wcvb

I am looking for a device which can extract multi-channel audio from HDMI, including ARC and eARC, and downmix it to two channels. I want to play all the audio from a TV via a 2-channel audio system. I want the 5.1 or 7.1 audio to be downmixed to 2.0 PCM, such that the LFE channel is not lost, and the various surround channels are also presented in a reasonable form. Is such a device available, hopefully at a reasonable price? Regards, wcvb

Hi wisnon, Do you have a link to the DAC comparison in Haute Fidelity? If not can you give me a quick summary of what they found? Regards, wcvb

Thanks for the response. The thread you identified was extremely informative in its balanced and objective contributions. Can anyone add to these their personal listening experiences? wcvb

Has anyone compared the performance a custom music server with the digital outputs of the Linn Sneaky DS and Majik DS? These two Linn DS models can be used effectively as Ethernet to SPDIF converters, while all other solutions seem to be USB or FireWire to SPDIF. The Ethernet approach seems to me to have the advantage of making the conversion from computer file to digital audio stream independent of the performance of a computer. Additionally the approach seems to separate the user interface function from the processing of the digital audio stream. I'd be interested in people's thoughts on Ethernet to SPDIF as compared to USB or FireWire to SPDIF conversion. For those who have actually heard it, how does the digital output of the Linn DS stack up, both in absolute terms and in comparison to USB and FireWire approaches, including expensive ones like the Weiss DAC2/Minerva? Also are there other Ethernet to SPDIF/AES implementations? wcvb