Scottb ... I too found that my hard core two channel non 861v4 DAC sounded markedly better. It wasn't close. Perhaps the 808.2 closes that gap. I hope so.

An "interim" solution that I discovered on the Linkwitz site is to use the 861 only for processing four surround channels, leaving the stereo L/R chain entirely out of the 861 path. (You do this by sending an analog output from your analog preamp to the analog inputs of the 861, making sure that the 861 does not use a center channel for music modes.)

Doing this gives you all the "purity" of two channel, with a bit of the added involvement of multichannel. There's another active thread about diving into Bluray where TassieDevil uses this approach.

If I wasn't also using the 861 for movies, then I'd sell it and use a much cheaper receiver for the surrounds.

Last edited by brucemck2; 2009-03-18 15:25.
DirecTV HR21, Ram modded Oppo 93, JRiver MC17 on Win7 wi/SSD, Empirical Audio Ultraclock Offramp, 861v6, Bryston 28B SST2 amps, Salk 12" Soundscapes with Dueland caps, RAM modded Audyssey Balanced Pro, Lumagen Radiance, MarantzS4