The DAC chip and optical in lag

[TSHRED]

One of my hookups is Optical In from the television. I split the signal so an optical signal goes to the sound bar that came with the television and the other goes to my sound system.

I had been using an SMSL DO100 DAC but soon found that the timing was off and I could not synchronize the sound between the sound bar and my sound system.

I've moved on to the WiiM Pro Plus and that immediately solved it. They both played in perfect synchronization as I like to use the sound bar for my middle channel.

I want to get the Ultra but I'm concerned that it will not be in sync because it has the exact same chip as the SMSL.

Should I not worry about this and just try it because there are other factors that go into lag besides just the chip?

 

[harkpabst]

This raises multiple questions. The most important one: Why would you want to keep that soundbar connected at all? Your audio system built around the Ultra should do everything better than the soundbar does.

Once you get rid of it the next question would be why not to use HDMI ARC? It offers more convenience (and higher bandwidth).

The DAC chip itself is not really responsible for any meaningful delay. It's rather a matter of digital sound processing.

So, why I can't promise you'll be fine with the WiiM Ultra and your soundbar I'm still eager to hear your answers.

 

[TSHRED]

This raises multiple questions. The most important one: Why would you want to keep that soundbar connected at all? Your audio system built around the Ultra should do everything better than the soundbar does.

Once you get rid of it the next question would be why not to use HDMI ARC? It offers more convenience (and higher bandwidth).

The DAC chip itself is not really responsible for any meaningful delay. It's rather a matter of digital sound processing.

So, why I can't promise you'll be fine with the WiiM Ultra and your soundbar I'm still eager to hear your answers.

The absolute main reason is because it's simple for my wife to turn on the TV and turn the volume up and down. She doesn't care about the sound system very much and she's happy with just a sound bar.
As an added bonus I found it works pretty good as a center speaker.

So mainly it's a convenience thing. Listening to the television without turning on the whole system.

 

[Mr Ee]

I want to get the Ultra but I'm concerned that it will not be in sync because it has the exact same chip as the SMSL.

Should I not worry about this and just try it because there are other factors that go into lag besides just the chip?

For me:
Netflix to a chromecast, tv optical out to Ultra optical in, Ultra optical out to amp => same experience as with a pro in a similar setup - no lip sync issues.
Replace tv optical out with Hdmi into the ultra and it's the same, no issues.
(Unlike my long gone bluesound node n130!).

Well, maybe 1 irritation - those pesky fake dancing lines on the ultra's screen
Far too distracting!

 

[Etudes.2024]

On a related note I hooked up my LG-C1 to the Ultra using the HDMI ARC and it worked fine this afternoon, but this evening there was a problem with latency (bad enough to make it unwatchable). I'll do some troubleshooting tomorrow and hopefully there's a solution. It's nice turning on the TV and having the Ultra come on automatically, so we'll see.

 

[Jls]

DACs don’t usually lag, but DSP does. Is room correction on?

 

[harkpabst]

The absolute main reason is because it's simple for my wife to turn on the TV and turn the volume up and down. She doesn't care about the sound system very much and she's happy with just a sound bar.
As an added bonus I found it works pretty good as a center speaker.

So mainly it's a convenience thing. Listening to the television without turning on the whole system.

I see. However, if your power amp supports either auto-on or a trigger cable, the difference in usability would be really small, using HDMI ARC.

Your wife would still only need the TV remote to switch on the entire system and control the volume.

It probably takes a couple of seconds until everything is switched on, which might be a little less convenient. But also less gear, less clutter, usually something that is well accepted.

 

[Etudes.2024]

DACs don’t usually lag, but DSP does. Is room correction on?

Interesting. Yes room correction is on, so I’ll try turning it off. Will keep you posted.

 

[Jls]

Interesting. Yes room correction is on, so I’ll try turning it off. Will keep you posted.

This is a great failing of soundbars, that they are difficult to impossible to integrate as center channel speakers.

The first company that builds a soundbar that is intended as a dialog speaker will get my business.

 

[Etudes.2024]

The latency/lag resolved itself before I had a chance to turn off room correction. Maybe due to the firmware update which was just applied last night. Thanks for the input!

 

[Jls]

The latency/lag resolved itself before I had a chance to turn off room correction. Maybe due to the firmware update which was just applied last night. Thanks for the input!

I’m glad it wasn’t necessary to turn off room correction. Audio/video sync is a major unsolved problem. I would spend money on a preamp that had a dialog output along the lines of a subwoofer output. The obvious solution is to manage sync before the signal gets to the TV. ROKU would be an ideal place to do this.