reading your post, I had to laugh at your 4x20AMPs supply. The house I'm in was designed to spec by the original owners. (wierd, wierd, wierd design choices) Whoever signed off (or actually did the work) on the electric didn't make enough runs to the circuit breaker box. The laser printer makes all the USP's yelp when it warms up. I won't go into what happens when the '50 powers up. We're moving soon - I'll sort out the next house. Not worth sorting this one out - they won't spot the idiotic electric in the inspections. I didn't buy the place, and wouldn't have for other reasons besides the electric.
The Anthem 50 arrived yesterday. Fun stuff. Reading into the audio of the Z170-A motherboard reveals a few things.
http://dlcdnet.asus.com/pub/ASUS/mb/LGA1151/Z170-A/E10611_Z170-A_UM_V2_WEB.pdf?_ga=2.132761034.53232...It is a 192/24 digital output. I'm going to hook up the analogue outs and compare it to the TOSLINK to see if I care about the acoustic difference.
I came across a review (one of the NHT president's rebuttal to a 3rd party review) who pointed out that one's hearing often adapts to & accepts the acoustic signature if it's close enough to one's expectations. Essentially, blame your auditory & nervous system if they costs you six figure audiophile $$$. (You still hear dog whistles and you're 50 years old)
So far the Jriver has made the most difference. AFAICT, the jacks take either this:
https://www.monoprice.com/product?c_id=104&cp_id=10429&cs_id=1042902&p_id=7175&seq=1...or these:
https://www.monoprice.com/product?c_id=104&cp_id=10429&cs_id=1042902&p_id=7174&seq=1...I think the computer connections swing both ways electrically and the MOBO & drivers sort out whatever you plug in. Conceivably one could go directly to amps & use the computer gains for volume.
