Soundbar Damage from Plugging an ARC Cable into a Standard HDMI Port?

[purdnost]

A few questions regarding my new soundbar:

The instructions for my new soundbar state: “Insert the HDMI cable into a port in your TV labeled HDMI ARC (Audio Return Channel) or HDMI IN, not a standard HDMI port.

Before reading this, I initially plugged the cable into a standard HDMI port. Obviously, I didn’t get any sound, and plugged the cable into the correct (ARC) port and I haven’t had any problems.

I’m just curious if plugging the soundbar into the incorrect port could cause any damage to the soundbar. My guess it no, but I thought I’d ask to be safe.

Also, can unplugging or plugging in an HDMI cable from a device that is powered on cause any damage?

Finally, while my soundbar did come with an optical cable, I opted for an ARC HDMI for greater bandwidth, but at the expense of moving my Apple TV HDMI cable from the ARC port to a standard HDMI port. Would I benefit more from my Apple TV or soundbar utilizing the ARC port?

 

[casperes1996]

No risk of damage there, no. HDMI with ARC is a superset of standard HDMI so if something takes HDMI ARC it also takes regular HDMI even if it’s not strictly speaking useful. And generally, if the connector fits, it’s not dangerous

Shouldn’t be a problem unplugging and plugging back in while the device is on either. - Is there technically a greater risk, yes, but we’re talking one in a quintillion.

TOSLINK optical is a bit of a funny one since it’s actually a digital standard, so it being optical is kinda pointless, but if we’re talking pure bandwidth, optical, by definition, travels at the speed of light and per link is far faster than the, likely, copper cabling in an HDMI cable. The bandwidth in HDMI will also not all be dedicated to audio even if only an audio device is connected, and even if it were that would be so much more bandwidth than needed that no audio file has ever been made to need that kind of bandwidth and no ear on the planet, human or otherwise, could tell the difference. An HDMI connection can give other “smart” behaviour like remote control passthrough and such, but you’re not winning audio quality through increasing the bandwidth really

 

[purdnost]

No risk of damage there, no. HDMI with ARC is a superset of standard HDMI so if something takes HDMI ARC it also takes regular HDMI even if it’s not strictly speaking useful. And generally, if the connector fits, it’s not dangerous

Shouldn’t be a problem unplugging and plugging back in while the device is on either. - Is there technically a greater risk, yes, but we’re talking one in a quintillion.

TOSLINK optical is a bit of a funny one since it’s actually a digital standard, so it being optical is kinda pointless, but if we’re talking pure bandwidth, optical, by definition, travels at the speed of light and per link is far faster than the, likely, copper cabling in an HDMI cable. The bandwidth in HDMI will also not all be dedicated to audio even if only an audio device is connected, and even if it were that would be so much more bandwidth than needed that no audio file has ever been made to need that kind of bandwidth and no ear on the planet, human or otherwise, could tell the difference. An HDMI connection can give other “smart” behaviour like remote control passthrough and such, but you’re not winning audio quality through increasing the bandwidth really

Great feedback! I suppose the primary benefit I get from using ARC is that I can control the volume of the soundbar using my Apple TV remote.

 

[casperes1996]

Great feedback! I suppose the primary benefit I get from using ARC is that I can control the volume of the soundbar using my Apple TV remote.

Indeed, yes

 

[JasonHB]

The purpose of ARC is to be able to route the audio from your displayed image out to an AVR or Soundbar in your case. The benefit of this over toslink or coaxial digital output is primarily for higher resolution audio formats, such as Dolby Atmos.

There is no downside to plugging your Apple TV into any of your HDMI ports, in the same way that you wont gain anything by plugging the Apple TV into the ARC connection.

Apple TV into any HDMI and your soundbar into the ARC one, then you are all set.

Also, as has been said, there is no likelihood of damage with connecting any device into any HDMI port, they are all totally compatible.

 

[AZhappyjack]

As others have said, it's the same port with additional features. Plugging an HDMI cable into it will do nothing except give you the return audio. No harm done.