jafant,
The Bryston SP3 does have XLR input capability, but I use HDMI from the Oppo and Sony disc players because I think the analog processing of the SP3 is superior. Analog from my Ayre C-5xeMP goes through a Parasound JC 2 BP, and I'm really happy with the sound so I haven't tried XLR from the Ayre through the SP3. Front LR from the SP3 is passed through the JC 2 BP to access a pair of JC 1 mono blocks.
The Bryston SP3 does have XLR input capability, but I use HDMI from the Oppo and Sony disc players because I think the analog processing of the SP3 is superior. Analog from my Ayre C-5xeMP goes through a Parasound JC 2 BP, and I'm really happy with the sound so I haven't tried XLR from the Ayre through the SP3. Front LR from the SP3 is passed through the JC 2 BP to access a pair of JC 1 mono blocks.