Oppo 981 is 1.1 HDMI, Onkyo 605 is 1.3 HDMI .

My question is if I can run HDMI for both SACD and DVD-A. If so, will I get a significantly better sound than RCA analog combination?

Please help.

Oppo 981 is 1.1 HDMI, Onkyo 605 is 1.3 HDMI .

My question is if I can run HDMI for both SACD and DVD-A. If so, will I get a significantly better sound than RCA analog combination?

Please help.

I have the 970, connected fine to my 604, now I have 805, works fine. All Hi-rez works, and I can use the rec distance settings.

I think both oppos are 1.2 HMDI.

The Oppo outputs SACD as PCM over HDMI, and far as I know this is the only one that does this. There is a new inexpensive Pioneer that outputs SACD as DSD over HDMI, but no receivers yet for decoding.

The main advantage is that bass and time management is more flexible* than the player. Note that the player will convert DSD to PCM if you do bass/time management in the player, so I do not think that you loose in quality by using PCM over HDMI in this case.

* Assumes that bass/time management can be defeated in the player.