OREI4K HDMI Audio Decoder Extractor, Downmix Audio Decoding DTS to Analog 3.5mm Jack Support Headphone/Speaker L/R Outputs or Optical SPDIF (HDA-913)

Was able to use this device to connect up our AppleTV box, TV and our older in-ceiling speakers. So far, so good. Used another brand twice. The product died after a couple of weeks of use-twice. Just installed this one, hoping it lasts.

I picked this up because my wife suffers from hearing loss and uses wireless headphones to watch TV and movies. Sadly, our Avantree headphones require stereo PCM audio and will not downmix an Atmos or Dolby 5.1 signal. Bummer. Without a device like the OREI Decoder no one can enjoy the full advantage of our home theater when my wife uses her headphones. Everything is presented in stereo.The OREI allows us to split the incoming audio signal and route multi-channel bitstream to the home theater and stereo PCM via the RCA connections to the Avantree headphones.The unit works flawlessly (at least so far). It's small. Well built. And trouble free. I knocked off a star because the OREI seems a bit expensive for what it is. But if you're will to pay the freight, highly recommended.

Through an abundance of laziness, I clustered all of my entertainment together in the same corner. I have all 7 of my gaming consoles, two PCs, a Raspberry Pi, and a Roku in the same spot. I also have four monitors for these devices. Each monitor has a designated purpose at the end of an HDMI switch, and each one has a headphone jack. My plan was to connect all of these jacks to an aux switch. Problem is, I was not thinking very hard about varying audio quality from the drivers in each of these monitors. Two are barely audible and the other two are really loud, which necessitates fiddling with volume every time I switch devices.This audio extractor sidesteps the problem I created for myself. Without having to rely on what comes out of my monitor's headphone jack, I should get exactly what's coming out of the source device and have far more normalized volume, without loss of video quality.Results for monitor performance are the same before and after the audio extractor was set up. 60 fps at 60 Hz on 1920x1080, with no perceivable loss of video performance. eizo.be and testufo.com were used to test these details, as well as some gaming overlays. As for what it was advertised to do, the unit does it well. It has also remained cool to the touch while operating, while most similar devices will warm slightly.My complaints are varied and minor. The first is that it is specifically advertised as a downmixer for 3.5mm aux from HDMI digital. Looking at the product images, one can easily tell there is no 3.5mm aux jack on this device. Purchasing an RCA to 3.5mm cord is required.I'm also not fond of the wall wart power supply. It's rated for 5V 1A output that could be supplied from any USB port. I keep a load of IBERLS DC to USB cords on hand (Amazon ID B07J6NQ1KN) just for these types of electronics, as well as a collection of outlet savers (or "pigtails") because these oxy adapters soak up adjacent power sockets. In my particular case, I have no power sockets for this downmixer available, but no less than 8 available USB ports. I used an IBERLS cable and the device works fine.My biggest complaint -- as minor as it is -- is the "in one side and out the other" cable design that small electronics like this seem to have. You end up with cords coming out every which way and it's extremely difficult to cable manage the thing, which completely eliminates its advertised "small footprint" feature. The device has a minimum of a six inch footprint when all the cables are connected to it, and that's making a huge assumption that you can bend the HDMI cables at 90 degrees right at the boot. Realistically, it could take up as much as a foot of space in the one dimension. I would gladly take a 6 x 2.5 x 0.75 inch unit if it meant that all the cabling ports were on the same panel. Heck, make the unit twice as thick and stack all the ports on top of each other like Raspberry Pi USB ports, and I'd still be happier with it.Ultimately though, my use case is very light duty at 1080p 60Hz and does not breach into 4K, ATMOS, 120Hz, or any of the other highfalutin stuff it is advertised to support. It downmixes HDMI audio very well but has presented a cable management challenge. I don't believe any of its downsides are significant enough to lose an entire rating star, and I would call it a 4.5 star item.

This is the second OREI product I own, and I’ve noticed a recurring issue with how they label and describe their products. At the time of writing this review, the product page states, “3.5mm Jack Support Headphone/Speaker L/R Outputs.” However, it’s essential to clarify that this product does NOT have a headphone jack, and it also lacks a volume control.This presents a minor issue because both this OREI device and the DA26 have slightly lower analog outputs compared to other devices, resulting in a somewhat reduced volume. While the specifications correctly state that it is not ARC compatible, I’d like to emphasize this point: connecting this device to an ARC port on the TV won’t work. Instead, this device specifically requires HDMI input from a source.

The device itself is pretty good once you get it set up. The setup process, though...The documentation is kind of upside-down in that it patiently explains the things on the device that are most obvious (i.e., "What's the HDMI Input for? What's the HDMI Output for?"). Then there's a 3 position switch that isn't explained at all. I had to figure out what setting to use by trial and error. Not a huge problem except that the entire field of HDMI-to-RCA is a minefield of undocumented pitfalls and settings requirements, so you can't tell whether the reason you're not getting output to your headphones is because the switch isn't set right vs. some other configuration in audio source isn't right (or even that you've connected to an HDMI source with no audio at all).There's a red light that's supposed to blink when it's decoding Dolby or DTS, and it's solid red when "PCM decoder or no signal." Again: a real "no signal" light would have been better, and the light stayed red once I got the rest of the system to work (and I assume that the signal it's getting is either Dolby or DTS, so no idea why it's solid red).I think others have noted this, but although the copy on Amazon says "DTS to 3.5 mm Jack," there isn't actually a 3.5 mm jack on this unit. There's RCA plug outputs. Fortunately I have RCA to 3.5 mm adapters in my arsenal.