Said it before and I say it again, lol, Cal Audio Labs SSP-2500. I sold my Avp and purchased this unit. A different sound from the Avp. Very clean sounding and more detailed. Combined with the separate video switcher it will switch component hdtv signals with no loss of resolution. A video processor board is soon to be added which will line double or scale video, offer color and tint adjustments, and provide an on screen display. I love the DAD disks from Chesky Records played thru this unit they sound excellent and are processed at the full 24/96 resolution. There is a companion dvd player that is the state of the art and gave some of the best measurements that Wide Screen Review has measure and right now is their reference dvd player. Check out the review in WideScreen Review of the processor, video switcher, amplier and dvd player. Man I really really hated to sell my Avp. It sounded great to me but the Cal unit is better. The Avp would not process a 24/96 signal. The dacs on the front channel are 20 bit dacs , 1702 which have been replaced, even by Madrigal in their other processors, with the Burr Brown 1704 dac which is a 24 bit dac. WideScreen did a series on a/v pre-amps and tested most of the units on the market. They concluded that the Cal unit was on " a level of magnitude" better than any other processor that they had ever tested. The unit does not have an 5.1 analog bypass though as some processors do. This is not a factor for me as I do not wish to have my surround processed by a budget dvd-a player or sAcd machine when I have a much more advanced processor to do the job. Cal stuff is hard to find but it will be worth the efford. Contact me if you can not find a dealer and I can make some recommedations. I have heard all of the Meridian units, Theta Casablance II, Ead units, Parasound, Lexicon, Aragon,Bryston, Classe, and B&k. Some did as good a job on surround as the Cal unit but all were far behind on 2 channel analog bypass. I mainly listen to stereo so this was my main consideration. The Lwxicon units are probabely more upgradeable as is the Theta. But I challege you to find a better sounding unit especially on 2 channel. I have not heard the Linn unit recommended above.
