Classe SSP 800's DAC vs Oppo 105's DAC


Hello,
I am wondering which is a superior sounding DAC for listening to CD? The DAC in the Oppo 105 or the DAC in the Classe SSP 800 preamp processor? 

I have the Oppo 105 connected via Transparent Premium HDMI cable to my Classe SSP 800 in my dedicated home theater room. My power amps are : Classe CAM 600 monoblocks (pair) to power front speakers; Classe CAM 300 monoblock (single) to power a center speaker; Classe CA-5300 multi-channel amp to power the surround speakers. Doing 7.1 setup. 
My front speakers are B&W 800 D3, B&W HTM1 D3 center, B&W 804 D3 & 805 D3 used for surrounds. 

I'm using these gears strictly for home theater, bluray movies mostly but occasionally I wanted to spin some red book CD in this home theater room.
I do have a dedicated stereo setup in a separate dedicated 2ch listening room that consists of completely different equipments and speakers. And I use this 2ch room to listen to music (hi-rez PCM/DSD, SACD & CD. My 2ch equipments in this dedicated 2ch room are of much higher qualities than my Classe/B&W gears in my home theater room. 

So back to my dedicated home theater room setup....before I purchase a pair of xlr balanced analog interconnects to connect my Oppo 105 to my Classe SSP 800 I wanted to know which has superior sounding DAC for listening to CD, the DAC in the Oppo 105 or the DAC in the Classe SSP 800 preamp processor? So far I've only been using the Oppo 105 strictly as a bluray player for bluray disc playbacks only via HDMI to my Classe SSP 800. I never got to try the quality of the DAC in the Oppo 105.
Again this would be for occasional listening to cd.

Thanks in advance.


caphill

Showing 2 responses by auxinput

Your 40 x 60 room is really large and doesn't have many bass cancellation problems, except for right dab in the middle. 

http://amroc.andymel.eu/?l=60&w=40&h=8&ft=true&r60=0.6

Based on this, there is a lot of low frequency room nodes right in the middle.  If you feel that you are getting full and good amount of bass, then you are probably okay with one Gotham.  Generally it is the very small rooms (like 10 x 17) that have bass cancellation problems.

That being said, having 2 subs will definitely help reduce any bass cancellation further.  3 subs will be better.  You could sell your one Gotham and get two or three Fathom F113 subs (same 13" woofer).  And place them left/right or even left/center/right.

Or look into SVS PB-16 Ultras if you want really low earth shaking bass.  They are cheaper than JL Audio.

Some additional info for you all.  I recently discovered that 2 channel PCM through HDMI is really bad.  Sound is compressed without dynamics and tends to be shouty in the upper midrange (due to clock/jitter issues with spdif through hdmi).  You will get highly superior sound quality by using a really good digital coax cable from your Oppo (or other Blu-ray player).