Connected a Roku Express to a Dell computer monitor that has an optional soundbar attachment. Video works great and is perfect. The soundbar has to connect to a source via USB to get audio (would normally be a computer) but of course there is no USB port on the Roku. Can anybody think how to get audio to the USB cable on the soundbar? Thanks in advance!
I’m in the exact same boat. Any thoughts on this?
I too have struggled with this. You don't mention the specific Dell sound bar you have, but I suspect they all behave similarly (AX510, AC511 AE515). I have an AC511, and here's what I've found: even when using the aux-in 3.5mm jack on the AC511 connected to the Dell (U2415) monitor's 3.5 mm audio output (which passes HDMI audio from a Roku), the AC511 will not play the audio from aux-in. It would appear that the AC511 sound bar still requires a USB upstream data connection to a computer in order to play the sound from aux-in. This is of course completely unacceptable, but at this time, we have no workaround. There is also no mention of this in the Dell soundbar user manual. I refer you to this Dell community link for background.
I tested each and every component so I'm confident there were no "broken parts": the monitor aux-out works with a pair of "dumb speakers". The AC511 plays computer audio when connected via USB to my computer. It also works with the aux-in audio when connected via USB to my computer. The AC511 does not play aux-in audio when connected to USB power via outlet (not a computer).
I'm posting this here as I didn't see this Dell sound bar limitation anywhere else on the Internet, and don't want people to waste their time.
(For the record, my "solution" is to buy a monitor with built-in speakers; another would be to buy a sound bar without this ridiculous limitation. Best of luck.)
I had the AC511 and experienced the exact same results as you. I switched to a different sound bar with a true Aux in and everything is peachy now.
Hey,
Oddly enough, this was not the case for me. I stumbled across this post after trying to figure out a similar solution and almost returned the Del AC511M without trying it after reading this. Luckily I didn’t!
I have the Dell P2417H monitor, so the AC511M sound bar seemed like the perfect solution for me since it mounts right on flush.
When it first arrived, I connected it straight to the monitor and tried playing through the aux-in and originally experienced the same issue as you — no sound.
Then I connected the speaker to a Windows 10 computer and it went ahead and automatically installed the drivers for it and was playing audio fine using the computer as its source. Tried the aux-in again (while still connected to the computer) and, exactly as you mentioned, it worked perfectly fine.
Then I thought, “I wonder if maybe this connection to the computer unlocked something on the firmware/hardware side?” and decided to give it another go plugged directly into the monitor and… voilà! It started playing sound through the aux-in!
Like you, decided to post my success here so that others could give it a go if they’re struggling with the same solution.
Hope this helps!
What specific soundbar worked for you? Thank you!
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