Music in the Round

I keep my movies and music separate but together: I use a Marantz AVR and a Musical Fidelity (MF) integrated stereo amp and run interconnects from the Marantz pre-out to the MF. Since the MF has an HT Direct option which shuts of the pre-amp, I can have strong mains in a 5.1.2 setup, but don't have to deal with running any music through the AVR. Music goes directly to the MF. I wish more amps had the HT Direct option so people wouldn't have to make compromises by running music through an AVR (never ideal) or having two totally separate systems.

i have all my cd's ripped onto my computer that I play back with jriver. I sold the physical cd's years ago and love just browsing my cd collection from my couch. I would love to do the same with all my multichannel discs, but have yet to find an easy way to do this. How do you rip multichannel discs to music files and play them back? Would you consider doing a tutorial piece explaining how to do this? I think it would be very helpful for us multichannel fans.

Playback is easy because all you need is the appropriate music player software for your computer (PC/Mac/Linux). I have discussed many of these in the column although I have pretty much settled on JRiver for my own use.

You will also need a suitable device on which to play the files but HDMI out to an AVR is the simplest way. The other option is a multichannel DAC. There are only four of these (miniDSP, exaSound, NADAC+, MSB) in the home audio market plus Mytek's and PlaybackDesigns' stacking of 3 stereo DACs.

Unfortunately, ripping of multichannel discs is different for each type of disc. What types do you want to rip?

probably like most, i've got a little of everything - dvd-a, blu-ray audio, sacd, the whole shebang.

To me, the desirable feature is the ease of connectivity. Next and the most important is the SQ. Combine these with personal support from the designer means Oppo level support on a unique, flexible piece of gear. I'll continue to do research but Nimitra & Keetakawee Punpeng seem like a perfect solution for me.