Connect optical/digital audio out on TV to pre-amp or DAC?

So I've done this a number of ways.

For me, comparing my Brooklyn DAC vs. my Oppo 103 - The Brooklyn sounds much more natural and at ease. It does not do 5.1.

I'm invseting in an Anthem MRX 720 soon to attempt to bridge this.

No doubt that the Brooklyn DAC will sound better than the DAC in the Oppo 103. But the Brooklyn DAC does only stereo for listening to music, it doesn’t do surrounds, doesn’t even decode DD or DTS or DTS HD MA or Dolby True HD. The OP wants surround sound movies aka HT.

The Oppo BDP-105 or UDP-205 will be ideal since the 105 & 205 have superior DACs, DAC implementations, power supplies & analog audio output stages compared to that of the Oppo 103/203. So the OP can use multi-channel analog audio outs of the Oppo 105/205 to transmit those lossless surround sound formats (DTS HD MA & Dolby True HD) found on bluray discs to their fullest bandwiths since his old McIntosh MX135 lacks HDMI inputs and therefore does not support DTS HD MA & Dolby True HD. The OP can still use coax digital out to connect to his MX135 processor for those lossy DD & DTS found on DVD movie discs.

@ymc226

If you don’t plan on watching 4K UHD movie discs, I would suggest to look for a used Oppo BDP-105 bluray player as it is a much better universal disc player (bluray player) than the Panasonic. You should be able to find a used Oppo 105 easily in used markets such as Audiogon, Audio Mart, eBay, etc, etc.

Hello caphill,

I do want to have the ability to watch the highest definition discs and plan on getting a OLED Sony. What makes the Oppo 105 a much better universal player than the latest Panasonic?  

The rest of my my system is older as though I bought them new around 2004/2005, I never got around to using the system.  I rarely went down to my HT in the basement as my wife and kids preferred to watch movies in our master bedroom. I also have a McIntosh MVP 861 which I will use only for CD and SACD. My plan was to use any blue ray player with 7.1 audio to also play the occasional DVD. 

As an aside, my dealer and others I see online are discounting the Pioneer Elite UDP-LX500.  This unit doesn’t have 7.1 analog out but is their high end model for the USA. Apparently there is a higher level model with balanced audio outputs but not sold here.

Hopefully, the discount means a newer and better model is coming rather than them getting out of the market like Oppo.  

ymc226,
     I own the Oppo 105 and it's an excellent Blu-ray player but I wouldn't suggest it if you're planning on getting a 4K OLED in the near future since it's only 1080p.  I think your best bet is to try to find out if Panasonic or Pioneer are coming out with some new high end models that are 4K, have a built in 7.1 surround sound processor with analog 7.1 ch outputs and a built in 4K video processor.

Tim