Surround pre quality

What an inquiring mind! I make no precise choices between HDMI/processor configurations (which are convenient and flexible) and all-analog configurations (for those with such predilections). Either works well if, in the latter case, one can do most of the processing in the player and handle room acoustics in other ways (from room engineering to add-on boxes). It is more of a philosophical divide and I am trying to present both sides.

Personally, I prefer the all-digital route on principle.

Kal

Hi folks. Rather than start a new thread, this one seems pretty close to my question.
I am pretty new to all of this. My apologies in advance if this is a question better posed somewhere else.

I am about 50/50 ht to 2ch but have been less picky about ht set up. In part I think because I find blu ray so captivating that I haven’t felt the need to try and improve on what comes out of a ps3 via hdmi.

What I am curious about now is the world of ht pre/pros. My 2ch listening is all digital and I would love to not need a separate 2ch pre and 2ch dac.

Are there multi ch pre/pros out there with quality dac sections and hdmi inputs and outputs that are considered to present 2ch digital content well?

The other choice would be to invest in a high quality multi format player like the Ayre but it seems to me that if I am going to have that high quality dac stage and output that I would want to use it with as many sources as possible.

I have an Onkyo PR-SC886P Pre on it's way.It's a refurb and I bought from shoponkyo.com
I thought about a lex or Krell, but I decided to go with the Onkyo, because of the Audessy Eq feature.
From what I understand it's digital processing is very good, analog is ok, but I won;t need that. I have a seperate 2 channel pre.

Jeff

Jeff - Looks like the current integra 9.8 or 9.9. Are they similar? Let me know how you like it once you get it up and running.
What kind of sources will you be using and how will you connect everything?

Jimmy,
It's the same as the 9.9 and the refurb price is hard to pass up. If you are interested, AVS forums has a thread that is good reading. Kal, also did a review on the previous model, in Stereophile. Music in the Round, Jan. 2008.
I will be using the new Oppo Blu Ray player to process the audio and pass them through the HDMI connection to the Onkyo. All I will have other than that will be some broadcst movies and sports.