Thanks to the optical cable and its unique connector - known as a TosLink (a shortening of Toshiba Link) connector - we could send a digital audio signal between two components for the first time. Digital optical: The old hat still fitsĭeveloped by Toshiba in 1983, the digital optical cable was invented so consumers could transmit digital audio signals from CD and Laserdisc players to an A/V receiver or stereo system. Whether you’re watching movies and TV shows through your TV directly or using a streaming device, you can think of your TV as being the main hub - everything connects (or is built into) your TV, with a separate sound system as the device you’re sending audio into.Īnd in terms of how that signal gets from your TV to the audio peripheral, there are two options - HDMI ARC (or ARC for short) and digital optical.
Without a digital pathway, we’d need to convert all of those ones and zeroes into an analog signal first, and that’s a job best left to our A/V receivers or soundbars. The idea behind this is to be able to send whatever digital content you plan on enjoying - from your TV to Blu-ray players and game systems - into a larger, better audio system without losing any quality along the way. A war of audio capabilities KlipschĪs mentioned, fundamentally, both HDMI ARC and optical let you send digital audio from one piece of hardware to another. So which of these new connections is the right one for you and your home theater room, and how do you wire everything together correctly? We’ve put together this explainer to answer all these questions and more.
But if there was already a ones-and-zeroes audio player in town, why do we need HDMI ARC at all?Īs single-wire audio solutions for your A/V peripherals, HDMI ARC and optical are similar in some ways but very different in others. Fitbit Versa 3īefore HDMI ARC arrived, embedding the ability to send digital audio over the same cable as digital video, optical was already around and widely in use as a digital audio A-to-B pathway.
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