When I got my new TV I could have bought an upgraded sound system for a few hundred $$ more. Glad I didn’t because no matter how good the TV sound system is,its not good enough. I use a super HIFI system plus the direct connect.
Thank you for your quick reply. Glad it is working for you.
I also use an Oticon TV Adapter 3 to stream directly on the main TV I watch. You are right that a better sound system is useless for me, and makes speech mostly unintelligible without direct streaming.
We are considering a more streamlined set up for another TV.
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My advice is to get a TV Streamer as I have a high end Bose soundbar and it does not really work for hearing impairments.
Generally you will still need a soundbar anyway with a modern TV even for those with good hearing as the TV speakers are small and tinny sounding which defeats the purpose of having great OLED picture but rubbish sound.
Check the output of the LG to make sure that if you plug in a TV streamer to the headphone output that it is does not cut out the sound for other people as if you connect a soundbar you do it via the optical connection.
There are other configurations to be able to use both a streamer and a soundbar at the same time via an optical or HDMI Splitter. The big high street chain store salespeople are not in my opinion very knowledgeable on how these things are set up when you need to plug a couple of devices directly into the TV
Thank You. The LG has pretty good speakers. A sound bar does not fit under it as it is above my fireplace mantel and there is not enough clearance. I opted for a receiver and external speakers. In addition I got the Bluetooth Aftershokz Headphones
Simplest answer based on what I know.
- I have the same TV. Built in sound is a lot better than most.
- I have a soundbar (Yamaha ATS-1080 from Costco) which helps even people with normal hearing
- I have a link to the TV with a TV connector from the manufacturers of my HAs which provides perfect clarity. The one issue is that if someone wants to talk to me I have to pause the TV to listen as the TV sound dominates the HAs.
In summary, buying a TV link device from your HA manufacturer is the best solution by a mile.
The LG OLED has plenty of HDMI ports, including the ARC one, necessary to throughput sound to a sound bar.
This TV also has an optical output but this is no longer the preferred port because HDMI with ARC switches on the soundbar and controls sound bar volume with the TV remote.
(source: I have an LG OLED screen)
In the UK Optical is generally preferred over HDMI for best sound quality so I use an optical cable to the sound bar and can control the volume on the soundbar from both the TV remote and the Cable Box remote. I also use an optical splitter to go to the Phonak TV Streamer using a second optical cable. I only use the HDMI ports when I turn on the Sonos which gives superb surround sound but I generall only use it when streaming movies as it is so powerful (ie dont even need to use the TV Streamer to my hearing aids) but can be a bit over powering imo for watching run of mill TV however I understand eveyone has there own preferred setup and I dont think there is a right or wrong method .
Optical can’t transmit higher resolution audio such as that found on Blu-ray: Dolby TrueHD and DTS HD Master Audio but HDMI 2.1, available on TVs from 2015 onward, can. There is no difference in these formats on either side of the pond. The other advantage of HDMI 2.1 is the ability to control other devices, which is relevant when you want to control, for instance, a sound bar’s output of an Apple TV’s content.
I’m not clear here. If one gets a soundbar, can the tv connector for say, KS9s, be connected to it, so the hearing aids get the better sound? Posts here make it sound as if you plug the soundbar into the HDMI outlet and then have to plug the tv device into a remaining connection on the tv itself. So you’d never be getting the improved soundbar sound into the aids.
By ‘tv device’ you mean something that transmits audio to your aids? If so, the soundbar is not going to improve the sound you get out of the aids. Ideally you want to feed it the unmodified audio that the tv puts out. That means plugging it into the tv.
Here is a diagram of my setup, showing how everything connects — except for the soundbar’s matching wireless subwoofer and rear speakers (not shown here). This terrific Sony sound system, which features immersive Dolby Atmos, has settings which can accentuate dialogue. It provides truly outstanding audio for such a compact system, and I don’t have the need for a dedicated streaming device. The sound picked up through the air by my ReSound Quattro’s is simply wonderful.
The fantastic 4K HDMI switcher I’m using is:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B076XWNQP9/
Yes, by tv device I mean the thing Costco sells for KS9 aids to transmit the sound directly to the aids. If the sound in the aids when plugging that device into the tv is as good as it gets, then a soundbar is irrelevant for me.
Irrelevant or counter-productive. If you watch tv on your own, you’ll probably find yourself turning off all external sound. It will be clearer through your aids alone.
I bow to your superior knowledge.
My Bose Soundbar is of an older variety and does not have a HDMI connection but on doing a bit of research up I found out that in the case of the latest Bose 700 soundbar it cannot actually process all of the formats you mention and the HDMI cable included is just future proofing.
Update on purchase of Zvox AV203 soundbar - it is excellent for speech enhancement. I adjusted the settings that sounded the best for speech clarity for me. I have only listened to news type shows and flipping around to other cable channels to get a sense of background sounds. I have not watched / listened to dramas, movies or football - the loudest background crowd noise yet. I am a fan of Live Listen and set the iPhone next to the soundbar…the sound was close to the quality of streaming from my TV Adapter 3, at least on the news shows. So far,I am happy. If I could have connected my Oticon OPN1’s to more than 1 TV Adapter easily, I would have bought another TV Adapter; this combo of soundbar and Live Listen is a good, and very easy solution to stream into my aids.
Thank you to all who recommended it.
My spouse, who has perfect hearing, and watches this TV more than I do, also is happy with it.
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The air shockz work well , they are Bluetooth. I can tune tv volume to zero and hear everything in the headset. If you have a good receiver and the bluetooth “ sender” hooked up, this may be an option for some folks. OH Yeah!! I don’t even wear my H-aids.
The issue for me has been the poorly designed and placed speakers on two recent Sony TV’s purchased over the past few years. The sound seems “muffled” to me so word recognition is worse than usual. With the older TV I have used our existing home entertainment center with center and front main speakers; that works well with no other devices between speaker and HA’s.
The newer TV is a 55 inch model in the dining area. We use a Yamaha YAS 107 sound bar (entry model) connected to that TV with an optical cable. For me the sound bar approach improves my TV watching/listening experience although I think an upscale Yamaha model with front firing speakers and an external woofer could further improve the experience. BTW no additional devices between sound bar out put and HA input
So to answer your question, it has certainly been my experience that a sound bar with a new TV can certainly improve the sound. But its very much a personal experience.
I definitely recommend using retailers who are willing to let you try out soundbars over a few weeks without penalty. Costco have a very helpful return policy with this in mind.
I have a ZVOX soundbar, hooked up to my TV and then plug my TV Connector into the soundbar. I also power the TV Connector via a USB port on my TV, so it comes on automatically whenever the TV is powered on. I find both devices helpful. The ZVOX soundbar greatly improves the sound quality from my TV, as well as voice recognition. But the TV Connector is even better when streaming directly to my KS9s.
The only trouble with streaming from the TV Connector is that it pretty much overwhelms any other noise, so when people are watching with me I can’t converse with them unless I drop the connection. So, I find the soundbar helpful for those situations.