I've pretty much come to terms with the idea that Arcam probably isn't going to provide an upgrade path to those of us who own processors or receivers with HDMI switching sans audio and only a single multichannel analog input. With player prices plummeting, I've begun planning my eventual first foray into HD/bluray and found this nifty device: http://www.zektor.com/mas71/index.html
Looks like this would allow me to add two more multichannel devices plus my 139 without requiring that I fork over a shovelful of cash to replace my otherwise-perfect AV9 processor! On the other hand, it also means that I'd be using the processing built into the HD/bluray player(s) instead of the AV9...which, in turn, leads to this theoretical question:
If the choice is: A) Dolby TrueHD decoded on a Samsung or Sony deck and then sent to the AV9 in analog via this switching device, or B) Dolby 5.1 sent via toslink/coax to the AV9 and then converted to PLIIx/THX...
...which option would be more likely to sound better? why?
Looks like this would allow me to add two more multichannel devices plus my 139 without requiring that I fork over a shovelful of cash to replace my otherwise-perfect AV9 processor! On the other hand, it also means that I'd be using the processing built into the HD/bluray player(s) instead of the AV9...which, in turn, leads to this theoretical question:
If the choice is: A) Dolby TrueHD decoded on a Samsung or Sony deck and then sent to the AV9 in analog via this switching device, or B) Dolby 5.1 sent via toslink/coax to the AV9 and then converted to PLIIx/THX...
...which option would be more likely to sound better? why?