New soundbar : HDMI vs 3.5mm audio quality

[noobj]

You missed the point completely. At least the other guy was smart enough to leave this thread. You are just making yourself look more stupid the more you try to defend your arrogant douchebaggery.

Me using your gpu setup was an EXAMPLE of what a douchebag would do, but clearly you cant comprehend simple english.

[fixx]

your question was answered already, but in case you missed it: HDMI > 3.5mm

When you're talking about few meters of cable at home there's no difference between analog and digital audio cables unless you have some extreme EM interference. Real difference is in the DAC chip, or if the digital to analog conversion is better in the computer or in the soundbar. Especially motherboards with high end audio or computer with separate sound card will probably output better analog signal than average soundbar can decode from HDMI.

and i base monitors sounding better than soundbars on experience with sound equipment and knowledge of physics

sound bars produce a lower quality sound and audio than stereo monitors of similar cost, this is a fact of life

Speakers are indeed purely a matter of physics. You can have right (or wrong) internal volume of cabinet for the speaker driver in both separate stereo monitors and a soundbar. You could even glue two speakers' bottoms together for a DIY soundbar and it would have exactly same sound quality as having the speakers apart. Only big problem with soundbar is that you can't push the speakers far apart for proper stereo sound field.

[Vash The Stampede]

It really doesn't matter what you use to wire up sound so long as the wire is relatively short. It's DAC vs DAC, and chances are you're causing yourself inconvenience to use HDMI because HDMI. You won't notice the different in quality anyway because nothing in that setup is done for best sound. You're getting sound from your graphics card, and not your sound card if using HDMI. Which until recently both AMD and Nvidia didn't care about. Even then it was all Stereo until AMD brought TrueAudio which can now do 5.1 through HDMI.

There is no difference between the digital in HDMI, or Optical, or Coax. It all works equally the same. The 3.5mm jack is not digital but uses your onboard sound cards DAC, but DAC quality has gone up a lot recently in PC audio. Especially from those of Realtek. You could just hook it up and play your favorite song and listen to the 3.5mm vs the HDMI. Better yet run this THX audio test and listen carefully.

If you wanna learn more watch this video from Tek Syndicate guys about PC sound. Also I still miss my Nvidia Sound Storm.

[Cyanotical]

You missed the point completely. At least the other guy was smart enough to leave this thread. You are just making yourself look more stupid the more you try to defend your arrogant douchebaggery.

Me using your gpu setup was an EXAMPLE of what a douchebag would do, but clearly you cant comprehend simple english.

calling everyone with criticism a douche just shows how immature and ignorant you are, it also projects to everyone reading with any debate/arguing experience that you have nothing to back yourself up with and resort to insults

you're just upset that i agree'd with Deltrus about soundbars

When you're talking about few meters of cable at home there's no difference between analog and digital audio cables unless you have some extreme EM interference. Real difference is in the DAC chip, or if the digital to analog conversion is better in the computer or in the soundbar. Especially motherboards with high end audio or computer with separate sound card will probably output better analog signal than average soundbar can decode from HDMI.



Speakers are indeed purely a matter of physics. You can have right (or wrong) internal volume of cabinet for the speaker driver in both separate stereo monitors and a soundbar. You could even glue two speakers' bottoms together for a DIY soundbar and it would have exactly same sound quality as having the speakers apart. Only big problem with soundbar is that you can't push the speakers far apart for proper stereo sound field.

completely ignoring cable length and digital vs analog and looking at the fact that a 3.5mm jack is only 2 channels while HDMI can carry 7, which makes a difference in everything that is not music, and as for the DAC, it doesn't make a difference as soundbars are not high enough quality for it to really show (discounting cognitive bias)

a sound bar is a cheap audio speaker for TVs, not what you can put together DIY, no exceptions need to be made here, unless OP whips out a soundbar with kevlar 6" woofers

[Vash The Stampede]

completely ignoring cable length and digital vs analog and looking at the fact that a 3.5mm jack is only 2 channels while HDMI can carry 7, which makes a difference in everything that is not music

Uh, if the sound bar only has 2 speakers then it makes no difference. AFAIK, all soundbars are stereo?

and as for the DAC, it doesn't make a difference as soundbars are not high enough quality for it to really show (discounting cognitive bias)

We're comparing the DAC built in the soundbar vs the DAC in your PC. The soundbar DAC is only used when it's digital, and the PC DAC is used only when it's analog. So using the 3.5mm would be using the PC DAC.

[Djinni]

Uh, if the sound bar only has 2 speakers then it makes no difference. AFAIK, all soundbars are stereo?

Untested, but a number of the ones in £300-£600 range are advertised as 5.1 and 7.1
.

Although personally, I think when it comes to a soundbar, the quality is going to be so bad in comparison to a true surround setup that the cable is irrelevant.

And even then, 99% of all setups will be analog cable to the speaker, not digital.

Anyway, in theory you would get better potential quality from the HDMI.
In practice there is going to be little to no perceptible difference.

[fixx]

completely ignoring cable length and digital vs analog and looking at the fact that a 3.5mm jack is only 2 channels while HDMI can carry 7, which makes a difference in everything that is not music

OP already said on first page what is the exact device in question. It's 2.1 system (soundbar and external woofer) so the multichannel options won't make a lick of difference. Most soundbars would be simple stereo or maybe have faked DSP surround modes. Real surround amplifier for soundbars would be dumb because you can't position the speakers correctly.

and as for the DAC, it doesn't make a difference as soundbars are not high enough quality for it to really show (discounting cognitive bias)

In most cases with decent quality DAC there wont be any difference, but if the soundbar or the motherboard has really poor quality DAC the difference will be audible.

[DeltrusDisc]

To be fair guys, we already made all these points about soundbars being low quality. Whether or not the OP has made comments towards me/Cyanotical/etc shouldn't matter anymore. There's really no argument left. The OP's question... and more, was answered. Let it rest.

[Ulfhedinn]

actually, a $1000 cable does sound better than a $10 cable, not because its better quality, but because your brain makes it sound better because you just spent $1k on a cable, it's the result of a recognized cognitive bias known as loss aversion combined with some distinction bias, selective perception, and subjective validation

spending more on something does make you percieve it as better, even though scientific measurements would show otherwise

There is a lot of this going on in many areas... Happens in wine/alcohol taste testing as well. Computer people are my favorite though. Anything under $500 wont even play minesweeper according to some of these people.

[Tock20]

As for your soundbar shutting off when you shut off your monitor, that is the arc. I recommend shutting that off in the monitor settings.

[alucardtnuoc]

There is a lot of this going on in many areas... Happens in wine/alcohol taste testing as well. Computer people are my favorite though. Anything under $500 wont even play minesweeper according to some of these people.

Didn't someone do a blind test of wines with just the "price" showing and they often picked the bottles that were cheap compared to expensive ones and only one wine expert got it right.

[Vash The Stampede]

There is a lot of this going on in many areas... Happens in wine/alcohol taste testing as well. Computer people are my favorite though. Anything under $500 wont even play minesweeper according to some of these people.

I like to compare computer gamers to car enthusiasts. Being both I can easily see how vague areas can sometimes lead to people spending outlandish amounts of money for things that ultimately don't make a difference, and in some cases actually makes it worse. There's a lot of misinformation that companies spread to confuse people.

Will buying a $1k muffler increase your cars performance? No, it won't. Will buying a sound card with expensive wires give you better sound? No, it won't. Especially now that everyone uses headsets or headphones, most of the effort in getting the best audio is about getting the best of those. Things like Dolby Digital 5.1 surround sound gets a bit more complicated and worse. How many people actually go around setting up 6 speakers around their PC? Not many. Things like Dolby Digital Live, DTS, and knowing that nearly everything you listen to is still in old fashion stereo. Of those who did venture into surround sound setup for the PC, probably don't realize that only 3 of their 6 speakers are actually working.

[Djinni]

Of those who did venture into surround sound setup for the PC, probably don't realize that only 3 of their 6 speakers are actually working.

This so much.

It really pains me to see when people buy a 6.1 or a 7.1 setup only to find that only 2 or 3 of the speakers actually work or that they have all 7 or 8 speakers right in-front of them.

[DeltrusDisc]

There is a lot of this going on in many areas... Happens in wine/alcohol taste testing as well. Computer people are my favorite though. Anything under $500 wont even play minesweeper according to some of these people.

And apparently you don't have a sense of humor...

- - - Updated - - -

This so much.

It really pains me to see when people buy a 6.1 or a 7.1 setup only to find that only 2 or 3 of the speakers actually work or that they have all 7 or 8 speakers right in-front of them.

I find this shit absolutely hilarious, but hey, I guess they're future-proofing for whenever they are able to setup the speakers around them... XD

[DeltrusDick]

To be fair guys, we already made all these points about soundbars being low quality. Whether or not the OP has made comments towards me/Cyanotical/etc shouldn't matter anymore. There's really no argument left. The OP's question... and more, was answered. Let it rest.

Yeah, well, five years later people like myself find some dead thread and get to sit through and read the dumb shit people like you say. Jesus Christ, you're either an autistic kid who got stuck on audio magazines or some neckbeard with no accomplishments, because a normal human doesn't speak the way you do.

I made this account with a tempmail just to tell you that by the way. I already forget the obscure email address it gave me so I'll never get to see your reply, but rest assured, I already know it's just going to be some condescending elitist autism.

If you happened to have turned that attitude around in the past five years, disregard what I've said. I'm speaking strictly to the five-years-ago version of you. Fuck him.

[Granyala]

Real answer to OP's question depends entirely on one thing. Where is the better DAC, on motherboard or in the soundbar.

Without in-depth knowledge of the DAC chips and op-amps used in motherboard and the soundbar nobody can give definite answer and all you have to work with is your ears.

Yes and no.
The DAC might (and I stress the MIGHT, since DACs are pretty unproblematic components these days) into play if the transduces are state of the art.
A 150$ Sound bar will not have the resolution to render any subtle difference.

With Transducers you still get what you pay for, if you buy cheap, there is no point in worrying about connections or other finer points of quality loss, the transducer will gloss over the differences.

O boy, didn't notice the date.... never mind.