Classe SSP-800 controller

default -- Wed, 05/06/2009 - 21:08

Hi,

I am in the process of evaluating various controllers for my system. One that I am particularly interested in is the Classe SSP-800. As I am 350 miles from the nearest Classe dealer and he won't have one in stock for at least 2 weeks, I will have to rely to a certain extent on the experiences of others. Therefore, I would appreciate comments from those who have had a chance to audition the SSP-800.

I am fairly certain I read somewhere that Robert Harley was in the process of evaluating an SSP-800. Perhaps he could chime in with some comments.

One thing I would be particularly interested in is how well the SSP-800 takes 2-channel material and matrixes (or synthesises) it into a 7.1 multichannel system. Currently I have a Lexicon MC-12B which does that quite well; however, it is getting a bit long in the tooth. I am a music aficionado first and as (like most people I suspect) the vast majority of my recordings are still in 2-channel and will be for the forseeable future, this is of considerable importance.

Thanks in advance.

J.R.

J.R. (not verified) -- Fri, 05/08/2009 - 20:36

Any comments on my above post.

J.R.

J.R. (not verified) -- Thu, 05/14/2009 - 23:28

Hasn't anyone had any experience with the Classe SSP-800?

Thanks in advance for any comments.

J.R.

Nemesis (not verified) -- Fri, 05/15/2009 - 01:27

Hi J.R.,

you should check out the Classé discussion group over at www.htguide.com/forum. Several people there have first hand experience with the SSP-800.

Rgrds.

J.R. (not verified) -- Mon, 05/18/2009 - 13:36

Hi Nemesis,

I have followed your suggestion; the discussion on that forum is quite informative. However, I was looking for additional viewpoints and I have found one very good one: Robert Harley's comments on this thread.

Thanks.

J.R.

Robert Harley -- Mon, 05/18/2009 - 12:50

I have just finished reviewing the SSP-800; my review will appear in TAS Issue 194 (August cover date, June 23 mail date).

I can say that the SSP-800 is the best-sounding, most feature-laden, and friendliest (in terms of user interface) controller I've ever used. The sound quality of its preamplifier section (in pure analog mode) is equal to that of many $5k stereo preamps. In the review I also compare the DAC stage to that of the Classe CDP-502 CD/DVD player. The sound of the two is very close, despite the fact that the CDP-502 sells for more than the SSP-800.

J.R. (not verified) -- Mon, 05/18/2009 - 13:46

R.H.

Thank you for your comments. This is the sort of thing I was looking for short of a review. Speaking of which, I will certainly be purchasing a copy of TAS 194 when it comes out.

Your comments are what I would have suspected given my experience with Classe amplifiers (3 X CA-M400 and 2 X CA-2200).
A general question. I have recently discovered that the Jitter rejection specifications for the SSP-800 are <10 psecs for 2-channel and <20 psecs for multi-channel. I am assuming that this is very good. What would be the threshold for good/excellent jitter rejections specifications?

Thanks again,

J.R.

Robert Harley -- Thu, 05/21/2009 - 09:22

There are no universally agreed upon standards and methods for measuring jitter, so I would ignore jitter specs from any manufacturer. Based on my extended technical discussion at the factory with Alan Clark (Alan was the author of the stunningly great Linn CD12 CD player), it was apparent that he had fully researched the problem of jitter and had helped to develop circuits and techiques to minimize jitter. I'd be surprised if there were another multichannel controller on the market with better jitter performance.

Nick (not verified) -- Sat, 05/30/2009 - 11:32

If I use the DACS in the ssp 800 rather than in any cd player, will there be any difference in using a cheap cd player (merely to transport the 1s and 0s via coax to the ssp 800) in comparison to a super expensive cd player? In theory, I imagine there can be no difference.

Robert Harley -- Mon, 06/01/2009 - 10:11

Although there are sonic differences between transports, well designed outboard DACs and controllers can minimize this difference by high-quality input receivers and insightfully designed clocking circuits. The variation in transport quality will vary with the quality of the component it is driving.

Nick (not verified) -- Tue, 06/02/2009 - 19:49

Given the quality of the dacs on the ssp 800 do you think it would be worth while upgrading from my £300 denon dvd player (which I currently use as a transport)? Thankyou in advance for your help Robert. :-)

Timothy Leistikow (not verified) -- Thu, 07/02/2009 - 17:16

I have purchased the processor and find that it is well matched to my Mark Levinson Amplifier as well as my B&W 803S speakers. I also use a CDP 100 player which works very well with the unit. I use an older Sony NS999ES for super audio discs and connect through the 5.1 connections. The sound is wonderful. The speakers spring to life when listening to Mozart, Wagner or Handel. What I like about the unit is the clarity and fullness that are apparent at low volume levels of listening. The movie listening modes really make a difference although the DTS HD etc upgrade are due out this year -can't wait.

Digicoon (not verified) -- Sun, 07/05/2009 - 16:40

I have the SSP-800 processor that is paired with several sources and has been subjected to some obsessive-compulsive experimentation. The aim of this was to optimize audio quality. The summary of my experiences (according to my room, ears, etc, etc) follows:

In order of preference: CDT-300 > Denon DVD-3910 > Oppo DV-970HD.

What is interesting to note is that the Redbook 2-channel fed via HDMI from the CDT-300 is superlative compared to all other sources (caveat below). This includes SA-CD media playback using the Denon sending an analog signal, as well as the Oppo sending SA-CD as a digital PCM bitsream (88k) to the SSP-800 via HDMI.

The caveat -- the best audio quality on this system has been 24/192 (and 24/96k) DVD-A sources played via the CDT-300. Having said that, it would be useful to reiterate that Redbook CD sounds better played via the transport than any of the other sources sending ANY other hi-res signal via any link.

Robert Harley prefers the D-A conversion taking place in the CDP-502 as compared to that in the SSP-800 marginally. His follow-up comment on the variability of transport quality should be well-heeded by all prospective purchasers. If one is spending the kind of money required to purchase the SSP-800, one will not be hearing the full potential of this piece unless it has a good transport mechanism feeding it via HDMI.

To the person with the $300 player and the 999ES, I would recommend doing yourselves a favour and auditioning a well-heeled transport. At the current special that Classe offers, the CDT-300 is highly competitively priced, although I would expect that if you can get your hands on any ell-respected transport you avail yourselves of that opportunity. I, myself, am hoping to hear/read Mr. Harley's impressions of the Meridien 808.2 feeding the SSP-800, or for that matter hooking up a Meitner transport/DAC combination.

As a last note, kudos to Robert Harley owing to the fact that, like many well-bred electronics, the SSP-800 is a very difficult piece to review in that it has no sonic signature. It is a testament to good writing ability that he can every so often when required, he can convey the message that nothing is better than anything or everything out there. (That last statement is not a typo.)

7ryder -- Sat, 11/21/2009 - 10:37

I have a question about the analog inputs and bypass mode:

I am getting a SSP-800 next week and one of my sources is a Sonos ZP80 (modded by Cullen Circuits) used as a transport and a PS Audio PerfectWave DAC. For two channel listening, speakers are Usher Mini Dancer Twos and two (2) JL Audio f112 subs. If I understand correctly, to use bass management in the SSP-800, there is A-D-A conversion, correct?

So does this mean that since the SSP-800 doesn't have a sonic signature, when using the bass management for the PWD or my Rega Planar25 turntable (PS Audio GCPH phone preamp) that I'd be hearing the sources and not the SSP-800's DACs? Or would it be better to bypass the bass management when listening to analog sources?

Thanks.

ChrisG
Seattle, WA

Robert Harley -- Mon, 11/23/2009 - 18:08

If you use bass management, analog input signals will be converted to digital and then back to analog. Although the SSP-800 has outstanding A/D and D/A sections, no digitization is transparent. I would try both methods (using bass management vs. using the SSP-800 in the analog-bypass mode) and listen to whether the slight degradation with A/D and D/A conversion is worth the improvement gained by having ass management.

J.R. (not verified) -- Mon, 11/23/2009 - 21:16

R.H.,

Love the type in the last sentence :-).

Jim

Ryan Shadwick -- Sun, 12/20/2009 - 11:02

I took a chance and preordered the SSP800/CDT300 before the unit started shipping last year and have never looked back. I am extremely pleased with the neutral sound of the unit in my home theater/2 channel set up. The CDT300 is terrific as well and I was told by my dealer is the same transport used in the CDP-502.
One comment I would like to make in reference to Digicon's review. For 2 channel listening I have tried both Coaxial and HDMI running from my CDT300 to the SSP800 and prefer the Coaxial(using a Transparent Reference cable). At least in my system the soundstage is much larger and more detailed than with the HDMI(Audioquest HDMI3).

J.R. (not verified) -- Mon, 12/21/2009 - 00:20

Hi,
I am the "J.R." who originally started this thread.
I must say that Robert Harley's review of the SSP-800 is one of the best written most informative review of any piece of equipment that I have read. As a result, I bought the SSP-800 about 6 weeks ago and it has more than justified all the accolades that R.H. has given it.
It might be of interest to point out the the Dual-DSP board upgrade has been made available since R.H.'s review. Although the initial code had a few bugs, the most important of these were solved with the latest sofware release (late November 2009). Credit must be given to Classe and particularly their point man, Tom, for their exemplary service. The software is now more than adequate and now allows the decoding of high resolution codecs in the processor as well as the source player.
Now that I have broken in the SSP-800 for over the recommended 300 hours, it has exceeded all my expectations as to sound quality and can be given an unqualified recommendation as a surround processor. Indeed, it is quite probable that it is the best surround sound processor available.
About the only thing that R.H. did not mention in his review was whether he had the Parametic EQ calibrated. I hope to have my PEQ calibrated by my dealer early in the new year and will report on my findings.
Again kudos to R.H. for a well-written, informative and useful review.
Jim R.

Robert Harley -- Mon, 12/21/2009 - 16:42

Thanks, Jim, for the kind words about the review. I've been using the SSP-800 daily for more than a year and it continues to impress with its sound quality, functionality, and user interface.

I just received the dual-DSP upgrade and plan on installing it next week.

I couldn't agree with you more about Tom; he's extremely knowledgable and helpful. I had some issues updating the software (it was my computer, not the SSP-800 or the code) and he sorted it out over the phone.
I have not used the parametric equalizer in the SSP-800; my room is quite flat to start with (it was built from scratch with optimum dimensional ratios and is professionally treated) and I use the automated equalization system in the JL Fathom f113 subwoofers to tackle peaks and dips below 80Hz.

I'll be interested to hear your experience with the parametic EQ.

Thanks again so much for the note; it's gratifying to hear from readers who greatly enjoy a product I've recommended.

Digicoon (not verified) -- Mon, 05/10/2010 - 06:16

At the risk of resurrecting this thread, I have to agree that Tom at Classe is a scholar and gentleman in the truest sense of that phrase. I also concur, having used the SSP-800 for about 18 months, that it is a pleasure to use with its very well-conceived user interface. I am also using it to decode hi-res audio streaming via the digital output of a Linn Majik DS streamer and the contrast in the two interfaces is a true testament to the usability of the system.
I envy Robert the use of his equalization system(s) in the Fathom; I have had to manually dial in the minimal corrections required in my room. The parametric EQ does what it is supposed to, IF it is used judiciously and with some foreknowledge. I am of the opinion that auto EQ systems make for a good starting point, but MUST be checked with a proper PC (or other) based calibration hardware/software. Unless one is in possession of (or has access to) this, I would highly recommend one avail themselves of the services of a professional calibration; the full potential of this processor will NOT be attained without this.
I cannot overstate enough the importance of room treatment (or, better yet, room construction) to attain a smooth frequency response and, more importantly, appropriate reverberation times since the latter cannot be corrected for significantly, or (if one is pedantic) at all whatsoever, by an EQ system. In my perusing of many fora and reading many magazines, it seems to me that we far too often appear to be fixated to the behaviour of our systems in the frequency domain while not being cognizant of the vagaries that occur in the time domain. The advantage to starting out with an appropriate room has also allowed me to attain the desired response by crossing in my REL subwoofer at about 26 Hz which, amusingly, emphasises the SUB in the monicker.
To Chris and Robert, A->D->A conversion is not transparent, but whether it is perceivable or not is another issue. It is infinitely more optimal to avoid doing so; the above two paragraphs owe their genesis, in part to this very interchange between Chris and Robert; I have avoided this process altogether by using outputs from the CA-M400 monoblocks driving my front speakers to feed a full-spectrum signal to the REL subwoofer which crosses over as mentioned above. I also use the e-bass option on the processor to send all digital signals in their entirety to the REL thus dealing with bass management in both the analog and digital domain in an identical manner. From a connectivity view-point this is a kludge, but from a physics/ idealogical/ philosophical viewpoint I like to delude myself into thinking that it is elegant in its simplicity. From a pathologically retentive viewpoint, I am merely grateful that there haven't been any phase regularities introduced. From my spousal unit's viewpoint, it plainly "sounds pretty darned good whatever is played".
Congratulations to Ryan on your purchase and thanks for affirming my feelings on the combination of the two. I am, however, interested in the comment on the coax being preferred to the HDMI and will have to do this comparison; I would have expected the jitter rejection to be more favourable via the HDMI protocol. Of course, this now has me wondering whether the streaming audio sounds better because it is passed on via a coax, whereas the transport via the HDMI. I foresee a few days worth of tinkering around this week... I can only hope that this ends soon, because I expect a lot of time to be duly spent getting acquainted with a soon to arrive SME 20 turntable. Robert (or anyone else) have you had any experience in using your SSP-800 to anchor a vinyl setup? Any insights gleaned from your experience would be extremely helpful.
Once again, kudos to you Robert for a very cogent, yet enjoyable, review...but MUCH more so for overtly addressing an issue (when you renovated your listening environment) that most reviewers do not -- addressing room anomalies is expensive, but it is worthwhile. For anyone else who has made it to the end of this missive, the best monetary upgrade I may recommend for a system anchored by this processor and any allied electronics is to get two dedicated circuits drawn to power the electronics (it costs no more to do two than to do one). A cheaper, but more temporary, alternative is to sit with a glass of your favourite beverage and turn the lights out.