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That is a headphone amp - not a dac.
Yea, I have a DAC already hooked up via optical to pair with my JDS atom amp. Was kinda hoping I could replace both with the Zen DAC but I guess I'll just replace the JDS atom amp with the Zen CAN
 

antcollinet

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Yea, I have a DAC already hooked up via optical to pair with my JDS atom amp. Was kinda hoping I could replace both with the Zen DAC but I guess I'll just replace the JDS atom amp with the Zen CAN
OK - that makes sense then.
 
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