Edifier B3 soundbar or Edifier R1280DB?

[Rib_Tickler]

Sound on my TV is pants. So need a solution. I have Edifier R1600, I think, on my PC and think they are great for the price. I will be connecting with optical.
So do I get the bookshelf Edifier R1280DB £119
or
Edifier B3 Soundbar £149?

or connect with RCA and get Edifier 980T or Edifier R1280T

I'm thinking the bookshelf ones.

 

[Rib_Tickler]

Personally, I'd prefer to have a bookshelf type of speaker. For TV channels and possibly films, the soundbar would be fine, but should you want to listen to any music, the bookshelf speaker would certainly be the better choice. I think I'd only go for the soundbar if there were not enough space or if TV placement makes that difficult to use bookshelf speakers.

If your TV has RCA out, then that's a perfectly viable choice to use as an output. R1600T III is on sale at the moment, so is the same price as the 1280T. I'd go for those over the 980T or the 1280T.

You have to be sure your TV has RCA audio out though. Depends how old or new your TV is. RCA audio out is getting less common these days, even on some more expensive TVs. TVs, even budget ones have RCA component in, which includes red and white audio. Input only though, and many people mistake that for being audio output as well as input. Of course, with optical out, you can always add a DAC; but then, you might as well just pay the extra and get the 1280DB, which has a DAC built in.

Plus there is the added bonus of Bluetooth on the 1280DB, which you may want to make use of by streaming music from a smartphone or tablet.

Thank you.

 

[Rib_Tickler]

Is optical much better than RCA.

 

[Rib_Tickler]

If using optical, the DAC (digital to analogue converter) inside the speakers is used to convert the audio data into analogue audio signal. Using RCA out from the TV, the DAC inside the TV is doing that.

I wouldn't expect there to be much difference if any to be honest, at least none that would be noticeable.

Some TVs only have a headphone output; which, while better than nothing, is not ideal, because that goes through the TVs internal amplifier, which is never any good for anything more than it's own internal speakers. RCA is line level signal and bypasses that, which provides a cleaner signal for any connected speaker system. The downside is that because it bypasses the TVs amp, the TV remote has no control over the volume. Same applies to optical.

Of course, that will not be a too much of a hassle as the Edifier speakers have a remote control.

Thank again