ARC & eARC HDMI or Digital Optical Here's the Best to Use for Compatible Devices
HDMI ARC and EARC Are a Lot More Complicated than Digital Optical Cables
HDMI ARC and eARC
There's a ton of confusion with HDMI ARC and Digital Optical connections. There is a lot of misinformation out there, that's why it's easy for people to get confused on which one they should use.
The video below is excellent and it will shed a lot of light to make it easier to understand the difference between each cable and which is the best to use.
HDMI ARC and Digital Optical both transmit digital data. ARC is the acronym for Audio Return Channel. A HDMI cable carries both the video and also an audio signal over the same cable.
Most televisions sold today will have one input labeled as ARC. And if the TV is newer, it could have the input labeled as eARC for Enhanced Audio Return Channel. This is an even better more modern version of ARC.
The ARC audio signal is transferred across the cable to an ARC enabled Sound bar or an AV Receiver. So no matter if you use a Roku, Apple TV, Fire TV or Google Chromecast to stream and watch TV, the audio will be sent over ARC. You may need CEC for this to function properly on some televisions.
Toslink and Digital Optical
Toslink and Digital Optical are basically the same thing with a different name. And this cable is much easier to use. It uses light to transmit data. Simply hook the small round end into your TV and the other end into a sound bar or TV if it's equipped with a Digital Optical connection.
This technology was developed in the early 80's and it was used to connect a CD player to an amplifier or receiver. It uses glass fibers to easily transmit the light even around bends. If you unhooked one end while it was playing, light would shine out of the end of the Optical cable.
Limitations of HDMI ARC and Digital Optical
Digital Optical - is capable of sending two channels of uncompressed PCM audio. Or it can send 5.1 surround sound in a compressed audio format using surround sound audio CODECS.
So this means that the audio signal coming from a media streamer like an Apple TV or Nvidia SHIELD may be encoded in 5.1 compressed. And a Blue-ray DVD player may send the PCM signal uncompressed to two channels.
HDMI ARC - can do the same thing and it's even more advanced than Digital Optical. HDMI ARC is fully compatible with Dolby Digital Plus which supports 7.1 channels compressed audio. It also supports Dolby ATMOS.
You may need to check the manual for your television. Because some only support two channels and other support 5.1 channels on HDMI ARC. HDMI ARC also supports ceiling or height speakers. Digital Optical does not.
If your sound bar supports Dolby Atmos you will want to use ARC. Also, HDMI eARC supports the latest high-bitrate audio formats up to192kHz, 24-bit, and uncompressed 5.1 and 7.1, and 32-channel uncompressed audio.o. ARC only supports two channels uncompressed.
| Features | TOSLINK Optical: GOOD |
HDMI-ARC: BETTER |
HDMI-eARC: BEST |
|---|---|---|---|
| Type of Cable | Optical S/PDIF | HDMI | HDMI W/Ethernet |
| Stereo Support | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Compressed 5.1 | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Uncompressed 5.1 | No | No | Yes |
| Uncompressed 7.1 | No | No | Yes |
| High Bitrate & object based up to 192kHz, 24-bit (eg:Dolby Atmos, DTS-X) |
No | No | Yes |
| Maximum Audio Bandwidth | ~384 Kbits/second | ~1 Mbits/second | ~37 Mbits/second |
| Discovery | No | CEC | eARC data channel |
| eARC Capability (Audio EDID, ETC |
None | CEC | eARC data channel |
| Lip Sync Correction | No | (Optional) | (Mandatory) |
| TV Mutes & Controls Volume | No | Yes (CEC) | Yes (CEC) |
| Powering TV also Powers Audio Device | No | Yes (CEC) | Yes (CEC) |
| Arc Fallback | No | N/A | Yes |
| Source: hdmi org |
Conclusion
The table goes into much more detail. But the bottom line is this, in order to make use of the latest audio standards, your TV, media streamer, sound bar or Audio/Video amp must all support them also.Think of this as a chain, which comprises the following links. A television, streaming device, HDMI Cable, and a Sound bar or AV receiver. If any of these devices don't support Digital Optical, e-ARC or ARC, then this is the link that will break the chain and keep you from enjoying true high-quality audio sound.
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We are Not Affiliated with or Endorsed by Roku®, Apple, Google or Other Companies we may write about.
