Delayed sound from soundbar compared to TV

[One and a Half]

Having an issue of sound delays between a soundbar and cabled connection to a kitchen radio.
System:
Sony KV-8500 (may not be right from memory)
Sony HT-A7000 Soundbar connected eARC to TV
Sony SA-SW5 sub.

The kitchen radio, Ruark R2 has an aux line in. The audio comes from a $20 Optical to RCA DAC at the TV's optical output port. The cable run is about 10m at line RCA level, there's no hum. We can see the TV from the lounge in the kitchen, but the audio from the soundbar is directional and speech is a bit of a mess. The small radio is enough to reinforce speech and the advertisements are then easily controlled.

Problem is when the soundbar & TV are on, there's a propagation delay between the DAC and the soundbar of a few milliseconds and the sound is like a stadium. We switch off the sound bar and the problem disappears. The soundbar switches on when the TV starts up, which is a feature we like to keep.

How to reduce the delay time? If the soundbar had an optical output would be easy, but doesn't have.

 

[lovinthehd]

Probably just a delay due processing with your setup. Have you tried adjusting delay in the soundbar? Or the tv?

 

[One and a Half]

Probably just a delay due processing with your setup. Have you tried adjusting delay in the soundbar? Or the tv?

The soundbar would have to advance and the other would have to stay as is.

The soundbar has adjustment settings that sets the delay from 0 to several hundreds of milliseconds. The soundbar cannot advance. If the soundbar is used for the TV alone, there's no lip sync issues, works as intended.

I will check when home again, the TV may only have delay as well.

 

[TLS Guy]

The soundbar would have to advance and the other would have to stay as is.

The soundbar has adjustment settings that sets the delay from 0 to several hundreds of milliseconds. The soundbar cannot advance. If the soundbar is used for the TV alone, there's no lip sync issues, works as intended.

I will check when home again, the TV may only have delay as well.

I don't see how you can solve this. Units do not advance. If you think about it this is obvious, as you can not intervene before an event happens. So you would have to delay the kitchen unit to get the sound in synch. I would just leave sound bar off when in the kitchen. Your issue is due to the finite speed of sound. If you want both sound bar and Ruark on, then you will need a delay line for the kitchen.

 

[One and a Half]

I don't see how you can solve this. Units do not advance. If you think about it this is obvious, as you can not intervene before an event happens. So you would have to delay the kitchen unit to get the sound in synch. I would just leave sound bar off when in the kitchen. Your issue is due to the finite speed of sound. If you want both sound bar and Ruark on, then you will need a delay line for the kitchen.

PC Playback like VLC can advance or delay, it's a buffer adjustment, but a computer has enough processing to do anything. When digital systems are involved, their buffering systems can be different, two DAB+ radios can operate the same station, their processing causes a lag, but FM radios don't.
The soundbar accepts audio in from a TOSLINK, somewhere there's a TOSLINK 3 way splitter that can go to the radio and the soundbar. It's not Atmos, but not worried about the bouncy sound, just a better clarity versus the TV speakers, so 2CH is fine.

 

[TLS Guy]

PC Playback like VLC can advance or delay, it's a buffer adjustment, but a computer has enough processing to do anything. When digital systems are involved, their buffering systems can be different, two DAB+ radios can operate the same station, their processing causes a lag, but FM radios don't.
The soundbar accepts audio in from a TOSLINK, somewhere there's a TOSLINK 3 way splitter that can go to the radio and the soundbar. It's not Atmos, but not worried about the bouncy sound, just a better clarity versus the TV speakers, so 2CH is fine.

Yes, the problem is that you have to delay everything first before you can sync it. Then it will be out of sync with the TV picture. As I said you can't advance something before it arrives!

 

[One and a Half]

Thought process yielded to use the TV's optical out direct to the soundbar, therefore the processing of the HDMI signal won't occur and the delays should be none.
Means that any Atmos content won't be decoded with HDMI ARC, but that's a loss I can live without. Also requires the soundbar to be switched on every time, which is no different to switching it off due to the delay systems.
Alternatively use the TV optical out to a simple DAC with analog outs to the soundbar.