Classe SSP-800 - Time to move on?


I'm looking for some advice...

I've been a happy owner of a Classe ssp-800 for the past 8 years.   Its been a terrific unit and I've found it to be a very musical.  Initially I focused on buying a high in audiophile processor that could also function reasonably well as a 2 channel preamp as it made a lot of financial sense at the time.

Since then my system has grown and changed a lot and I now have a dedicated Ayre preamp in the chain for my 2 channel listening which works great.

So my question is with all of the new home theater audio formats(and 4k) coming out and with room correction built in to a lot of processors now does it make sense to move on?   I've been specifically looking at the Anthem AVM 60, but am open to suggestions.   The whole idea of room correction sounds really good to me.

I would love to hear from some of you previous Classe SSP 800 owners to see if you had any remorse after selling your processor. 

Thanks




rshad0000

Showing 5 responses by denny001

I have had my SSP-800 in a Stereo / HT setup for 7 years.  The continuing changes to the HDMI standards makes for some difficult and expensive decisions trying to find the right time and product to make a configuration change in higher end systems.  For me, the only reason to change is to get 4K HD video thru a one box solution.  I remain happy with the Stereo and Home Theatre processing capabilities of the SSP-800.  I am looking for a quality HDMI video switch that supports the current HDMI standards and all audio processing modes.  With that approach, I could bypass all video switching in the SSP-800 yet retain the audio quality - at a fraction of the price to upgrade.  Can anybody offer an HDMI switch recommendation?  

@auxinput - excellent advice re the HDMI switcher.  I was not aware that a lower resolution component would impact all switch device outputs.  In lieu of a HDMI switcher, could I send all video sources direct to the 4k TV and use the HDMI out from the tv as the SSP-800 audio input?  Would  I have an audio delay using this configuration?

@rshad0000  - Please advise how the Oppo 205 experiment went.  Did you find any audio  delay or other issues?  I am trying to keep the investment and quality of the SSP-800 while finding a 4K video solution.  There's very good advice in this stream re HDMI switchers, but I've elected to not go that route.

Re AVM60 comments, I am now using that in a second home theatre system and am very happy with the sound, features and value.  Too many variables for me to try and compare to SSP-800, but I do like tha AVM60!
Like many writers on this thread, I have researched options to keep my SSP-800 (with 1.4 HDMI board)  in my HT system while advancing to 4K video.  The Crestron and HD Furry witches mentioned appear to be very capable products, but designed for a professional video end user, not a plug and play consumer.  I lost a day trying to get a new, inexpensive DotStone 4Kx2K HDMI switcher to work to no avail.  The SSP 800 locked up & lost audio when more than 2 source components were added to the switch.  Probably something to do with EDID management, handshaking negotiations or other geeky terms.  My end solution was to upgrade my OPPO 103 to the 203 model to get 4K BluRay and add a ROKU streamer as the internet APP source thru the HDMI IN supported by the 203.  That video now goes direct to the TV via the main OPPO HDMI out and the audio out goes to the SSP 800 via the OPPO's Audio Only HDMI out. This is all working and there is no video degradation or audio delay issue.  My last step will be to direct the Comcast Cable direct to the TV and use the TV ARC HDMI audio out back to the SSP 800 for cable audio only.  To date however I have not been successful getting the Sony TV and SSP 800 to communicate via ARC.  I hope that the 3.1.0 Classe firmware update will resolve this problem.  The downside of this approach is the requirement for extra HDMI cables to the TV and requirement to change TV input section when a new source is selected.  A Logitech Harmony smart remote simplifies the latter issue.  
I liked jrn's solution to use the Hegel P30 bypass mode to achieve top quality analog while getting HT best value performance from the Anthem AVM60.  I am exploring a combination of the Parasound JC2 BP preamp with the Anthem AVM 60 as an alternative solution to replace the SSP800.  That should give me a long term analog solution that avoids the obsolescense issues inherent in a single box AVR with ever changing  HDMI standards.  I recently inserted a Schiit YGGY DAC downstream of a MusicVault Diamond with Roon and really like the SQ improvement using the SSP800 in analog pass thru mode.