SOUTHSKY 5.1/2.1 Audio Rush Digital Sound Decoder Converter,Optical SPDIF, Coaxial to 5.1CH 2.1CH Analog Audio (6RCA Output) for Old AV Receiver

This is exactly what I needed to convert a smart TV (with only SPDIF) to use a Sony receiver (with no SPDIF input) and surround system I was given. Works exactly how I wanted it to and works flawlessly.It is true that the sound depends on the source, so if the source says 5.1 and it turns out to be something else, you won't get exactly 5.1 surround, but you will still get sound. This has worked for everything I cared about on that smart TV and finally allowed me to use those beautiful speakers built into my walls that came with the house.

I don't know if it's due to the loose power plug, but the device loses sound a few minutes after starting up. It's very irregular, and sometimes works for a few hours before it starts failing, but the failing is consistent either way.

Excellent audio device works in analog and optical audio, make's me possible to recover a great vintage 5.1 sound system

I'll explain my current setup and if you have something similar this device should work well for you. I had an AV receiver in my media room that had a digital coax and an optical audio input. It failed after 15 years but I had an old AV receiver that only had 5.1 analog inputs and I decided to use the sound decoder instead of buying a new receiver. My TV only has coax out and my XBox has optical. Connecting this device to the receiver, TV, and XBox is very easy and I was able to get sound right away from my TV. My old receiver had an indicator that it was receiving multi-channel but the replacement receiver doesn't, just a 5.1 input selector. I know which TV stations broadcast in 5.1 so I selected one of those to test the surround sound. The center speaker did have most of the speech track but I wasn't getting a lot of sound from the other channels. With this receiver I can adjust the volume of each channel individually so I could get the effects that I wanted and it appeared to be providing 5.1. I think that not having this capability lead to some of the complaints that I read about low sound volume. Selecting my Roku connected to the TV I got a full surround effect but my old receiver never detected it as multi-channel which makes me think that this was simulated 5.1. My guess (and it's only a guess) that if this unit detects multi-channel it will pass it through and if not, it simulates it. Overall, this unit did what I needed. It allowed me to connect my TV to an old receiver with a passable sound quality.Here are a couple of things that made me rate this a 4 instead of a 5. I don't like the push button to change from 2.1 to 5.1. Without an indicator it was difficult to determine which mode I was in while I was setting up. I would recommend using a simple slide switch or an indicator. Having a multi-channel indicator would be helpful. When I first set it up, I could hear a low 60 Hz hum through the speakers. I found by moving the power supply away from other AC sources I could dramatically reduce the noise so I would guess that there could be a shielding problem. But, for the price point it worked remarkably well and it allowed me to reuse some old equipment instead of buying new.

The device worked fine for a few months, but now I've got to twist it around into strange orientations in order for it to function - mostly but not quite upside-down for instance.I've taken the board out of the case and used my multi-thousand-dollar oscilloscope to determine whether there's a bad connection e.g. from the coaxial SPDIF or anywhere else on the board, and as far as I can tell that is not the case. From my experience designing and fabricating circuit boards, my best guess is that there's a fault somewhere in the board itself, as I don't see any bad solder joints anywhere.Additionally, when looking at various points on the board with my scope, I see a very clear and significant noise floor that's only a few decibels lower than the majority of the signals I get from a typical DVD. I've traced this back to the power brick itself, so if you care about sound quality with this device, find a better brick.It's been 4 months since I bought this so it's out of Amazon return period...

The SOUTHSKY 5.1/2.1 Audio Rush Digital Sound Decoder works great for connecting my stereo Sennheiser headphones. I'm taking 5.1 surround sound from a gofanco extractor and decoding to analog RCA outs. This unit has a switch that combines the 5 surround channels making left front and right front mixed stereo outputs plus subwoofer out. I am finally able to keep surround sound playback in the room and provide headphone audio for my wife. Other splitters I have tried always switched my Receiver from 5.1 surround encoding to PCM stereo when I connected to use the left and right RCA outputs. This unit connected to a gofanco HDMI to HDMI extractor set to 5.1 surround makes my Receiver stay in surround mode so all my devices ( Firetv, Blu-ray player & Dish TV) play out surround sound.

As advertised, decodes your digital output for 5.1 surround, but for some reason they only seem to last about a year. Then the constant restarts begin. Something in the sound gets wonky, sometimes frequently and sometimes hours apart. Only fix is unplug the power and plug it back in. This is maybe my 5th one because it's a lot cheaper than a receiver.

I Used this product to create a surround sound straight from TV to active speakers. Eliminating the need for a large reciever. I swapped the power plug with a USB to dc plug and velcro to the back of my TV. Easy setup and great audio separation. Separation selection from 2.1 to 5.1 as you build your (active speaker) surround system.