[aldente]

since we are in the setup that works here are my 3 otions that work on my kodi:
1 / kodi on pi (hdmi) -> TV (sound and video in 1080p) (trivial)
2 / kodi on pi (hdmi) -> TV (sound and video) -> digital fiber optic cable (sound) -> DAC -> amp 2.0 -> speakers (x2)
3 / kodi on pi | (hdmi) -> TV (video in 1080p)
                       | (USB cable) -> DAC -> (Analog input) amp 2.0 -> speakers (x2)

solution 3 is by far the best in Audio quality with the USB DAC, but it has the disadvantage of having to adjust the audio output parameters in kodi each time I switch from option 1 or 2 to 3 and vice versa from 3 to 1 or 2

Going back to my first answer, I saw things about you:
1 / kodi on PC | (hdmi) -> AV Receiver (1080p) -> TV (video in 1080p)
                       | (USB cable) -> DAC -> (Analog input) Amp or AV receiver -> speakers (x2)

2 / kodi on PC | (hdmi) -> TV (video in 1080p)
                       | (USB cable) -> DAC -> (Analog input) Amp or AV receiver -> speakers (x2)

3 / kodi on PC | (hdmi) -> monitor (video in 1080p)
                       | (USB cable) -> DAC -> (Analog input) Amp or AV receiver -> speakers (x2)

and finally this should also work if you have an input / output selector on AVR to select the output sound to speaker- not the ARC (*)

4 / kodi on PC (hdmi) -> AV receiver |-> (video hdmi in 1080p) TV 
                                                            |-> (analog cable) Speakers (x2) (or x5)

(*) read it on the MArantz NR-1504
As for ARC compatibility, it allows you to use the HDMI connection cable connecting the amplifier to the screen to transfer the image from the source (DVD, Blu-ray, ADSL Box) to the TV on the one hand, and TV sound (TNT) to the amplifier on the other hand.

@"sitro" 

Thank you for your message. 

I am afraid that your Solution 1/, 2, 3/, all of which go via TV, are viable. 1/ is simply out of the scope. 2/ is via TOS Link which is known to be inferior (probably due to whatever chips used), and 3/ DAC, an extra component would be purchased.

[aldente]

Hi
@jasn 
@"sitro"
@black_eagle
@scott967,


I came back to this system today, and would like to let you know that the blue print set-up has just been completed thankfully and successfully!

                                       HDTV
                                          |
                                      [HDMI]
                                          |
Kodi Linux PC -- [HDMI] --> AMP -- [Speaker cables] --> Stereo speakers

On Kodi PC, there are music library, video library and photo library. I can stream all of them without a problem so far, and am quite pleased with the quality of streamed photos, videos and music on Kodi PC.

For visual, at 1920x1080p, the Sony 32" HD TV renders video and photos far better than my Dell 27" desktop monitor that suits 2560x1440.

For audio, the sound goes straight to the stereo speakers. The TV has an option to select sound output (on TV or on AMP) and AMP is selected.  There is nothing complicated in the set-up of the AVR either.

An added bonus is AirPlay that Kodi supports. With AirPlay enabled, I can also use the Kodi PC as the Speaker of iTunes (iTunes on Mac Mini -- [Ethernet LAN] --> Kodi Linux PC -- [HDMI] --> AMP etc.

The gotcha was the HDMI handshake failure caused by the display settings on Linux PC which was set to the best resolution 2560x1440. It had to be set to 1920x1080 simply because the highest HDMI resolution supported by the AMP (the Old AVR) is 1920x1080p as well as the TV.  Since both audio signal and video signal travel on the same one HDMI cable from Kodi PC to AVR, if the HDMI handshake fails, understandably you do not get anything from the speakers or from the TV.

The Kodi Remote app on my Android mobile phone also works like a charm.

The only issue I have with this version of Kodi is that it takes the kodi service extremely a long time to exit on Linux. It may be related to something in the X module according to the syslog output.  Sometimes, I have to resort to a hard reboot because it gets hung on my Fedora 31. Kodi on my latest Fedora 32 is even worse in this sense at the moment.

Again, I thank you for the comments and suggestions you gave me.

[aldente]

Sorry, the diagram did not come out properly above. Here we go again, hopefully it will look fine with a fixed-width font.

                            HDTV
                             |
                           [HDMI]
                             |
Kodi Linux PC -- [HDMI] --> AMP -- [Speaker cables] --> Stereo speakers

[black_eagle]

Glad you've got it working.  Which version of Kodi are you running that seems to take a long time to exit ?  Also, is there any reason particularly that you are running it on Fedora ?

[aldente]

Glad you've got it working.  Which version of Kodi are you running that seems to take a long time to exit ?  Also, is there any reason particularly that you are running it on Fedora ?

The version of kodi on Fedora 31 is 18.6-1
The version of kodi on Fedora 32 is 18.6-3

I got my hands on Linux for the first time when Slackware was distributed on CD-ROM, and professionally I work on RedHat and CentOS. Therefore, my preference has been RedHat/Fedora. Over the years, I savoured several other distributions but I did not get to like any of them including popular Ubuntu. What OS are you running for kodi?  Is Ubuntu free from X?

[TheMechanist]

maybe I miss the point .. I use a TV and AMP, TV is connected via HDMI and - since onboard solution suckz - I bought a Soundblaster Audigy FX which is connected to my analog AMP input  .. I switch between both systems by using Kodi Addon "Audio Profiles" and a skin shortcut .. works out of the box without any hassles (ubuntu 18.04)

[User 443344]

Sorry, the diagram did not come out properly above. Here we go again, hopefully it will look fine with a fixed-width font.                            HDTV
                             |
                           [HDMI]
                             |
Kodi Linux PC -- [HDMI] --> AMP -- [Speaker cables] --> Stereo speakers

good! it works for you
if you pay attention, this is solution 4 from my previous post, except that the selector is on the TV rather than on the AVR but nothing surprising as long as negotiations between the AVR and the TV is going through hdmi

[User 443344]

The only issue I have with this version of Kodi is that it takes the kodi service extremely a long time to exit on Linux. It may be related to something in the X module according to the syslog output.  Sometimes, I have to resort to a hard reboot because it gets hung on my Fedora 31. Kodi on my latest Fedora 32 is even worse in this sense at the moment.
 

this can also come from an addon on kodi which has trouble ending.
runs in Kodi debug mode to see if it stops properly

[aldente]

Sorry, the diagram did not come out properly above. Here we go again, hopefully it will look fine with a fixed-width font.                            HDTV
                             |
                           [HDMI]
                             |
Kodi Linux PC -- [HDMI] --> AMP -- [Speaker cables] --> Stereo speakers

good! it works for you
if you pay attention, this is solution 4 from my previous post, except that the selector is on the TV rather than on the AVR but nothing surprising as long as negotiations between the AVR and the TV is going through hdmi 

Solution 4 in your reply is just the same as my original blue print...

[aldente]

maybe I miss the point .. I use a TV and AMP, TV is connected via HDMI and - since onboard solution suckz - I bought a Soundblaster Audigy FX which is connected to my analog AMP input  .. I switch between both systems by using Kodi Addon "Audio Profiles" and a skin shortcut .. works out of the box without any hassles (ubuntu 18.04)

@TheMechanist 
Your sound card is not HDMI but analogue output 5x 3.5mm jack. This does not go directly to AVR. Coincidentally, however, you brought me to the Audio Profiles add-on, which appears to be a nice one to explore. Thank you for that.

[User 443344]

 

Solution 4 in your reply is just the same as my original blue print...   

yes, that said, I maintain that a quality DAC offers a much better acoustic quality in stereo

[User 443344]

 It may be related to something in the X module according to the syslog output.  

? doesn't kodi use the console framebuffer directly  ?