Average Customer Review: ( 82 customer reviews )
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63 of 64 found the following review helpful:
 Worked great Jul 01, 2011
By Joe88
"Joe"
I got this converter because I got a new hdtv however my old sound system only accepted analog composite L/R input. Problem was all the newer hdtv's are eliminating the analog out's and going strictly for digital out like on mine which only had optical audio out.
Looked around and found this converter, even though it fairly expensive, its way cheaper then buying a whole new surround sound system. Bought a cheap 6ft two dollar optical cable with it.
Plugged everything in and I cant detect any problems or audio lag, no noise or fuzziness, it just works like its supposed too.
In the box you get the converter which is made of sturdy steel, and the ac adapter, and some basic instructions.
A few things to note:
the picture listed on the amazon page is wrong, it shows an analog to digital converter when it should be the other way around
make sure your HDTV supports PCM in the audio options, you can find this under the audio options of your HDTV usually under digital optical out, if it only supports Dolby Digital 5.1, this converter will not work
Auto-off would have been a nice feature, doubt it uses much electricity anyway
and also the red power LED is way too bright, I put a piece of electrical tape over it to block it
26 of 27 found the following review helpful:
 Pricey but gets the job done Feb 04, 2011
By John W. Graham
Here is my scenario and reason for needing this converter. I purchased an AppleTV for use with a slightly older LCD Samsung HDTV. Unfortunately, the Samsung HDTV only has a DVI input on the back as well as analog (RCA) audio. Now consider that I have an upconverting DVD player, which is HDMI based, and the AppleTV, which is also HDMI based. HDMI, as you know, carries audio. DVI does not. So in my situation, I have a HDMI to DVI cable connecting the AppleTV to the Samsung HDTV. Unfortunately, there are no RCA audio outs on the AppleTV...just an optical toslink audio out. That's where this handy little converter comes into play. With this, I can use a digital optical cable to get sound to my non-HDMI enabled HDTV...problem solved.
Now here are the drawbacks. First, the sound quality is quite good, but I really have to crank up the volume on the TV to hear anything - so there is some volume loss with the conversion. Second, the converter itself is not well built. When I attempted to plug in the digital optical audio cable, the connector on the converter almost came loose and fell into the device. Luckily I was still able to plus the cable into it. The converter seems rather flimsy for the price point. And yes...that is another complaint I have. The price of this unit is much too high. So I knocked off 2 stars for those complaints.
For now, until I can get an upgraded HDTV, this device solves my immediate dilemma of not hearing sound.
22 of 26 found the following review helpful:
 Not good Mar 14, 2011
By Christopher M Luecke
This item makes an unbelievable hissing sound when there is no digital signal present. When I emailed the seller (they were very responsive and helpful, this review is no reflection on them)they responded to say the manufacturer replied and told them they designed it that way (or at least they were aware of the issue and they don't see it as an issue). They suggested to the seller that I use better quality cables to reduce the hissing. First of all, I used top quality cables. As a professional A/V custom installer, I am flabbergasted that they designed noise to be present when no signal is present. Amazing. There are other solutions available and I strongly suggest looking into them and not buying this particular item.
8 of 8 found the following review helpful:
Pricey, but it works... I think... Dec 31, 2010
By Steve
I was apprehensive to spend $47 on a converter, but it does do it's job. I have a digital RCA cable going to the box, which turns it into stereo analog RCA and it goes into my amplifier. It sounds great, but I never used digital RCA cables before, so I don't know if it's at its full potential. It's way better than going from 3.5mm jack to RCA, though.
I did get a scare when I got the box, however. The picture of the converter on the box is WRONG but the product is RIGHT. The picture has the digital as the output and the RCA as the input, but that's not what the product is. the product is as pictured above! (Made in China, go figure)
So if you need to go from digital RCA to analog RCA, this is the cheapest way I could find on Amazon as of December 27, 2010. It worked for me, so you can give it a shot!
6 of 6 found the following review helpful:
No-nonsense device that works as promised Jun 25, 2011
By Fourth Quark
I bought this device from monoprice.com, where it cost less than at Amazon, and was impressed with the ease of setup as well as the performance.
The housing is heavy gauge powder-coated steel. Connector ports are sturdy. The optical fiber snaps in for a snug fit.
Because some reviewers had complained about excessive attenuation (i.e. loss of signal strength), I chose a very short optical fiber to run from my TV to this device. That seemed to do the trick, because I have two analog RCA wireless headphones connected to the output of this device and they both receive acceptably strong signal.
I just wish D/A converters weren't so darned expensive. :-(
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