Hi Ali

Have only just caught up with your post from last March (I only visit at long intervals, mainly to check whether there've been any more posts about ambisonics - usually I draw a blank, so the intervals get longer!).

I don't know if it helps but the solution I've found to the connectivity problem you mention is the one I touched-on in my post. Maybe the fact that you didn't allude to it means it doesn't suit you for some reason.

I use a Phiree U2SX USB to SPDIF interface which I bought on E-Bay for $39. That enables me to bit-stream ambisonic audio (either 2-channel UHJ or 4-channel B-format) from my computer's excellent HD Audio integral sound-card into the (single) 'toslink' input on my Meridian 561 processor. In conjunction with that input the 561 allows any preset to be selected, including Ambisonic; the output in my setup is routed to 4 speakers arranged in a rectangle.

To my ears the result is deeply satisfying - and (try as I might) I personally cannot distinguish between the quality of the sound from source-material encoded in UHJ (eg Haydn symphonies on Nimbus CD) as opposed to from B-format (*.amb) downloaded to the computer's hard disk from Ambisonia (eg Beethoven's Fourth). (In default of blind-testing, or even just A-B comparison, neither sounds to me subjectively in any way superior or inferior to the other).

So if you still have a desire to try B-format that would be a cheap and easy way to do it. Unless I'm missing something ...

(BTW, I've also had the 'bfplayer' for some years too. You say it "has an option of decoding the .amb files into UHJ". I can't for the life of me see any way to access that option; how do you do it?)

561M, Bryston 9B 5-ch power-amp, Technics SL-7 TT with P205CMK4 cartridge, PC (Intel integral HD Audio device)