I bought an Arcam AVR280 on ebay - its in good condition. It has 8-off line level inputs designed for SACD and DVD-A.
It does not have ARC.
Seemingly - it doesn't do HDMI either - not entirely according to spec. It seems to ignore LPCM in its two HDMI inputs; doubtless it does in fact process dolby audio.
It has a reputation for having decent amplifiers, so having it as a multichannel amp with volume control with passthrough mode on audio is attractive.
So .. playing with CamillaDSP as the DSP and using HDMI as a cheat is not an option. I have an Esi Gigaport eX so I can do (partially) what I was planning to experiment with, but it has a rather mixed reputation (see https://nathaliebeimler.com/tech/sound_card_esi_gigaport_ex.html and others). I also have a 2x4HD but I'd like to upgrade.
Ostensibly, a Flex Eight would be perfect if it would present itself as an 8-channel device, and allow (more or less) direct output to the DACs. But it only presents 2 channel input on USB, which is a shame. The measured performance of the Flex series at ASR seems fine. I do value the ability to run a crossover on the device.
So, I'm wondering about the HDMI eARC-equipped models, both Flex HT and Flex HTx. I do also have some power amps with balanced inputs (thanks Fosi!) and the flexibility of the HTx is attractive but I'm concerned - perhaps irrationally - about the 48kHz processing against the 96kHz of the Eight.
I'm not interested in Dirac. I've only done IIR with my 2x4HD, but I'd like to experiment with FIR, both the phase correct an IIR crossover, but also to do full FIR filters: I'm concerned that the limited compute in these units would be a problem compared with the comparatively unlimited capacity of modern PCs - even passively cooled ones. Its not as if you need a Threadripper or discrete GPU to do this.
Any advice? Anyone compared the Flex Eight with the others? When sourcing from PC, I'll be using FLAC ripped from CDs at 44.1. So either way an ASRC will be in play, as I understand the miniDSP architecture, even if I do the sample rate conversion in the PC and open the DAC interface at 48kHz.
If there's an ASRC chip in play and the source material is 44.1, is there any advantage at all of going to 96kHz rather than 48?
It does not have ARC.
Seemingly - it doesn't do HDMI either - not entirely according to spec. It seems to ignore LPCM in its two HDMI inputs; doubtless it does in fact process dolby audio.
It has a reputation for having decent amplifiers, so having it as a multichannel amp with volume control with passthrough mode on audio is attractive.
So .. playing with CamillaDSP as the DSP and using HDMI as a cheat is not an option. I have an Esi Gigaport eX so I can do (partially) what I was planning to experiment with, but it has a rather mixed reputation (see https://nathaliebeimler.com/tech/sound_card_esi_gigaport_ex.html and others). I also have a 2x4HD but I'd like to upgrade.
Ostensibly, a Flex Eight would be perfect if it would present itself as an 8-channel device, and allow (more or less) direct output to the DACs. But it only presents 2 channel input on USB, which is a shame. The measured performance of the Flex series at ASR seems fine. I do value the ability to run a crossover on the device.
So, I'm wondering about the HDMI eARC-equipped models, both Flex HT and Flex HTx. I do also have some power amps with balanced inputs (thanks Fosi!) and the flexibility of the HTx is attractive but I'm concerned - perhaps irrationally - about the 48kHz processing against the 96kHz of the Eight.
I'm not interested in Dirac. I've only done IIR with my 2x4HD, but I'd like to experiment with FIR, both the phase correct an IIR crossover, but also to do full FIR filters: I'm concerned that the limited compute in these units would be a problem compared with the comparatively unlimited capacity of modern PCs - even passively cooled ones. Its not as if you need a Threadripper or discrete GPU to do this.
Any advice? Anyone compared the Flex Eight with the others? When sourcing from PC, I'll be using FLAC ripped from CDs at 44.1. So either way an ASRC will be in play, as I understand the miniDSP architecture, even if I do the sample rate conversion in the PC and open the DAC interface at 48kHz.
If there's an ASRC chip in play and the source material is 44.1, is there any advantage at all of going to 96kHz rather than 48?