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Level 1

11 points

New Apple TV--Missing optical connection

I noticed that new Apple TV is missing an optical connection for audio. As one can see from the various user questions and Airplay forums, it is clear that Airplay is not reliable. From my personal experience with Airplay compatible devices, OEM manufactures have implemented Airplay with various reliability. The only sure way to connect to a hi-fidelity audio system was using Toshlink optical wire. The current AppleTV allows an optical link which assures 100% sound fidelity which is critical to listening to the best sounds from Itune and other audio and video streaming services without any disruptions due to various issues associated with Airplay. My first question is how does Apple going to assure that Airplay compliant devices will not cause connection issues? The second question is that is there a way to connect audio system to the new AppleTV without using Airplay?

Posted on Sep 11, 2015 1:58 AM

100 replies

smurf69

Level 1

0 points

Mar 2, 2016 11:33 PM in response to lkrupp

I know that, but the AppleTV 3 doesn´t have the content that we want, that´s why we replaced it. Otherwise we would have kept it, and it´s not an option to have both an AppleTV3 and 4.

Mar 3, 2016 12:54 AM in response to smurf69

well, I got the audio out, but at a lousy quality, only 48 khz audio out, that´s the half of what I got from the good old Apple TV 3.

I believe that's exactly what you got from the Apple TV 3 too.

smurf69

Level 1

0 points

Mar 3, 2016 12:57 AM in response to Winston Churchill

At least it was 96 khz.

Mar 3, 2016 1:02 AM in response to smurf69

No I don't think it was

Mar 8, 2016 12:24 PM in response to Parallax View

Thank You, Parallax View – your answer/comment solved my issue, since I had the old Apple TV, bought the new one without reading its characteristics, and was disappointed when I found out "no optical audio output" … I was ready to give it away …

Alley_Cat

Level 7

20,548 points

Mar 8, 2016 4:57 PM in response to smurf69

smurf69 wrote:

At least it was 96 khz.

No Apple Tv 2/3 converted audio to 16 bit 48 kHz even when it would have been preferable not to in my view.

Mar 20, 2016 8:53 AM in response to planochoi

Have someone tested this audio adapter from Kanex?

http://www.kanex.com/hdmi-optical-audio

Aug 20, 2016 6:58 PM in response to Dave Calhoun2

Many of us are quite happy with our existing surround audio systems (DD & DTS) that accept optical/coax digital audio, but do not have HDMI at the receiver. For the video, I use a projector (HDMI) with glass to the receiver for the audio. ATV 3 supports this wonderfully, and because ATV 4 has no optical out, I won't be adding one until I evolve my receiver. It really was short sighted of Apple to neglect this feature. The same receiver has another digital input fed from an Airport Express for music only (including DTS) from iTunes. There is another missing feature in ATV: DTS passthrough.

Jan 28, 2017 7:53 AM in response to walk0080

Try to open link in post, to which I reply - http://www.kanex.com/hdmi-optical-audio

rocket7

Level 1

4 points

Apr 30, 2017 8:26 AM in response to planochoi

I agree. This is the sole reason I have not gotten the new Apple TV and am still stuck using the 3rd gen. Apple sure does like removing ports and functionality.

New Apple TV--Missing optical connection