The answer to this common question is "Yes," which makes HDMI sources less likely to send audio to other equipment in your TV system.
Traditionally, audio and video were transmitted separately through different interfaces, such as CVBS for traditional TVs and component video connectors for DVD players and game consoles.
The introduction of HDMI revolutionized this paradigm. HDMI unified the transmission of audio and video, greatly enhancing user convenience. Displays nowadays often incorporate built-in speaker systems to play audio and video from the same HDMI source.
Nevertheless, users seeking higher audio quality often prefer external audio devices over the built-in speakers of their displays. As modern TVs now feature slimness, high-end speakers become unlikely to be incorporated since they require more space for resonance or setting up multiple speakers for surround sound. This is where the demand arises to extract the audio from HDMI and play it on external audio devices like a soundbar.
Today, many set-top boxes and Blu-ray players offer separate audio interfaces for connecting external sound systems or speakers. As the variety of audio-visual sources continues to expand, a single display and speaker system may have to afford three to five or more sources.
Though, this is less of an issue for displays, as most now come with three or more HDMI inputs.
However, in situations with multiple sources, connecting your audio device to each source can be complicated over wiring.
