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2.1 system needs 3 HDMI inputs??

Moving to a new house that won’t realistically have option for surrounds in the living room and looking for advice. My current multichannel system will be moving to the basement, but I still want decent sound quality in the main living space. Initially I was interested in switching from an AVR to an integrated amp, but can’t find one with multiple HDMI inputs. The family regularly uses a cable box, Roku, and occasionally a Blu-ray player along with streaming audio. Best I can tell that leaves me 4 options and wanted feedback from the forum about the pluses and minuses of each:

1) an integrated amp with 3+ HDMI inputs and 4K pass through that I’m not sure exists... if it does exist, I’m guessing it’s costly. 

2) run extra HDMI cables in the walls to use the TV as the HDMI switcher for all sources and then another HDMI on the eARC channel back to an integrated amp...but I’m not sure the effect that running everything through the TV would have on audio quality plus hate getting into the crawl space to run 3 additional cables and enlarge the holes (previous owner left a single cable in place at my request from the AVR they had)

3) a cheap AVR with R & L preouts connected to a better amp than the AVR would have built in...gets me solid amp but AVR quality preamp (and cheap AVR at that initially).

4) a separate box HDMI switcher (3+ in, 2 out) that works with our harmony hub and connected to an integrated amp... again not sure how good these are since I’ve never looked into them before or if lip sync issues would be possible to avoid.

Your suggestions, experiences, and advice are much appreciated. Thanks in advance. 
ethos123
hudsonhawk
137 posts
 
I do what you propose in #2 - all my HDMI sources go to the TV which does the HDMI switching and then the TV sends PCM out via Toslink to my DAC. If i didn’t do this I’d need 3 HDMI audio extractors or a switch box like you mention, either of which would be a huge pain.

I’m sure there’s some quality loss but it’s only for TiVo / Playstation / FireTV and I haven’t really noticed the difference. All my music listening is done through Roon or vinyl, neither of which are routed that way.
mahler123
3,059 posts
 
I have a Bryston DAC3, which has 4 HDMI inputs.  It is a great DAC, so I would get a “traditional “ integrated amp (no included DAC) and then you are set.
auxinput
2,920 posts
 
The only thing made that is similar to what you are looking for was the Classe Sigma 2200i integrated amp.  It has 4 HDMI 4K inputs (only one supports HDCP).  However, the audio over HDMI only supports 2-channel PCM, so you will need to configure your sources to send only 2-channel PCM.  This would be a used item.  Nobody has it up for sale now though.

Otherwise, you'll need to do an AVR or a HT Processor with a separate amp.
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