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DACs for older gear

A seemingly knowledgeable poster at the Bryston thread of AudioAficionado suggested that the DAC process of my Bryston SP3 is older technology and that my Oppo 205 has a better DAC that I might use.  The SP3 has a number of features that make it flexible, including lots of balanced ports so I'm reluctant to discard it.  It appears as though DACs that accept HDMI input that I might use in front of the SP3 are rare -- I've read the licensing fees for HDMI are very expensive.  Is there an obvious solution?  Other than for the 205 and SP3, I've moved to the Ayre 5X series for stereo.   
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mahler123
3,375 posts
 
For two channel, I use a Bryston DAC3 with my Oppo 105 and send DSD over HDMI.
Multichannel DACs are another kettle of fish.  I would check out Kal Rubinson’s columns over the past few years in Stereophile and the exesound brand
auxinput
2,920 posts
 
The DAC/DSP board in the Bryston DP3 is indeed not the best solution, in my opinion.  It is an off-the-shelf DAC/DSP/Processing board made by Momentum Data Systems.  While it is extremely convenient for a company like Bryston to use as the basis for their processor, I believe it's compromised when compared to dedicated DAC systems.  The Bryston BDA-3 DAC is significantly superior over this.  The Momentum DSP board is meant as a pretty good all-in-one DSP/DAC solution for a front end to a processor.
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dbphd OP
1,630 posts
 
My Ayre QX-5/20 digital hub has ethernet, USB, S/PDIF, and optical audio inputs, but no HDMI.  I use ethernet for Roon and will try optical from the Oppo 205.  Strange that although my Ayre DX-5 DSD has HDMI output ASFAIK no Ayre component has HDMI input.
mahler123
3,375 posts
 
HDMI inputs are relatively rare in “High End” gear .  I bought the Bryston DAC 3 because it offered HDMI inputs.  Before that I experimented using an older AVR in my two channel system as a preamp, with digital out to my power Amp.  Since the power amp has only 1 set of inputs, this sidelined my expensive pre amp, but perhaps a Pre amp with HT bypass would solve that.
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