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HDMI killed the audio output star

10 points by raffraffraff ↗ HN
Something I've noticed, a lot later than most of you I'm sure, is the death of audio outputs on most hardware: laptops, PCs, media streamers. Years ago I bought a Shuttle PC barebones kit that just required CPU, RAM and a hard disk. The tiny motherboard had integrated sound with 6 channels output (3 x 3.5mm jacks) and optical (spdif/toslink). My old 2015 Macbook Pro even had optical output built into the 3.5mm headphone jack. Practically every computer I owned for over a decade provided at least one way to get surround sound: separate amps, a 5.1 PC speaker setup , an AV receiver... Something for every budget!

All of the newer surround sound formats that emerged from Dolby are HDMI-only because it's got built in content protection. This brings a bunch of problems. Do you have the "right" HDMI cable that supports v2.0? Will your AV receiver play music when the 200 watt TV is switched off? "Maybe".

I'm perfectly happy with 5.1 sound - I'm not going to wire up two ceiling speakers for Dolby Atmos. So why should I upgrade my receiver? And if I don't, what other options so I have in 2021?

Answer: Not many.

6 comments

[ 3.0 ms ] story [ 26.7 ms ] thread
navjack27
I personally think surround sound on the personal computer is dead. Well it never really was alive either. Basically the only way to get accurate and to assure that you're going to be getting actual surround sound is to be watching your content on a completely locked down device. It's the same way with being able to watch 4K video on a streaming service. You need an Android TV or an Apple TV or a shield TV a Roku I guess but God forbid you try to use your own personal device with the wrong CPU in it using the wrong browser missing certain updates in your OS using the wrong OS and now you're just limited to 1080p low bit rate because something in the chain can't be validated. But then you go and use a completely validated and allowed personal computer and you could just record the whole whatever you're watching using shadowplay using your GeForce card. We live in a wacky world.
theandrewbailey
I ran into a similar problem a few years ago when I got a 7.1 home theater for my PC. Eventually, I realized that the only way to get sound into the receiver from the PC was HDMI. I also needed to have visual data coming into it for the sound to work, so I duplicated a screen to it, and keep the screen connected to it off most of the time.

I've wondered why receivers don't support USB input from PC. Sure, there's lots of receivers that have USB input support, but that's because you can play MP3s off a flash drive.

icedchai
There are HDMI audio extractors. Can you use one of those?
raffraffraff
I have one! It stops splitting audio when there is no TV connected and switched on. I even added a HDMI dummy passthrough, but that didn't fix it either (for the Chromecast or laptop). Hence my whole piece about not being able to reliably get this stuff to do what you expect.

Perhaps some devices do what I need, but since it isn't ever explicitly listed as a feature or a limitation, it's hard to know if it's going to work before you buy.

duped
This really has nothing to do with HDMI. It has more to do with how Dolby makes money. They pay film and TV studios to mix in ATMOS which can only be decoded using Dolby's licensed chip technologies (it's not implemented in software, usually) which they sell to OEMs. HDMI is just a transport layer, it's not the only one for ATMOS just what is most commonly found in consumer devices.

That said, phono audio connections are objectively terrible and their only redeeming quality is simplicity. I'll take HDMI ARC over it every day, because I don't want multiple control points for my audio signal.

There's also a new standard for immersive audio bitstreams that will hopefully result in software decoders but I doubt we'll see that in consumer gear anytime soon.

logicalmonster
What year did audio cards start to get integrated into motherboards? I remember having to install a sound blaster card and having to configure each game’s audio back in about the late DOS to Early Windows days. I think a shift then happened and this was fully integrated into motherboards. It seems like this integrated audio with few ports and options is more than good enough for 99.99999% of people.