Sound quality through a TV to a HiFi

General Discussions
1

If I convert all my CDs to FLAC or similar so they a full quality copies rather than lossy like MP3 and store those in the Plex library, then use the Plex app on say a modern Samsung Smart TV which is using optical audio out to a HiFi how can I find out/does anyone know what quality of stream is being supplied at the output of the TV?

If the app on Samsung is only going to be MP3, then I’d rather use a Raspberry Pi or similar where I can get the full quality sound delivered to the HiFi.

Thanks in advance.

Tom

2

Well without investigating further, I’d say that it depends on the output from the TV. You said optical audio out, so the quality should be pristine. Especially if you use FLAC, ALAC or lossless. The Plex app should play the original quality, as far as I understand (providing you have the bandwidth, if you stream from the web, i.e. Plex Cloud).

3

Thanks for the quick answer.

I’m assuming the TV optical output should be fine, my concern was that although it will be local network that the Plex app on the TV might call for MP3 or similar rather than handling the full original quality.

Tom

4

I’d get a confirmation from someone who’s a Music Streaming power user, but like I said I’d suspect that it works similarly to video, that you can play it back in Original quality. There might not even be an option to transcode the song to a lesser format (i.e. MP3), as you can with video (although for mobile network devices this would definitely be advantageous).