Matthew has hit the nail on the head ("whap!"). There is no industry standard digital interface to connect DVD-A or SACD players to DAC's, receivers, or pre/pros. (Firewire was sort of adopted as the interface back around the first of the year, but that standard neglected to identify the format and encryption that such a connection would use, leaving it incomplete and thus basically useless.) The 47ai may have a firewire output, but only a Pioneer receiver with a compatible input will be able to use it. Likewise, Denon's 9000 player has a proprietary digital output that can be used with the Denon 5803 receiver. None of that does us much good, in my opinion. It's all window dressing until a standard encryption format is agreed to.

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