Because of the discussions here around the HDMI connector at the A8 I have started some tests with the HDMI ARC connector. Source OPPO 105 multimedia player, HDMI Out. Tested with a CD and a Blu-Ray The OPPO HDMI output and the HDMI cable are working without any problems in connection with my DENON AVR and an old monitor (incl. speakers) which I have used just for test purposes. I have made the tests with another HDMI cable also. At the A8 I have connected the cable from the OPPO output to the A8 ARC input and I have selected ARC as input source. I have got the information PCM 24 Bit, 192000 Hz at the display. Output level at -.5db. Unfortunately I don’t get any sound at the RCA output on my A8 or any information at the display that the A8 detects a signal. The selection ARC or EARC has no impact of this result. Is there something which I make wrong? I have expected that the A8 transfers the signal from the ARC input to an signal for the RCA output connectors. Wrong expectation?
ARC and e-ARC are different than HDMI IN (I think). I too tried to connect my Blu-ray / SACD player (Magnetar UDP-800) directly to A8 with no luck but it did play just fine when connected to my TV’s e-ARC port.
Thank you for your effort Bergholdt! Unfortunately I don't get a signal. In between I made a test with my Dell laptop. As soon as I connect my old external monitor at the HDMI port of the Dell I get music via the monitor like my experience with my OPPO. It means OPPO, Dell and the cable are o.k. No reaction of the A8 when I connect the Dell via HDMI neither with ARC or EARC setting. The Dell shows my over 10 years old monitor as Audio device but doesn't recognize the A8 as sound device. In the OPPO menu I have found a setting to set PCM as HDMI output signal but no reaction of the A8 also. BTW: In between the A8 ARC In screen shows PCM 44.1 kHz instead of 192 kHz which was shown some days before. Something goes wrong here. I am confused. So we have just the information that YOUR TV is working on the A8 HDMI connector. Maybe one of the other A8 owners here can do an HDMI test also so that we have more input about it. Maybe my A8 is defective.
ARC / e-ARC are TV standards. It’s not really about what you can feed a TV. ARC is Audio Return Channel. You feed the TV regular HDMI (video and audio) and the TV’s ARC port then ‘returns’ the audio. I’m not even sure the standard is as old as your Screen. Does your screen say ARC on any of the HDMI ports?
I noticed the same thing, I was happy that I would be able to listen to the discs on a Blu-Ray Yamaha BD 1060, but there was no sound. I am disappointed because I also have some SACD`s in my collection that I hope I will be able to listen to in the best conditions. However, I thought that maybe there is a problem with the A8, I got a long HDMI cable and connected it to the TV and everything was ok, the sound was very good. It seemed curious to me that the first time I connected the cable to a soket that I thought was ARC and it wasn't, no sound was heard but 44.1KHz appeared for few seconds on the display then gone and the A8 volume could be changed from the TV remote control.
Off topic, for those interested, ARTE Tv has an application where you can find many interesting concerts and the sound, in my opinion, is very good
ARC is not intended for DSD Native but works with PCM / LPCM. Source has to input to TV (as PCM or Bitstream). An HDMI cable then has to connect ARC port of TV to ARC port on A8. TV menu has to be set to output via ARC. Works fine for me.
Sony ubp-x700 4k Blu-ray to TV HDMI IN and e-ARC from TV to A8 works for me but is not noticeably better sounding than e-ARC to avr.
No, no, sorry I wasn't clear, I was talking about the menu from the Blu-Ray player, when I was trying to connect it directly to the A8. Sure, I can connect it via coax, but the quality is not that good and you can't even listen to DSD. Only CD layer from hybrid discs
Well, we have established that the A8 will not work as HDMI IN. But it will work as advertized, as ARC / e-ARC. But ARC is a TV standard, so you need to connect source to TV (HDMI IN) and the TV will then send an audio signal (Bitstream or PCM) to A8 via TVs ARC out. ARC is only PCM / Bitstream, so your source (or TV) needs to be able to convert DSD Native to PCM. So, your Blu-ray needs to be able to output as DoP or D2P. Since I use my Blu-ray / SACD player for multi-channel also, I choose to just send HDMI OUT to an AVR / Surround Hub. The hub does not ‘understand’ DSD Native, so I have to use ‘output as PCM’ anyway… So no advantage of the ARC port of the A8. It would have been cool to be able to feed the A8 with DSD Native via HDMI but it might not just be a technical issue but also an issue of licensing / copy protection…
My Magnetar UDP800 has stereo XLR out, so I could probably connect to A8 via XLR IN for DSD Native stereo. But it would of course use the DACs of the Magnetar and not the A8. So, DSP of the A8 would not work.
@Bergholdt " Well, we have established that the A8 will not work as HDMI IN. But it will work as advertized, as ARC / e-ARC. But ARC is a TV standard, so you need to connect source to TV (HDMI IN) and the TV will then send an audio signal (Bitstream or PCM) to A8 via TVs ARC out." That's a clear conclusion regarding all the tests we have made. It will help others who encounter the same problem. Do you have information what the different is between the HDMI audio signal and the ARC audio signal. I thought the only diference is that ARC provides more functionality between two units like volume control.
Well, can’t say I’m an expert on it but there must be something in the standard that sends a ‘I’m an ARC/e-ARC signal’, since it isn’t accepting any regular HDMI audio signal. You use a normal HDMI 1.4 or higher, so it’s not the cable but what the ARC / e-ARC port on the TV ‘adds’ to the signal.
