SOV

I' ve tried that and for TV it's OK. Those hdmi extractors are not the best quality. I say less is more. I like USB, depending on DAC input quality, but optic is often safe. I've got a mac mini with HDMI to tv-screen with sound through USB to DAC. One trouble is that screen and sound is not in sync and calibration off tv is required.

Amarra and Audirvana is good for specific dacs. I read somwhere even if You use USB out the signal passes some filters in a Mac or PC. One of the softwares purpuse is to bypass theese filters. I think the best You can do is to find a usb-dac of your flavour. Mine is R2R-type. R2R deliver, in my opinion, a calm and clean sound. Interesting reading: http://www.mother-of-tone.com/conversion.htm

Try Audirvana. Itunes-mode or stream from Tidal, Spotify ..

Any R2R/ladder-dac. For example Schiits multibit dacs or Soekris http://soekris.dk/products.html Read: http://www.mother-of-tone.com/conversion.htm

I can recommend a class-A. I have driven my Cornwalls with a integrated tubeamp(VSI60), pentode. But since the VSI has little to much watts I decided to build a Firstwatt M2. Now my lineup is a R2R dac, tub-buffer and M2 amp. The sound is very detailed, natural and no harsh tones. Even the bass is lower and more musical. With that comes a feeling of lack of bass. It is just more air. (Sub is for movies)

Talking about perception. A year ago I attended Gothenborg HiFi Show. There where two hotels filled with hifi of every kind. In almost all rooms there sat men and women(!) analyzing what I thought was harsh and loud. In one room there stood a pair of Cornwalls playing in moderate levels. The same people could here talk over cup of coffie. This is the way I listen to music, I thought. Now I have a pair of Cornwall III since a year back and use the with big joy every day. Before I was chasing hifi through THD numbers. The room with the Cornwalls change my way of looking at hifi. Instead of comparing numbers one could observe peoples responses. I changed from big expensive amp and speakers, that made me want to turn of or play very soft music, to other equipment that not could compete with numbers but brings the fun in the front seat. Now I play my Cornwalls with tubes and a homemade class-A amp with a smile.