I wasn’t aware that this product existed, and based on the Amazon listing, it’s only been out a couple weeks.    I do have a couple OREI switches though, and have been pretty happy with them.  I would feel pretty comfortable with this purchase.  

Based on what I’m reading on Amazon’s website, it unclear to me if it takes the feed from the TV set’s eARC, and doesn’t create an eARC connection on its own from the HDMI sources, like the Feintech and HD Fury devices do. The first bullet point suggests it uses the TV’s output, but the third and fourth seem to counter that. 

I’d be interested in what you find out. A cheaper version of the Feintech and HD Fury devices would be a step in the positive direction, certainly. 

They didn’t do the best job describing it, but one of the images leaves no doubt that you can get eARC audio from an HDMI source.

I am bit unclear on the 3 HDMI input/source ports though.  Only one of them is labeled 4K, which makes me the other 2 are 1080p.  I think all 3 sources are compatilbe with the eARC output though.

Heh. Looking forward to a user’s report of what it actually does. But you have a point, that graphic is pretty definitive.  And if they’ve figured out how to reduce a $200 cost to $80, bully for them, I hope they sell a ton. 

Peter Pee already posted a video about this device a couple of weeks ago:

Thanks for the video.  The big feature that I think is overlooked on this is that it it claims you can output to an HDMI-ARC/eARC  soundbar and optical or headphone jack audio at the same time.  With an adapter, you should be able to have soundbar playing (or not) with bluetooth headphones at the same time.  Resolves a common complaint with Sonos home theatre.

The price is also a plus, as are the additional HDMI inputs, compared to the Arcana.  I have my doubts about the quality of the other two inputs, but that’s to be seen.  The Feintech also has multiple HDMI inputs is a similar cost I believe, although they have had some availability problems.  FYI, HD Fury makes the VRROOM, which is a matrix with Arcana functionality and other features built in, but it’s overpriced and overkill for most users. 

Indeed, thanks for the link….I’m not usually a denizen of YouTube, so pointing me at that link is most helpful. But certainly all of his videos that I’ve seen have been on point. 

Excellent review, I’d say. The one question I didn’t think I got a real answer is whether the three ports are self switching in addition to the button changes… but I think there’s enough there for me to order one for my “second” TV. Once I get it, I’ll probably put it on the “main” TV for the additional ports, and move the Arcana to the “bedroom” TV, which has only a single device connected to it.

Thanks for pointing this out/asking the question, @Rexorg! 

Yes, the 935 creates eArc.

My 935 is coming this Thursday.  I contacted OREI concerning the 3 inputs.  They respond very quickly. They suggest all will pass thru whatever audio and video the devices have via the inputs, but their pitchman and other YouTubers all suggest using the 4K labeled input for a streaming device.  I will be connecting a Fire Stick 4K Max, Spectrum cable box, and a 4K Blu-ray to the 935.  OREI also noted you can connect the video out to any HDMI input on your TV if it doesn’t have HDMI/ARC.  They also stated to connect it to the HDMI/ARC port on your TV, if it has one, so that your TV remote can control all the Arc functions.  The 935 does come with a very small remote aka input switcher.  I’m only concerned with getting Dolby Atmos on my Beam, and if the 935 works as touted I’ll buy another for my Arc I have in my summer home.
 

BTW, I’m a big fan of Peter Pee.  He’s done a yeoman’s job with Sonos products.  He seems to know what he’s doing with all the frequency sweeps and plots he provides in his videos.  His suggestions for the best settings of Sonos speakers are spot on.  He’s also predicting there will be Sonos headphones soon.  He doesn’t have many subscribers compared to the other YouTubers, who seem to endorse any product they get to test.  I am assuming OREI sent him the 935 and he gave it a fair evaluation even though no actual testing yet.  

I just received the Orei  HDA-935. I connected my Sonos Beam Gen2 to it (left the Sonos powered off), then connected the FireTV 4k Stick to IN2 and Sony 4k Bluray player to IN3 on the Orei. Connected the ARC port of my 2017 Samsung 4k smart TV to Orei. Then I turned ON all of the devices except the Sonos. I truned ON Sonos after a few minutes.

I used key5 on the back of Orei to select 7.1 channel, then tried the FireTV apps, now my Disney+ shows Dolby Atmos logo in many titles unlike before. Most tiles from the Netflix and Prime played in DDplus. 

Then I tried a 4k bluray and I was able to get Atmos TureHD and it sounds amazing. My Bluray player was able to display that the Sound output was at full capacity, so, using this method you get the best that Sonos can play. 

Happiness ended right there though when I found that now I cannot enjoy the blurays that have DTS formats. Before, when the Bluray was connected to my Samsung TV, and when I was playing such bluray, my TV was able to dumb down the DTS-HD or DTS-X to just DTS and Sonos Beam Gen2 could play that sound. I think it sounded really good, at least far far better than the 2ch PCM, so I was satisfied with the DTS. But now with Orei, I have to select 2ch on Orei to get any sound to Sonos whenever I have to play a bluray that only has the DTS formats. 

Another huge issue is that now I get no sound out of the native TV apps. When I open a native TV app such as YouTube, the eARC light come ON on the Orei but I get no Sound to my Beam Gen2. This is a deal breaker for me, I use native TSN Direct App on my TV to watch sports because it isn’t available on the FireTV. 

I have asked Orei support to let me know if there is a solution to this problem. If I’m unable to play the native Apps and get the DTS sound to my Sonos, I’m sending it back. 

Could you run TSN on a laptop and HDMI it to the HDA-935?  You would also need an HDMI switch if you have run out of HDMI inputs on the HDA-935.

@RaydenSch Set Digital Audio Output on the Blu-ray player to PCM and you should get Multichannel PCM audio from all DTS-encoded discs.

I am paying attention to this thread with great interest.  I have a Sonos Arc surround system connected to a non eARC TV (which is still able to transmit lossy Atmos).  I considered the HDFury Arcana and also this product.  My biggest concern is bugs that affect overall usability and simplicity.  It might work in a lot of circumstances but you can get issues such as: Audio drop outs, CEC issues, and issues with Audio going back from sources not included in the Orei (such as Audio from TV internal apps).

I don’t see the point in spending almost US$300 for the Arcana given that its only going to be a relatively short term solution until one upgrades their TV.  The Orei makes more sense in that regard.  

In the end, I just settled for Lossy Atmos from the TV apps (would have preferred to use the Apple TV as a slicker interface but Atmos won’t work in this set up unless you have this kind of device or an eARC enabled TV).  

The key for me is that unless you use Blu Ray discs (which I do not), then I don’t see the point given that all streaming services output Atmos in the lossy format anyway.  My biggest issue is that I cannot get Atmos from Disney Plus on my native TV app for some reason (only Dolby Digital Plus) while Netflix and Prime output Atmos just fine.  

If on the other hand, I can be convinced that its a smooth user experience after adjusting a few settings, I might give it a go.  

I decided to buy the 935 since my 2016 model Samsung SUHD TV (UN65KS9000) with 4 HDMI 2.2 ports and ARC is only capable of Dolby Digital and PCM; no Dolby Atmos or DD+ audio formats.  While DD 5.1 sounds great from Disney+ I know from experience using my newer LG TV with ARC and my Sonos Arc and One SLs.  I can get lossy Dolby Atmos and DD+ from Disney+, which blows DD 5.1 away.  Neither TV will get Dolby Atmos from my Ultra 4K HD 3D Blu-ray players playing Dolby Atmos discs so I’m hoping the 935 will do the trick.  

I would check to see if you can run the bluray player through the TV first, to get the DTS processing, then Orei, then Arc if that makes sense.  It’s possible that your TV handles this passthrough of audio differently then it does audio from the native apps.  If that works though, you would still need to run the bluray player directly to Orei to get atmos, so you have to get a HDMI splitter too.  Maybe more trouble than it’s worth.

Do you get audio from any of the native apps?  Like I mentioned above, does passthrough audio work? And it’s probably obvious, but the orei needs to connect to the ARC port on the TV.

This is clearly advertised as a feature of the device. Hopefully support has an answer for you.

Or a different streaming box besides firetv.  However, you should be able to use your native TV apps, since it’s an advertised feature and all.

I don’t think that’s necessarily true.  TV software development is focused on video quality, as that’s what sells TVs.  Audio quality, and meeting audio standards, are not top priority.  It’s not unheard of for a TV firmware update to cause issues with eARC, and it take some time for them to get around to fixing it.   For that reason, it makes sense to use a device like Arcana or the 935 because the feature you need from it is the main reason the product exists.  

$300 is  a lot, and maybe that’s ok if you’re using it with a $1k+ TV,  $900 soundbar, $700 sub, etc.  However, if you’ve got a $400 TV and a $450 Beam (G2), that extra $300 is huge.  I really hope this Orei device is useful.

And as I pointed out before, I like that this device has a headphone jack that can be used for a bluetoot output too.  I am tempted to give this a try just for that feature.

Guys thanks for your advice. I changed the audio setting on my bluray player from Auto to PCM, and now Orei can send Multi-channel PCM 7.1 to my Sonos. Happy with this result. 

I toggle between FireTV (IN2 on Orei) and the Bluray player (IN3 on Orei) just by pressing any key on their respective remotes, so, the CEC function works properly. However, there is a bug, as I toggle back and forth between the FireTV and the bluray player the audio stops coming quite often. I thought it’ll be a deal breaker, but I used Orei’s remote to turn it OFF and ON and the audio came back. I’ll continue to monitor this issue and let you guys know how frequently the issue occurs. Let me know if this device works flawlessly for you guys.

Still have to resolve the “audio from the TV’s native apps issue.” Passthrough from the TV’s ARC to Sonos through the Orei hasn’t worked for me yet, no matter what audio setting I selected on the TV. I haven’t tried running the app on a computer and then HDMI it to the Orei for sound & Video yet, but even if it works that way, I don’t think I will go through the hassle of doing all that every time I want to watch a game. I’m looking forward to the Soccer world cup and TSN Direct on my Samsung TV is my only option.

In Canada, I had to pay around $230 Canadian for this device, I’m wondering if I should just sent it back and save for a new TV that comes with two 2.1 HDMI ports, and then use an HDMI switcher to connect my devices, maybe the HDMI switcher will be bug free? But I don’t know yet.

Another update to my previous comment:

I found two more issues, when I turned ON my TV this morning, the FireTV home page was like zoomed-in. I have never seen that before when the FireTV was connected directly to my TV. I turned the Orei OFF and ON and the resolution went back to normal.

A few hours later I went in the Amazon music app on the FireTV and played a song, the sound came out completely distorted. I turned OFF and ON all of the devices involved and tried again but had same issue. Again, it played just fine when the FireTV stick was connected to the TV directly.

This product is just full of bugs, seems like a beta version or something. I initiated the return process on Amazon and learned that the return will be reviewed and approved by the seller. It isn’t turning out to be a very good experience.

Just to say my preference was to go with the Feintech VAX04101A:

https://feintech.eu/en/collections/hdmi-topseller/products/feintech-vax04101-hdmi-earc-pass-switch-4x1-for-soundbar
 

I’ve been really pleased with it, but it’s quite difficult to get hold of it in some countries, but maybe try the Feintech site, or speak with their Support Staff.

I’m curious if the OREI has a firmware update option?

Hmmmm so far this device sounds like it causes more problems than it solves which is a shame.  The most reliable device (HDFury Arcana is still selling for US$250 which is insane!) is also not without its glitches and the Feintech product is not extensively reviewed and also difficult to purchase in many parts of the world.  

I think the bottom line is:  If your TV has non eARC but can pass through Atmos using lossy format (Dolby Digital Plus), then its really not worth the hassle.  If the TV cannot do that - then chances are the TV is either quite old or was pretty inexpensive to start with - meaning that spending a lot of $$ on a go between device that is reliable is hard to justify.  The cheaper alternatives seem unreliable or hard to purchase.  

Hopefully over time these products get better and cheaper.  But the addressable market seems small and shrinking so I am not too optimistic.  

This is mostly fair comment (IMO) , but it depends on what your perception of ‘old’ is when it comes to TVs.  I bought a top-of-the-range LG 4K OLED TV in 2017.  It was the 2016 model that was just about to be replaced by the 2017 version.  As a result I got it for ‘only’ £2,100 instead of its launch price 11 months earlier of £3.600.  So not cheap, but possibly old. 

Six years is admittedly a long time in televisions, but the picture is fantastic and I don’t plan to change it for many years yet, barring a hardware failure.  But it doesn’t do Atmos at all.  And there is an audio lag / lip-sync problem for all audio using an external  audio  system, like the Arc.

So the Arcana has brought Dolby Atmos and perfect lip-sync to my TV watching.  The alternatives were another expensive television or Arcana, which was the only show in town at the time.  For me, it has been worth the money, but of course that won’t be true of everyone.

I finally received my 935 (made in Taiwan) via USPS (Hurricane Nicole and Veterans Day) today.  Set up was easy peasy and I’m thrilled with the true Dolby Atmos sound from my Beam 2.  Source switching using the Orei remote couldn’t be easier, and my remotes with my Fire Stick, Blu-ray, and Spectrum work as usual.  So far I’m 100% satisfied.  Time will tell if any bugs rear their ugly heads.  BTW, it seems Orei and Bombay Electronics (seller on Amazon) are one and the same.  

Have used the 935 for about a couple of weeks. 

My setup is: Apple TV ( plus 2 other potential devices ) => 935 ( out to Sonos Beam gen 2) <=> LG TV ( Full HD/ 1080p only)

It checked a couple of boxes for me. It is a HDMI switch ( my TV only has 2 HDMI ports) , besides the headline function of earc extractor. This helped to lessen the number of devices utilized… and perhaps more importantly, lesser cable mess!

The performance of the 935 is good. It turns on and off in conjunction with your other CEC devices. Sound passes through correctly more than 95% of the time. ( occasionally sound may come through distorted, but a restart of the video stream corrects that. If the sound started correctly, no worries of errors in between) 

There is a interesting quirk of the device though. Only 18gbps (4k) and 48gbps( 8k) cables cut it. Old cables/ low bandwidth cables will result in sound drop outs and Apple TV unable to detect and utilize bandwidth for Atmos. I found it out the hard way when my existing cables from circa 2010 resulted in sound dropouts and stereo PCM instead of 5.1.

All in all, I am very happy with the device and yes, it is a stopgap solution for non eArc TVs which will be likely obsolete in a few years with the inevitable upgrade to earc TVs, but it is inexpensive and a good viable alternative to the HDfury and fulfills the additional function of a switch.

Update:  The HDA-935 is still working great, albeit with some connection issues with lack of handshake with my old Samsung TV from time to time.  I’ve recently changed from Spectrum to Blue Stream Fiber for my Internet and TV.   I have 500 Mbps Internet both down and and up from Spectrum’s lousy 300/20.  Audio is now Dolby Digital Plus 5.1 for all sources when I’m not using my Fire Stick 4K Max.  BTW, those interested in buying the HDA-935 should know it is not currently available from Orei.  I contacted them and their reply was they would contact me when the 935 was available.  There was no mention of why it wasn’t available.  I’m just happy I got mine when I did.  It was money well spent.  

I wish I could switch from Spectrum. Even AT&T won’t provide DSL to me.