Monoprice 113347 BlackbirdTM 4K Series HDMI Audio Inserter, Black 2.3 x 7 x 9.5

I have read several reviews of this product here on amazon. I have read several reviews of this product on monoprice's own website. I have read several reviews of this audio inserter on various other forums and websites. A common theme among them is that some people have this working, and some people do not. Those who do not, are convinced that "it doesn't work," or even better, that "it doesn't work with a PC," or even "it doesn't work if your HDMI signal does not already carry audio." Those who don't have this working complain the loudest and insist that these things are so.I'm here to tell you that this audio inserter works. It works perfectly. It does exactly what its name says it does, what the product bullet points say it does, and most importantly, IT DOES WHAT YOU WANT IT TO DO. I know this because after reading so many "it doesn't work" reviews, I had read at least as many "this does exactly what I need" reviews, and I decided to take a calculated risk that maybe, just maybe, computer and audio setups are complex and that there was a chance that many people, despite being tech savvy were missing something and blaming the box--and after receiving my box, AND MISSING THINGS MY OWN DUMB SELF, I got the box to work.And it works great! It sends a one-to-one audio signal of your choice, via either 3.5mm analogue input, or toslink optical cable. Dolby? DTS? Plain old stereo? Whatever it is that you send it, it will pass it along. Does your HDMI source not have audio? IT DOES NOT MATTER, it will still insert the audio that you input and spit both of these out the HDMI socket on the front of the box. I know this because this is how I use this box. So to those poor souls who hated this inserter I say, try again. Scrutinize your setup. If all else fails, stop and LOOK at your toslink cable, after you plug it in to your source but before you plug it in to the box. If you don't see a red light, then you don't have a working toslink audio source--which is what turned out to be my problem, and something I only discovered after hours (that's right, I said HOURS) of screwing around and troubleshooting. And no, there's not a chance in hell my HDMI source has audio, either, because that is one of MANY bases I covered in my troubleshooting (I didn't want to use it with an HDMI audio source anyway). I'm not one to deal with stupid crap that I pay for, so if this box did not do what I say then I would shoot it straight back to monoprice for a refund, and after only a day's use of it, that's definitely not going to happen. My SoundBlaster Z card is piped in to my 5.1 audio receiver now. Oh and one more complaint I've seen a lot about this box, audio lag over toslink--DOES NOT HAPPEN.Pros:1. Inserts toslink or analogue.2. Inserts the same signal that you insert (DTS, Dolby, etc.).3. Zero lag.4. This monoprice box is the cheapest inserter I've seen that does what it does.5. It does 4K also.Cons:1. I can only think of one, and that is the custom nature of the jungle that you may be wading into by trying to use this box in the first place. I can see from reading these comments that TOO MANY USERS gave up when the box was not at fault.2. That's about it, can't think of anything else negative to gripe about.If you have a need to insert whatever audio into your HDMI source, this WILL do the task.

I got one and found that it was only outputting right channel audio despite the inserted signal being stereo.I tried different cables, I plugged headphones into the cable that audio was coming from to confirm it was actually sending stereo audio (it was), I even ordered a replacement assuming surely this was a fluke.Nope, not a fluke, this is a bad product. Even if it was faulty, BOTH units I got had the exact same issue. I would not trust this product to last..

I got this to hook up Sonos Connect, which only has optical output, to my Samsung soundbar, which only has HDMI input. I connect the Sonos Connect to this with an optical cable, connect an old Chromecast i had lying around just to provide some dummy HDMI signal (this doesn't work without an input HDMI signal) and hook up the HDMI output to my soundbar. Worked like a charm.The only annoying part is my soundbar won't turn on or switch to the right HDMI input automatically, but luckily both Sonos Connect and the Samsung soundbar have great Home Assistant support, which allows me to add such automation.

Let me say, I've been buying monoprice items for a long time and this is one of my rare complaints. First of all, Shout-out to the other reviewer Bill, who to me is "Bill the Galactic Hero" for sharing his discovery of the screw that shorts/grounds out the 3.5 mm audio input on the circuit board under it. What I find ironic is that the screw is under the quality assurance sticker which was placed by the monoprice inspector who apparently did not inspect the item for functionality. In my case, the screw was shorting out the left channel, but the right channel was okay. So after removing the inspection sticker, and backing off the screw a few turns, the left channel started working. For a definitive fix, I took the screw off which was too long and ground it down by a mm or 2, and then cleaned it off, to make sure no loose iron filings were around. I then replaced the screw and the item functions perfectly (at least for my purpose). Absolutely no delay in audio signal. Connectivity was easy. Power source is the same as some of my old IP cameras and same connector. Monoprice needs to use a shorter screw and re-test these items for functionality and build quality. So, thank you again Bill.

I tried this with multiple devices, both with analog and digital/optical audio. The unit would only combine input audio with an input HDMI video signal if the HDMI source has an original audio signal. If you have an HDMI source with no audio, this will not add a separate audio signal to that video. This means, if you have an old PC or Mac with a mini displayport output that sends video only and use an HDMI adapter, this device wont let you combine that video with the optical or analog audio output of the computer to produce a complete HDMI signal for a A/V display like a big screen TV.If your use case is to replace the audio in an HDMI signal, this will work well for you. If you want to add audio to a feed that lacks one, this is not the device.

We bought two Monoprice Blackbird audio inserters, and both failed in six months to a year. Why? Because the maximum operating temperature of these units is 104 degrees F, and the weather where our church is located is always 95 to 110 degrees F in the summertime. Our church is not air conditioned. So if you find, as we did, that the inserter worked great at first, and then gradually deteriorated, it might be because your environment exceeded the rated temperature range, causing the unit to overheat. Don't blame Monoprice for that! Most audio inserters have the same 104F max temperature, so likely all are built with the same chipset.