One box to rule them all

[admin_exported]

Been looking for some time but can't find an obvious solution to what I would have thought is a relatively common issue - how can I put a number of different audio sources - some digital and some analogue - through a single component to feed the sound system.

I have an Apple TV and AVI ADM9 active speakers, and I can link these using an optical cable. All well and good. Nice sound. But I also want to put the TV sound through the ADM9s, and the TV has only analogue output. Similarly, there's an iPod dock (analogue output) and a DVD/CD player (coaxial digital) that need to get fed through there as well, depending on who's wanting to play what.

Avoiding a proliferation of boxes is of paramount importance, so what I'm looking for a is a single box that can take both digital and analogue input, convert the digital to analogue (i.e. a DAC) and leave the analogue alone, but allow me to switch between them (like a pre-amp) and ideally plug the headphones in as well. And a remote would be good. So, a bit like a Beresford DAC with added analogue inputs, really.

Anyone know of such a thing? Budget would be couple of hundred or thereabouts.

 

[Messiah]

I am sure there is a better solution out there but a surround receiver should do the trick. It will take all the necessary signals and output them through one output. It will have a remote and a headphone socket. Maybe easier for others to use as well.

I did consider this briefly for my ADMs but fortunately my TV outputs digitally so I use the Beresford for additional inputs and headphones.

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks for your help. It's an idea I hadn't considered. Might be a good way to go.

Cheers.

 

[Dan Turner]

I'm assuming an integrated amp with built-in DAC is out because you already have the active speakers, but it sounds like it's stereo sound which is the priority here, so how about a pre-amp with a DAC built-in? Cyrus and Bryston both have such models.

 

[Messiah]

Not for a couple of hundred though...

 

[Anonymous]

DAC/Preamp is another interesting thought, thanks.

Quite correct that budget won't stretch to Cyrus levels, but looking around I've seen there's this box called the NuForce Icon HDP, which appears to have one analogue input as well as digital. Anyone know anything about it? A bit more than the couple of hundred, but maybe not too much,

 

[Messiah]

Only 1 analogue though and I thought you needed 2??

With the TV do you use Sky or Virgin??

 

[Anonymous]

We do need 2 analogues, as you say. I guess I got a little bit carried away with the idea that there is something out there that combines the two sorts of input, but really it still doesn't really match requirements.

The TV, by the way, is a first generation Panasonic LCD, with Freeview. Don't have any Sky or Virgin boxes. Will likely replace the TV before too long, but am probably going to wait for Freview HD to reach this part of the country, which apparently won't be until 2012.

Thanks again for your assistance. I'm currently thinking I'm not going to buy anything in the short term, but the AV Receiver idea might well lead somewhere. Of course I started geting carried away with that and was thinking 'now, if it had a DAB receiver in there as well...', and the budget started to creep upwards.

Cheers