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countryman
Trending Lyricist I
December 22, 2020

How to extract audio (analog or digital) from HDMI feed from TV that feeds Sonos Beam

  • December 22, 2020
  • 17 replies
  • 603 views

I’ve tried searching the forum but can’t find a solution.

Our Samsung Q75T TV currently feeds our Sonos Beam via the HDMI-ARC socket on the TV.  I need to extract the audio from this feed so that I can drive a pair of headphones at the same time as feeding the Beam.  The extraction can either be analogue or digital.  Is there a gadget that I can insert thus ?

Samsung Q75T.  > HDMI > gadget > HDMI > Beam

TIA

 

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    17 replies

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    countrymanAuthor
    Trending Lyricist I
    December 22, 2020

    I appreciate your suggestions, Ken.  But they are both the same item ...just rebadged..and the same as the useless one that I have sitting on the floor and ready to go back.  It really is so frustrating that there only seems to be just the one factory in the world churning out this stuff.

    ratty
    ratty
    December 22, 2020

    The first audio extractor linked above explicitly says “Note: Not support HDMI ARC (Audio Return Channel)”. The two that Ken linked, which are not the same item, do claim to support ARC.

    If HDMI-CEC is not essential another option is to simply output optical from the TV into a two-way active optical splitter, and thence into the Beam’s dongle and the headphone transmitter. The Beam would have to be trained to suitable IR remote codes, ideally of a different make from the TV.

    countrymanAuthor
    Trending Lyricist I
    December 22, 2020

    The one that Ken linked to is the one that I have.  The one that comes out of the same Chinese factory as all the others.  The one that doesn’t work.

    Any recommendations for a good active optical splitter, please ?

    106rallye
    106rallye
    December 22, 2020

    @countryman That’s why I placed the warning. If you notice any delay is very personal, though your case could be worse, as you seem to want to play both headphones and the soundbar at the same time…..

    countrymanAuthor
    Trending Lyricist I
    December 24, 2020

    I’ve given up trying the HDMI route.  Tried another of those extractors.  They might work if they are inserted between a picture source, such as a Blu-Ray player and the TV.  But inserted between the HDMI-ARC socket on the TV and the Sonos Beam, it’s a resounding FAIL.  

    Also tried an HDMI splitter, thinking that if that worked and it fed the Sonos beam OK then I’d find a gizmo to plug into the second HDMI output socket and extract the audio. That was a FAIL as well.

    These things do NOT want to play nicely with HDMI-ARC

    So it’s down to the optical splitter route.

    Can anyone please suggest a good optical splitter ?

    countrymanAuthor
    Trending Lyricist I
    December 30, 2020

    At last!  Success.

    I post the solution here for the benefit of others.

    1. Avoid the passive optical splitters.  You get what you pay for.
    2. Buy an active optical splitter such as this one. Note that the identical unit on Amazon is about 3x the price of this one !
    3. Buy a simple DAC such as this one
    4. Connect up the Samsung to the IN of (2), the Sonos Beam to one of the (OUT) and the DAC to another (OUT)
    5. Job done.

     

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