HDMI or digital Coax for HT audio?

[topspeed]

I run one hdmi cable from my DirecTV box to my AVR for regular viewing. Interestingly enough, the DirecTV installer mentioned I'd be better off running a digital coax for the audio signal. Has anyone actually tried this and is there a noticeable improvement in sound?

Thanks,

speedy

[Feanor]

I run one hdmi cable from my DirecTV box to my AVR for regular viewing. Interestingly enough, the DirecTV installer mentioned I'd be better off running a digital coax for the audio signal. Has anyone actually tried this and is there a noticeable improvement in sound?

Thanks,

speedy

So how would you get the video signal to your receiver if you were using coax, (I presume S/PDIF), for the audio?

For TV viewing I'm skeptical that there would be a significant difference in sound going fro HDMI to coax.

[Mr Peabody]

It's very very rare, if at all, those installers know what they are talking about.

HDMI is actually better. Neither coaxial or optical allows the lossless soundtracks like DTS-MA or Dolby-HD. I'm not sure at this point anymore if it was copy protection or bandwidth that was the limit, but, nevertheless, keep using your HDMI.

[topspeed]

So how would you get the video signal to your receiver if you were using coax, (I presume S/PDIF), for the audio?

For TV viewing I'm skeptical that there would be a significant difference in sound going fro HDMI to coax.

I would keep the hdmi for video and simply switch the audio input on the processor to coax instead of hdmi. That said, it sounds like there's no benefit, which is just fine by me. Less wires.