FYI: I just received my KabelDirekt (3 feet) Mini TOSLINK Optical Digital Audio Cable - Pro Series for my new Phonak TV Connector. And, the sound quality is so much better than the OEM TOSLINK provided by Phonak. $8.00
Maybe that’s what’s wrong with the TV Connector attached to my laptop! Could you supply a link? Thanks.
Thank you very much!
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I am a great example of cognitive dissonance. On one hand I really don’t believe that cable makes a difference. On the other, I ordered one just in case it does.
Ditto! 
I second that emotion!
I find it very hard to believe a cable would make any difference whatsoever. The information is digital. Either it works or not.
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@jamezam, sorry for the coming rant, but as an engineer and a scientist, I can tell you with 100% certainty that you’re wrong about the cable.
@NateS, don’t waste your money.
Those stupid, gold-colored cables do NOTHING over any other optical cable. If the sound is coming through, all the digital information is getting through. There is no such thing as “better” with a digital cable. If it’s broken, you’ll get choppy sound and you’ll know it. Aside from that, there is ABSOLUTELY NOTHING that can give you a “better” sound.
You’re just being ripped off. Any difference you hear is purely imagination, so you can convince yourself that you weren’t just cheated. Which you were.
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I’m new to HA’s and just got the TV Connect which I use with a Sony Bravia XBR 940E-75. When the TV is turned off the USB power supply does as well but I was continually getting the musical tone sent at random intervals to the HA’s and attempts to turn off the TV Connect was unsuccessful. Since I could not understand how the TV connect could send the tone with out power I plugged in a small LED lamp into the USB outlet and was surprised to see it illuminate in spite of the TV power shutdown. After around 10 minutes the lamp shutdown so I can only conclude that the TV’s internal capacitance was slowly draining and eventually became low enough that the lamp was extinguished. This condition may or may not be applicable to other TV manufacturers but it did lead me to purchase a USB power cord with an inline on/off switch to eliminate the irritating musical tone.
JBtek Raspberry Pi Micro USB Cable with ON/Off Switch at Amazon.
The hearing aids random jumping in and out of auto can be caused by other paired Bluetooth devices trying to connect to your aids.
I typically have a phone and TV connector paired to my aids. Sometimes I want to listen to a YouTube on the iPad so I pair it to the aids. Afterwords the issue described happens. I turn iPad Bluetooth off and the problem stops.
This is with Phonak Audeo M aids and Samsung phone.
Well then I must have had a defective TOSLINK cable from Phonak. Their supplied cables are just fiber optics dipped in plastic. It’s not worth dealing w/VA or Phonak to get a different cable. And, the $8 I spent on a different TOSLINK cable didn’t break my bank.
The optical fiber in a standard (inexpensive) TOSLINK cable is plastic and is a bit fragile (easily broken if coiled too tightly or bent too sharply). See:
This reminds me of the Denon Denon AKDL1 Dedicated Link Cable. This cable is an ethernet cable. Sadly, the reviews are gone. They were the most entertaining I’ve ever seen on Amazon.
Here are some references:
haggis - You may be perfectly right but on the other hand I am not sure I am making myself clear. I get crackling and cutting in and out from my built-in audio port on my 2012 laptop which I suspect is due to a damaged internal sound card. I get good clear sound most of the time when I use my standard streaming bluetooth into my KS9s but it burns through my hearing batteries almost daily, and most reports in this forum suggest that the TV connector uses a proprietary form of transmission which barely affects battery usage, so I thought maybe I could use this cable to connect my external sound card with the TV connector since I misplaced the optical cable which came with it.
But you could well be right anyway but for small change it is worth a try.
We live off grid and that is exactly why we have a power strip to turn everything off. TVs, stereos etc have phantom loads.
I can understand the input from random Bluetooth devices but if the TV Connect is without any power supplied then there should be no musical tone sent to the HA’s, hence, the soon to be installed mechanical on/off switch to be placed inline. Yep, I’m old school… 
BTW, Cheers on the home brew. It’s a very popular pastime here on the Central Coast of California.
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I have had HAs for 20 years and previously had a TV Streamer for my oticons.
Hubby and I both have Phonak Marvels. Were told they were so good we wouldn’t need a TV Connector, but Hubby still struggled with TV voices, and It was a nightly ritual of “What did he say?” so we bought the TV Connector last week. We have a Marantz which gives us brilliant sound through 5 speakers and I was worried we might lose that. Last night, not once did he ask, “What did he say?”. Added to that, I would swear I was in the middle of the action; the Surround Sound was truly surrounding me. On screen, it was a wet night and the car entered left, its tires swishing on the wet road before exiting right. The two main characters talked in the courtyard ahead of me whilst lesser voices passed left, right and behind me.
My one question is does anyone know how , when two of us are using the TV Connector, one of you can switch off? I assumed it would be easy using the MyPhonak app, but it didn’t seem to work.
Your Phonak Marvel aids can be set up in the hearing aid software to do one of three things concerning how they connect to the TV connector.
My wife’s are set up to connect automatically to the TV connector when available while mine are set up to give me a tone when available. I have 5 seconds to touch the volume toggle to turn on the sound from the TV connector. I can also at any time give my up volume toggle a long push to turn off the sound from the TV connector.
These settings need to be done by your audiologist in the Phonak Target software.
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This is great to know. Thanks. I’m taking note for my possible future purchase.
Anyone here know a trick for increasing the range of the TV connector? I have an old house with thick walls and it cuts off as soon as I leave the room. I know there are long-range bluetooth devices out there but I really do like the TV connector.