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Universal player - Multi-channel HDMI question?

I am reaching out here because I am inexperienced in this matter and am hoping for a lesson. I have a Denon Universal 3900 and an Anthem Statement D1 preamp AND the upgrade bug.

I want to replace these two pieces with a high end processor and a universal player that can do all the multichannel formats without the old 6 analog cable connection. In other words - HDMI probably.

I have a pretty decent budget up to about $15,000 for the two pieces and I don't mind buying clean used pieces here on A-Gon so there should be quite a few good choices.

I don't know how to get started with this research. Multiple searches turn up one solution or another but without any baseline for comparison and without my understanding of the pros and cons.

I also don't know how to get really good D/A conversion accomplished. Do I just rely on the D/A convertors in the preamp? Do I run HDMI into an HDMI capable D/A convertor (if such a thing even exists)??

I am really confused on this whole mess of how to do multi channel digital well. Can I get some help here please?

Thanks,
Russ
sashua

Showing 1 response by tbonedeluxe

tbonedeluxe
38 posts
 
Welcome to the confusing world of multichannel. Here's what I believe to be true as of now>

If you want to play SACD's or DVD-A's in multichannel you're going to be stuck with analogue connections. I don't know of a player that sends the DSD bitstream out, or a preamp/pro that decodes SACD's or DVD-A's.

The good news is that the high res wars have ended and Blu-Ray offers both DTS-HD Master and Dolby True HD. Both formats are awesome, and well worth investing in. We are at the very beginning of people offering quality music in those formats, but there are some great examples (Legends of Jazz, Dave Matthews, Chris Botti) of the quality of the format. Hopefully, some labels will start to release audio only blu-ray disks.

I'd go for the best D/A conversion you can get in a pre/pro and also get one that has something like the Audissey MultiEQ capability. The Anthem D2 seems to be one of the best out there now for both the analogue and digital.

Good luck!
Ted
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