OREI HDA-935 Audio Extractor

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.