Originally Posted by Ian
However, I would query whether you want an 861 being daisy chained through a 218. Part of what marks out the 800 series is the quality of the digital outputs, in particular timing/jitter. I suspect that the 218 will be inferior to the 861 in that regards and that there is the potential for degradation in audio quality.
Yes, I was trying to make my query as general as possible, and reference Bruce's reply to me that specifically mentioned the 218. But in my case, I would like to insert an 818 for optimal SQ.

Main: 861v8, 818v3, 8000XE, 7200HCUSE, 7200.2, Roon Nucleus+, Shunyata Everest w/ Sigma XC and Alpha NR's, HD621, Oppo 103D, Panasonic P60ZT60 plasma. RJ45 switch on master SpeakerLink lines to select 861 or 818, Etherregen & ENO AG feeding the 818, M-Links.
Room #2: 5200.2s from M218.