Not-quite-splitting Digital Optic Audio

January 18, 2018 9:23 AM

Need advice on optic audio splitters...

I understand that digital optic audio splitters like these are for one source (a TV, say) to go to multiple audio devices (receiver, soundbar, etc.). Is the reverse true for these splitters?

The question:
I have a PS4 that only plays its audio through the crappy TV speakers.

I have my cable box (not my TV, it doesn't have an optic audio port) going to a Samsung soundbar via an optic audio cable.

I am willing to buy a second optic audio cable.

Will the optic splitter work if I want this:

PS4-------\
Optic Audio Splitter-----------Sound Bar
Cable----/

posted by kuanes to Media & Arts (8 answers total)

I believe you need a switch instead.

Does the cable box have other audio outputs that you could send to the sound bar instead? Digital coax? Even RCA stereo wouldn't be bad since sound bars generally don't really provide true surround.
posted by supercres at 9:38 AM on January 18, 2018 [1 favorite]

I doubt it. My cursory understanding is that TOSLink transmits digital audio, so shoving two signals together is unlikely to have the result you expect -- whereas you might get away with adding two analog signals (it's still not a great idea), with digital you'd likely get garbage or nothing as the receiving device tries to figure out what to do with jumbled-up, overlapping streams of data. Agree with supercres that you want a switch.
posted by Alterscape at 9:42 AM on January 18, 2018

Does the tv have an audio out so you can run video+audio to tv from both cable & ps4, then audio tv-> sound bar? Otherwise you need some kind of switch.
posted by TheAdamist at 10:03 AM on January 18, 2018

What TV do you have?
posted by aubilenon at 10:23 AM on January 18, 2018

Best answer: Right at the bottom of the Amazon page for the splitter, someone asked almost literally the same question a couple of years ago, and the manufacturer answered "No, it doesn't work that way."

You need a switch.
posted by soundguy99 at 11:11 AM on January 18, 2018

I think in theory this might work (as long as only one device is transmitting audio at a time), but in practice that splitter is probably only designed to go one way.

You probably want an HDMI switch instead. Many of them have an optical TOSLINK output.

Does the sound bar have HDMI input? You could possibly use an HDMI splitter (one to TV, one to soundbar) for this purpose.
posted by neckro23 at 11:37 AM on January 18, 2018 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: Thanks for pointing out what I missed soundguy99...

My TV does not have optical audio out (or in).

Guess I'm going to have to go with a switch.

Thanks for the help.
posted by kuanes at 2:16 PM on January 18, 2018

I recently purchased an HDMI switch with optical out, so that I could patch optical audio to my soundbar from multiple sources. It works great, and (usually) works with HDMI-CEC so it auto-switches to the right input at any given time. Every now and then, I do have to manually go in and switch to the right input, but it's rare.

This is the one I have.
posted by destructive cactus at 4:45 PM on January 18, 2018