This thing looks really nice actually. I think the optical ports really help with latency. I have the Phonak TV connector. Got it for around $70 on ebay which I thought was a good price. Really enjoy it but if it stops working I would definitely give this a try.
1 Like
I figure that I could use the Phonak app to control volume if the native volume output from the digital optical source was not overwhelming. My sound bar has its own volume control via a remote. /// With the ReSound Streamer2 I set the volume at mid level on the device and then fine tune it with the app for comfort depending upon the TV program.
For me, digital sound is a magnitude better than sound generated by any mechanical analog speaker. The digital signal goes directly to the hearing aids electronics and not processed through the HA microphones.
Thanks! I’m curious, does this device support Dolby Digital, or is it limited to PCM as the Phonak connector is?
Good question…I’m no expert here…ive only owned this thing 2 days…but what I read in the Amazon Q&A, no…no support of Dolby.
Thanks for the info, I think. I bought one when I saw your first post. Got it from Amazon in one day! Anyway, it refuses to pair with my P90 HAs. Just blinks orange forever. Yes, I had put the HAs in the pairing mode. Strange.
Understood… my personal experience, I found that there was a slow blink and a rapid blink, with the rapid being pairing mode… While nothing was paired oh, it would slow blink… But upon pressing the button twice rapidly, the blink changed to a rapid blink & then paired.
1 Like
Bam! Thank you, cottemar! The double-tap did it. It’s definitely the key statement in the instructions (which I obviously skipped over because I know everything there is to know about this sort of thing,) 
The first trial is to see if it releases me when I get 25’ away to the TV Connector.
Thanks again!!
1 Like
The original TV Connector does not have a volume control, but the V2 (the one I have – $100 “refurbished” on eBay, but they are mostly more than that now) – has an On/Off switch and Increase/Decrease buttons. Dolby Digital is supported – at least on the V2 TV Connector – as long as the optical connection is used and the TV output is set to Dolby.
If you have a link to the V2 Connector manual or spec sheet, that sure would be helpful. I’d like to be sure about this because the manuals on the phonak & phonakpro sites all specify that Dolby Digital and DTS are not supported, only sterero (PCM).
Thanks!
Page 18…Dolby IS supported…DTS is NOT
Note this at the top of p. 13:
“The TV Connector can receive and transmit Dolby Audio™, stereo or mono audio signals. Please make sure no DTS function has been enabled in TV (or on alternative audio source) settings.”
1 Like
If anyone wants one of these, Amazon has a $6 coupon probably today only. With tax it came to $23.31! It might still be available. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B098RWHV6R/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 Or use the link in first post.
1 Like
I think there may be confusion with the terminology. From your link and the Phonak site manuals:
The TV Connector supports Dolby Audio™, stereo or mono audio signals. Please make sure that the TV or audio source is not using the DTS audio setting. If this audio signal is present, the LED indicator on the TV Connector will be blinking red. Please change the audio signal to Dolby Audio™ or stereo (PCM) in the audio settings menu of your TV or audio source.
Note that Dolby Digital is not specified; that omission is significant. Dolby Audio is simply the blanket term for the various Dolby technologies. The Phonak device is limited to PCM digital stereo, where by comparison to Dolby Digital (or DTS), the “sound does not include discrete audio information for multiple channels. Instead, sound is extrapolated from a two-channel (stereo) signal.”
The distinction is shown more explicitly here in the Resound TV device spec:
*Stereo PCM
*- Sample rate: Up to 192 kHz
*- Sample resolution: Up to 32 bit
*Dolby Digital
*- Channels: Max 5.1
*- Bitrate: 32 kbs to 640 kbs
*- Sample rate: 32, 44.1, and 48 kHz
The Oticon and Signia TV devices (which are the same) state it this way:
TOSLINK. Either digital stereo (PCM) or Dolby® Digital
Dolby Digital and DTS formats utilize “perceptual data reduction techniques to remove useless data in PCM signal output, thereby preserving high fidelity sound." Both are 5.1 channel; they differ in bit rates and compression technology while achieving very similar results: They both remove noise otherwise found in PCM and both enhance sound quality in a way not possible with PCM, using their own codecs.
So both Dolby Digital and DTS are superior and distinct from PCM digital stereo. If the Phonak device supported Dolby Digital it would need to explicitly state so for licensing purposes (as the competitor devices do), but it does not.
2 Likes
Thanks mingus… all I know is my original Phonak TV Converter downstairs serves a Samsung w/ sound settings at Dolby Digital, and is fed via the optic cable. The significantly less expensive Amazon Converter I have upstairs requires PCM setting on that Samsung… the major jest of this thread was to call folks attention to a found alternative, albeit a lesser alternative in some ways, to the brand-name converters that have always been so expensive, and are now becoming more-so & scarce.
Fair enough. Thanks.
How would you get Dolby 5.1 sound when you have only two “speakers,” one in each ear?
You don’t - but then again, you do. The Dolby Digital encoder can utilize up to 6 channels, but it will be delivered in whichever speaker configuration is supported. Here is how it works:
Many Dolby Digital decoders are equipped with downmixing to distribute encoded channels to speakers. This includes such functions as playing surround information through the front speakers if surround speakers are unavailable, and distributing the center channel to left and right if no center speaker is available. When outputting to separate equipment over a 2-channel connection, a Dolby Digital decoder can optionally encode the output using Dolby Surround to preserve surround information.
“Preserving surround information” is what I get through my 2.1 soundbar and is also what I surprisingly experienced while using the Signia “Streamline TV” connector. While of course neither the soundbar nor the connector w/HA’s can deliver a full 5.1 speaker experience, with both I can hear objects which sound spatially separated from other objects and the voices. Essentially the encoder/decoder algorithms mix the sound in such a way as to create a multi-dimension perception for the listener, aka “virtual sound.”
For sound encoded in Dolby Digital, a Dolby Digital decoder is required to deliver that encoded audio. If the device is limited to digital stereo (PCM), the additional DD encoded sound information in the source is lost. This is why I raised the question in my previous post a few days ago: The decoder matters.
1 Like
When I bought the TV Connector for my KS9s the advantage of the TV Connector over a Bluetooth connection was supposed to be in battery life–Bluetooth supposedly used batteries much faster than the TV Connector.
So I will be interested to see what @cottemar experience is with battery life.
1 Like
I have Signia aids. Will this work with those?
Thanks Bob… i’ve noted no real difference between the Phonak unit & the Amazon.