I'm typing this on my new toy - a Samsung Q210 - a relatively small laptop with a 12" screen.

I was going to buy a Netbook, but at £488 this seemed to offer much more. It has a faster processor, and a DVD writer. It has an HDMI output. This morning I attached it to my Samsung TV and took the optical out from the TV into the Beresford DAC - yes, sound looped through. Not quite as good as the Virgin Media Box driving the Beresford directly, and not nearly as good as FLAC via the Squeezebox, but certainly good enough for the soundtrack on DVD videos. I CD played through the laptop and routed through the TV is not so good.

I wonder, Stan, and others, if the digital audio output on the HDMI cable can be fed directly into the RCA SPDIF input on the Beresford. Would a simple adapter accomplish this, and does anyone make one?

Stan has said before he is not satisfied with the quality he can get out of the average USB socket - more and more budget laptops are coming with HDMI - is this a way forward?