Hello,
I stumbled across a discussion concerning i-link in an avsforums thread. Someone there swears by it and is disappointed the 990 does not have this feature. Anyone here know anything about i-link and is it as hyped up as this person makes it out to be?

Well, i-link is almost useless right now, but it is firewire and could be used to transport DVD-A and SACD at some point.

Braidkid,

I have not recieved my notification that I made the 990 list. So I was interested in how you find the Yamaha receiver as a pre-amp.

On the i-link/firewire thing. It has the bandwidth to handle video, so I would think DVD-A and SACD would be no problem if it was adopted. Also, I am not sure what the big deal is anyway, you can bet someone will come up with a switcher separate from a receiver or pre-amp.

You might want to peruse this thread , where a number of folks here discussed the subjects of IEEE-1394 (also known as FireWire or i.Link), DVI, and HDMI.

1394 supports digital transmission of DVD-Audio and SACD, which is more convenient than the six analog cables otherwise required for those formats. On the other hand, there is a good chance it will not be included in HD optical disc players to carry the newer audio formats that will be included with those players. The reason it will probably be left off is that those players are slated to use HDMI for both audio and video (FireWire will not be used to handle both audio and video). HDMI audio is still being developed - the current version supports DVD-Audio but not SACD (next version of HDMI will add SACD support), and the audio formats intended for use with HD-DVD/Blu-Ray/whatever we end up with (Dolby Digital Plus and DTS's equivalent format) have not been integrated into HDMI or any other digital interface yet.

iLink is the only way to play SACD other than using 5.1 analog cables. HDMI will not support it so if you have a collection of SACD you are probably stuck with 6 cables.

It's decent. I don't use it for anything but TV since I've found my Denon DVD-2910 player sounds so much better using analog inputs.

This is what I'm MOST interested in....will it sound as good as the DACs in the Denon DVD player? I want to jump up to 7.1 but can't since my DVD player only processes 5.1. Of course, I could sacrifice sound quality and use my Yamaha receiver for 7.1 but would like to find a processor that sounds as good as my Denon.

I'm hoping the 990 is the answer.

Huh? i.Link and Firewire and IEEE-1394 are the exact same thing. Right now, you can buy players and receivers (and a pre/pro) that offer i.Link connectivity from Yamaha, Sony, Onlyo, Denon, and Pioneer. Right now. And it supports the native transmission of DD, DD EX, DTS, DTS-ES, CD PCM, and all variants of DVD-A PCM (except for Sony), and ... DSD for SACD. Right now.

HDMI might someday offer the same digital audio transmission capability, but current components with HDMI will probably not be upgradeable.

And, i.Link provides for a jitterless digital transmission of audio signals. HDMI cannot and will never be able to do that. (Basically, both components clocks can be sync'ed with i.Link. The HDMI people had no such forethought.)