I love lossless codecs. Dolby Digital sounds flat and lifeless now. My system is geared towards High-Def movie playback though. Hdmi is the easiest way to get what I want.Willland makes a good point, with the right gear you can get the same results. It will cost you more money and time to achieve it though.
Is HDMI worth It in term of sound quality?
Do you think HDMI with it's uncompressed audio coding worth it? I have a budget for an old but good set of separates or a newer receiver such as the Pioneer SC27. The old separates may have better sound quality but won't have HDMI support, but I wonder if the new HDMI audio coding will compensate for the inherent inferiority of typical receiver.