It's more than a year late, but Classé is finally ready to release its SSP-800 AV pre/pro. Stunning aesthetics and build quality are here, but from the specs, it's hard for us to see what has taken the $8,000 beauty so long. The 64-bit TI DSP sure sounds impressive, but the absence of onboard video processing (no scaling or deinterlacing) makes us wonder what it's busy computing. Add in the fact that the DSP will need to be replaced when Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD MA support arrives in a couple of months, and we wonder why the debut wasn't just delayed pending lossless support. We know there are some who will just have to have this piece of gear, but for others who just want to drop $8k on a pre/pro, might we recommend something along the lines of the Denon
AVP-A1HDCI?
UPDATE: As several commenters have noted, the Classe SSP-800 did ship last year, albeit without Dolby TrueHD or DTS-HD MA decoding.
posted Jul 8th 2009 6:41PM
wow!! 8k$ and no dolby truehd and dts-hd.they should wait with the release and upgrade it with the new codecs.or wait until its dilated 10cm.
doesnt almost every receiver over $500 have those features, and atleasta crappy scaller at the min. for 8k you would think you would get somethign of value
It doesn't have to make sense, it is very high end gear!
Firstly, the SSP-800 had been out for almost a year now. Maybe the upgrade is finally being released. The SSP-800 accepts LPCM out of the box. There is no reason why converting a bitstream signal to PCM in the Preamp is better than converting it in the Player. For utility purposes, its better to convert in the player than the preamp.
Regarding the AVPA1HDCI, can anyone give a single reason why it would sound better than the Classe? Denon has never had a track record of making high fidelity equipment, and DM Holdings has made Marantz its High End line, so why would I choose the Denon over the Classe again?
You are exactly right about the Classe and PCM. Anyone who has actually heard DTS master vs. PCM from the same player would agree as well. Mr. Kim can recommend the Denon if he wants. I guess some people would rather check boxes on a spec sheet than listen to the best value in high end AV preamps.
Good things these are times when people are just throwing money around.....
OK, this blogpost pretty much shows that the writers here have no idea what they are talking about.
Point 1 - The SSP-800 shipped last year!
Point 2 - The Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD MA decoding will be a free upgrade with the new chip in August.
Point 3 - Despite Classe being very high end, like most boutique companies, they are very small. Licensing fees are expensive, they are not Onkyo or Denon who sell millions of $300 mass market receivers, making them able to add the latest "bells and whistles".
Point 4 - As someone who has the SSP-800, it walks circles all over the Denon AVP in terms of fidelity. I auditioned the Denon, and it was good, but the Classe was more musical and less sterile. The Denon is for those who want the latest bells and whistles. The Classe is for those who value fidelity.
Point 5 - How the hell did you guys miss that this prepro has been on the market for like a year???? Better do some actual research in your articles next time, this is embarrassing.
TJ (and everyone else) -- sorry about the ship date error, I've updated the post accordingly. I was confused by the linked article's "...is finally about to ship." Not an excuse, just an explanation.
I have had this pre/pro for almost a year now and can say it is definately worth the cost. There will be people that will argue that you need bells and whistles, but those people shop by a spec sheet, and not with their ears.
Come on now. No doubt that the sound from a product like this is fabulous but the price is just ridiculously overpriced. Five to ten years ago the gap between gear like this name brand consumer gear was huge. Now, not so much. In a blind listening test I doubt most people could here any audible difference of this Classe compared to your top end Yamaha, Denon, Pioneer, and Onkyo models. Heck, my Onkyo 876 could give this thing a run for it's money and has the specs to boot. Oh, and I got it for 1g. Classe will find it's home in the audio rack of celebrities home theater put in by professional installers. Beyond that only rich elitist will only buy this and insist it sounds so much better to justify to themselves they didn't get ripped off.
I would like to see a Classe home theater in box system at Walmart. I'll buy.
I own Marantz AV8003 Preamp/Processor I am confident that it performs 95% of Classe at a price that is almost 1/3 of the cost of it.
At $2600, it is an absolute steal! You can find it at Ebay brand new for $1600 no problem.
I guess this one comes down to whether you'd rather have lots of functions and a reasonable D-to-A, or one the best D-to-A on the planet.
Do you want a 'made to a minimum standard' model that will be bettered by a slightly 'better' model in 6 months time, or do you want a free upgrade to your state of the art system that will mean it still the best at the end of the year.
I used to love my Meridian gear. I was just blown away what a jump up this was.