Just to say I’m convinced that this belongs here despite the TV reference as will become apparent.
Our Sony TV/Blu ray player is plugged into a Chord S6 mains block on the same ring as the hi-fi which is plugged into an M6. A few days ago I rigged up some 20A switches to enable me to switch off the TV/Blu ray player without having to switch off the S6 block at the wall. The idea was to eliminate noise from the TV/BR player SMPSs whilst playing music and leaving the S6 block in circuit which benefits the sound of the hi-fi. It worked well but sadly I’ve had to scrap it since I read that continually powering down my Sony TV can lead to long term problems. It apparently carries out various vital ‘housekeeping’ tasks whilst in standby and preventing this can reduce its useful life. So a complete waste of around £40 and time and back to square one. We live and learn.
We had routed the TV sound through the hi-fi via the optical input on the Qutest DAC. What I’ve found though is that even in standby the TV continues to emit an optical signal which affects music playback via the coaxial input on the DAC. Conventional wisdom is that it shouldn’t matter as there’s no electrical connection to allow ingress of noise. All I can say is that in my case it does matter and music sounds better without the TV connected. This means we’ve lost TV sound through the hi-fi but for me the improvement in music is well worth it. The TV and BR player are plugged into a CHord S6 block as I said. This is connected to the wall with an Epic mains cable. The Tv is fed from the block with a Powerline and the BR player with a Chord Clearway mains cable. It’s on an Atacama Evoque Eco 60-40 bamboo shelf stand with Chord Silent mount spike shoes. This is especially beneficial since we are now using the TV’s on board sound system. It sounds fine but obviously a big step down from using the hi-fi. Still I find I’m far less critical of sound quality when watching video material.
So the upshot of this is that if you are using an optical cable to connect your TV to your hi-fi then try disconnecting it to see if you get an improvement. It may vary with different DACs and different makes of TV of course, but certainly worth trying.
Thanks Neil. Yes I would consider a soundbar except for three things. Firstly the Sony TV is attached directly to a flat stand with no supporting legs in between. (it’s a KD48A9). This means that there really isn’t any way of putting a soundbar in front of it without obscuring the bottom of the screen. Something I would find unacceptable. Secondly I wouldn’t be keen on introducing another SMPS to the cricuit. Finally, our viewing habits are unusual. Everything on disc and mostly older stuff with mono or stereo soundtracks. So a fancy surround soundbar is mostly wasted in that regard. The TV sound isn’t bad, especially for the stuff we watch which hardly has demonstration quality sound.
Hi Pete, if your viewing is mostly disc based, how does the hifi sound if you connect optical out from BR player to Qutest, is it the same negative impact on the coaxial input hifi sound from your CD transport?
I run two systems, using optical outputs from TVs into streamer/dacs and neither of them are negatively effected sound quality wise on the other digital inputs, which are CD transports and BR players and of cousre streaming Tidal via the streamer part of the devices.
I’ve come across issues with my AVR connected to a 272 via rca’s and unity gain, but not tv direct optical connections.
Is it possible that the issue is not the optical connection but another related connection in the configuration, which only becomes active when you watch television?
I have a Sky mini box connected to the hifi via an optical connection but can’t say I’ve noticed any loss of SQ. However, the Sky box (most of the time in standby) and stuff like switches and power supplies are all on a different ring main to the hifi, as the hifi has its own dedicated supply.
I wonder if finding another ring main in the house and taking an extension lead from there to the TV and any accessories changes the SQ? I’d try to establish if it’s the optical link or electrical link that’s causing the problem?
Alternatively you could try a separate cheap dac for TV use to see if it’s the Qutest/amp switching that’s the issue? I have a Sony TV with optical connected from my Blu-ray audio out to a Cyp au-d3-192 (which you can pick up for £19 at the minute) into my N50 and it sounds amazing for movies. No issues with the TV on standby.
Have you tried using the stock power leads for your TV and Blu-ray or a different input to the amp?
Hi, I’m not sure you’ve understood, probably because I didn’t explain clearly enough. Or perhaps I’m not understanding what you are saying properly. Anyway, for clarity what’s happening is this. The only source connected to the Qutest apart from the TV optical is the CD transport via coaxial. I found that even with the TV in standby, when I was playing music it negatively impacted on the sound. Disconnecting the opitcal cable cured this. I don’t think that it’s the optical connection as such, but rather that our Sony TV emits a signal even when in standby. Looking at other forums this seems to be a known glitch with Sony TV’s - no way of stopping the optical output, even if the internal sound system is selected in the set up menu. It’s still there. If I switch the Qutest to optical input with the TV connected and in standby then the window on top of the Qutest sometimes changes colour indicating signal activity. So what I think is happening is that despite there being no electrical connection and despite the optical input being isolated when the coaxial input is selected during CD playback the fact that some circuitry inside the Qutest is still (presumably) being activated by the TV signal has a negative impact on the sound. The other possibility is that the optical cable is acting as a conduit for mechanical energy to enter the Qutest. Hope this makes sense.
Thanks for the thoughts and suggestions from others. As I said to @MoonDrifter I don’t think it’s the optical connection as such but rather the fact that the Sony TV continues to emit a signal no matter what - even in standby and even with the internal sound system selected in the set up menu. I’ve tried all configurations and the only thing that leads to an improvement is disconnecting the optical cable. Others using different makes of TV or other devices via optical may not experience any such issues. I suppose we could change the TV for a different make but we rather like it and at £1K we don’t really want to junk it just yet as it’s 4K and just a few years old! The improvement is subtle, but I’m very fussy with my music and since we’ve spent a small fortune on various Chord noise reduction devices, mains blocks and cables, it just seems daft to screw it up for the sake of a TV. Someone who isn’t so ultra fussy may not think it’s worth bothering about.
One advantage with viewing is that I can now control everything with just the one remote, ie. the BR player remote, rather than having to have the amplifier remote as well to adjust volume. It’s a small point but I did dfind this irritating and it’s so much nicer with just the one remote.
There’s no dedicated analogue output available on the TV, except a headphone output. I did think this might be configurable as a line output but I can’t find anything in the set up menus to enable that. But in any case a direct electrical connection from a TV to a hi-fi is usually bad news as far as ingress of noise goes. I don’t know about the newer amps that have a dedicated HDMI input, but I guess that’s fine and the ideal solution but mine doesn’t have that.
That’s something that could possibly be worth a try. The other possibility is to try connecting the TV to the amps own internal DAC via optical which may behave differently in this regard to the Qutest. Perhaps that’s what you meant when you said try connecting directly to the amp. I should really try these things but I’m running out of patience and just want to get back to enjoying listening to music. It may seem as if I’m someone who is really into fiddling with his system the way I sometimes go on about things but I’m really not. I hate it actually. I just want to forget it all and enjoy the music.
I’m starting to really understand your predicaments. You are clearly an over-thinker and I sympathise totally as I am wired similarly and second guess myself constantly. The only difference between us is that I’m thankfully not a critical listener and although I can hear audible differences as I’ve upgraded I’m not inclined to tinker or tweak. I’ve learned to ignore the noise to a certain degree because sometimes chasing unknowns is counterproductive and is not great for my mental health. I’m going to settle down now to a morning of Dallas Green.
After around 50 years of being into audio, I can say without a shadow of a doubt that’s the very best way to be. More valuable than any upgrade. I’m working on it - still.
Try disconnecting your optical cable from the TV and plug it into the optical connection of your BR player. Does that make a difference to the CD transport sound?
Do you have a Bluetooth input on any of your HiFi boxes. Try using that instead of Toslink and you’ll find out whether it’s the SPDIF output or your TV that’s the culprit.
I was now using a Chord optical cable. I did originally use a cheap no name one from Amazon but a lot has changed in the system since then. I suppose I could try that again if I still have it somewhere just to see but I think it’s unlikely to be the actual cable.