Soundbar HDMI passthrough

Answered

Jacob

• March 27, 2024 11:40

I love the sound of the Pulse 2i that I have which is making me look at the soundbar and sub for my living room however the lack of HDMI passthrough is a show stopper for me. With all of the available streaming devices relying on a single HDMI output these days only having an HDMI input for ARC on the sound bar means that you are relying on a TV for functionality and sound quality. Is their any chance of a new model that will support HDMI video passthrough so the sound bar can get it’s audio directly from the source. This would allow for the best audio quality as well as removing a dependency on external equipment.

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• Official comment

  

  Tony W.

  Product Support Manager

  • March 27, 2024 12:38

  Hi Jacob

  HDMI does not work that way. ARC and eARC are designed by modern TVs for ease of use. Yes, you can trust that the TV is passing the audio only allowing your SOUNDBAR+ to perform the digital decode (up to and including DOLBY ATMOS). Plugging a source such as a Blu-Ray player will not extract the audio only but televisions now have audio extraction layers for that specific reason.

  What you may want for your purposes is the BluOS Powered NAD T758 from our good friends down the hall at NAD Electronics.
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  Jacob

  • March 27, 2024 12:47

  I’m curious if HDMI doesn’t work that way as you say how is JBL able to get it to work that way with their sound bars?

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  Tony W.

  Product Support Manager

  • March 27, 2024 12:51

  I cannot speak for other manufacturers but the likely have an Audio Extraction Layer built into their system like TVs and like full AV Receivers. The SOUNDBAR+ does not have that.

  As mentioned, if you are looking for the best of both worlds... look into our sister brand NAD Electronics.

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