The pickings have been pretty slim for those after a surround sound solution - with the reclocking of a MiniDSP 8 Channel USB Streamer the only solution I could find for some time.

However the new XMOS XCORE-200 chip is now providing a multichannel solution up to 192Khz!

Here is a link to the Eval board - which has both USB and AVB Ethernet inputs - so if you use an Apple Mac you can connect the Eval Board to a Thunderbolt port and it will be available as a networked MIDI device (I've tested this and it works perfectly as a surround sound device).

XCORE-200 Multichannel Audio Eval Board

The eval board has jumpers that provide easy access to the 4 I2S data lines, and BCLK/LRCLK are also easily accessible - so it is relatively straightforward to hook up to the inputs of a BIII. You also need to upload the relevant firmware however, and the eval board is not cheap! (its also rather large).

MiniDSP also offers an XMOS AVB Dongle (not XCORE-200) but it only does 48K by default (although it can be programmed to handle 96Khz as a listener endpoint only).

https://www.minidsp.com/products/network-audio/avb-dg

If you're only after the USB solution then DIYINHK now have a commercial version:

http://www.diyinhk.com/shop/aud...om-i2sdsd-spdif-pcb.html

One major advantage of AVB over USB is that far longer cable runs are possible. The stream can also be multicast to multiple AVB endpoints - allowing the elimination of long and sonically nasty analog cable runs otherwise necessary in a surround system.

However, if you wish to connect multiple AVB endpoints you will need a special AVB-capable ethernet switch. I experienced issues with the switch from MiniDSP and replaced it with a Motu switch which has worked flawlessly to-date.

AVB endpoints can also not be reclocked (e.g.: via Cronus) as they receive their clock source over the network from the AVB talker or a master network clock (which could be reclocked)