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RE: Thanks Jim, I am considering an extractor, I have seen a big difference between HDMI cables fwiw...

Posted by cfraser on May 8, 2016 at 12:53:50:
Yeah, those HDMI audio extractors are not bad. I use a monoprice one and I can't really complain, pulling SACD at 88kHz LPCM and 24/192 off of BDs. It's the only worthwhile extractor you can get in Canada that is much less than your $500 budget (it's $45 IIRC). Many manufacturers/distributors won't ship here, so better ones go for crazy prices here, and newer/better models never last long in the market it seems, monoprice pretty much has it sewn up these days. (It's different for pure HDMI switches, but for extractors I mean.) Edit: oh yeah, you need one of those common mini-plug to two RCA plug cables for analog output to your preamp, you probably have some already...
As for cables, I have compared 6'/2m HDMI cables here, from $5 to $800, and I really don't *see* a diff. That is with video, Oppo direct to last-gen Pio display, so 1080p. Can't say about with audio, that is minor compared to the video bitrate requirements. I do use a relatively cheap (but very nicely made) 12' HDMI for 7.1x24/192 + 1080p video from my laptop and it works just fine.
What I would say is be careful judging an HDMI cable by how it works with "no-name" gadgets. They have very cheesy HDMI I/O, and if you read the comments "fine print" for some of them, they kind of infer you better use not-the-lowest-grade HDMI cables with them. Actually, the amazon basics HDMI 1.4 or 2.0 cables work fine at 2m, it's when you go longer than ~12' you better start being careful. Like all cables, keep 'em as short as possible, it will never work out worse.