SSP-800 and automated EQ: A Deal Breaker?

[style]

Hi sikoniko,

You have a lot of your time with the explain him...
There is no worse deaf to those who do not want to hear!!

You have right, dont pay write any word more...


@Kal,

Personally I don't need nothing more from my SSP. sound great so: I dont will
a EQ, Audyssey Sound Equalizer or so it's!


Style

[beden1]

Glad to hear that you're enjoying the SSP-800. How many hours do you have on it? If you think it sounds great now, just wait until it's broken in.

Thanks. I'm amazed how it sounds now at only about 15 hours of use. If it gets any better, I may have to become a follower of the teachings of Timothy Leary! ;x(

[Kal Rubinson]

@Kal,

Personally I don't need nothing more from my SSP. sound great so: I dont will
a EQ, Audyssey Sound Equalizer or so it's!


Style

What I asked was why you suggested the Neptune rather than the Audyssey.

Kal

[AV-OCD]

What I asked was why you suggested the Neptune rather than the Audyssey.

Kal

I do not think that Neptune would be a good choice for addressing bass response with it's fixed filters. You really need to dial in on the specific center frequency and bandwidth for the filters when correcting bass FR. Would have been better if they offered PEQ for below 300Hz and 1/3 for the mids and highs.

So for me, there is no good outboard EQ at the moment. I prefer the flexibility and precision of the EQ offered in the SSP-800, but then of course I do, that's part of the reason I bought one.

[sikoniko]

Thanks. I'm amazed how it sounds now at only about 15 hours of use. If it gets any better, I may have to become a follower of the teachings of Timothy Leary! ;x(

Welcome to the club of SSP-800 owners! I'm glad you are happy with it and that it exceeds your expectations! :T

Us and Them in multi-channel makes me feel like I'm floating in the clouds. Absolutely fantastic!

[wettou]

.....modern processors they have a ton of processing grunt on board so Audyssey is actually not much more of an add on. Most actually have the built in capability and just a matter of license costs

Yes that is all that is licensing costs :W for Audyssey, THX, Silicon Optix.... this means more profit for B&W Group = good business practice to bad for the customer

So at the end one decides to make the compromise or not :B

It is interesting that the much cheaper Rotel also owned by B&W group can do the following:

RSP-1570

Decodable Digital Input Signal Dolby Digital, Dolby Digital EX, Dolby Pro Logic IIX, DTS, DTS_ES, DTS96/24, LPCM (up to 192k), Dolby TrueHD and DTS HD Master Audio

But same as Classé not Audyssey, Silicon Optic, THX B&W group must have decided that they need to squeeze the profit margins

[sikoniko]

Yes that is all that is licensing costs :W for Audyssey, THX, Silicon Optix.... this means more profit for B&W Group = good business practice to bad for the customer

So at the end one decides to make the compromise or not :B

It is interesting that the much cheaper Rotel also owned by B&W group can do the following:

RSP-1570

Decodable Digital Input Signal Dolby Digital, Dolby Digital EX, Dolby Pro Logic IIX, DTS, DTS_ES, DTS96/24, LPCM (up to 192k), Dolby TrueHD and DTS HD Master Audio

But same as Classé not Audyssey, Silicon Optic, THX B&W group must have decided that they need to squeeze the profit margins

The Rotel unit is not based on the MDS stuff. So you can't really compare the two.

To put it in prospective, Bryston is using similar MDS stuff for the SP3 and they don't have on-board decoding capability in the stuff they have received at this point either. The onboard decoding not being available yet isn't because of Classe. Classe is waiting on MDS and TI.

[beden1]

While I had found this topic interesting, after experiencing the sound of the SSP-800 in my home system, I think the conversation is now really kind of ridiculous by it's very nature. I am amazed by how great an impact this addition has made to my system, and I really wish those of you who are carrying the torch for a system with auto EQ, could also experience what I am currently ... because I could care less at this point. It sounds that good! :E

[Gump]

While I had found this topic interesting, after experiencing the sound of the SSP-800 in my home system, I think the conversation is now really kind of ridiculous by it's very nature. I am amazed by how great an impact this addition has made to my system, and I really wish those of you who are carrying the torch for a system with auto EQ, could also experience what I am currently ... because I could care less at this point. It sounds that good! :E

Congratulations beden1. It's been a long road. I'm glad you're happy with the 800. :T

[sikoniko]

While I had found this topic interesting, after experiencing the sound of the SSP-800 in my home system, I think the conversation is now really kind of ridiculous by it's very nature. I am amazed by how great an impact this addition has made to my system, and I really wish those of you who are carrying the torch for a system with auto EQ, could also experience what I am currently ... because I could care less at this point. It sounds that good! :E

I agree with you, the lack of an AutoEQ should not be a deal breaker. The problem is, and Al has passionately demonstrated this, it will be for many people. There will be a group of people that will not even give it a listen because they have bought into the marketing hype.

That is not to say that the Denon is a bad unit. I just believe that there is a blurring in the products based on price. I hate to say it, but if the Classe were priced above $10k, it would not be getting this kind of response. Then again, I wouldn't have been able to afford it either.

[wettou]

MDS?? Classe is waiting on MDS and TI.

What is MDS?

[beden1]

Here's a crazy notion that I thought about last night while watching Indiana Jones with Dolby True HD throught the SSP-800.

The sound is extremely natural/neutral, and more than I have ever heard through any playback system. I started realizing that this lack of distortion was also smoothing out my overall room response. Is it possible that most of the room imbalances that people notice is a result of playback distortion, and by eliminating that distortion, so does the room response flatten and become more balanced?

[Kal Rubinson]

Here's a crazy notion that I thought about last night while watching Indiana Jones with Dolby True HD throught the SSP-800.

The sound is extremely natural/neutral, and more than I have ever heard through any playback system. I started realizing that this lack of distortion was also smoothing out my overall room response. Is it possible that most of the room imbalances that people notice is a result of playback distortion, and by eliminating that distortion, so does the room response flatten and become more balanced?

Illogical.

[wettou]

I started realizing that this lack of distortion was also smoothing out my overall room response. Is it possible that most of the room imbalances that people notice is a result of playback distortion, and by eliminating that distortion, so does the room response flatten and become more balanced?

Distortion from a pre/pro or receiver is one thing room response is an other :lol:

[Srrndhound]

What is MDS?

Momentum Data Systems, the makers of the TI DSP platform used in the SSP-800.

[wettou]

Momentum Data Systems, the makers of the TI DSP platform used in the SSP-800.

So they don't make their own boards? I thought they did it all in house?

Is that it? http://www.mds.com/products/product.asp?prod=DA-71x-KIT

[Mark-n-b]

I have the Denon AVP but do not use auto eq at all. Therefore, if I had the SSP-800 I would not miss it - hence my vote. Mind you, with what Kal posted (on here and AVS) I think I will get my tripod out and give it another go - when I get a quiet afternoon.

PS - I don't own Classe - yet - I was voting as someone who is interested in the unit!

[Srrndhound]

So they don't make their own boards? I thought they did it all in house?

Is that it? http://www.mds.com/products/product.asp?prod=DA-71x-KIT

Close, that is the software development system. Here is the actual module http://www.mds.com/products/product.asp?prod=DAE%2D7 as pictured in Classe materials http://www.htguide.com/forum/showpos...53&postcount=1.

[wettou]

Close, that is the software development system. Here is the actual module http://www.mds.com/products/product.asp?prod=DAE%2D7 as pictured in Classe materials http://www.htguide.com/forum/showpos...53&postcount=1.

So which one are they waiting for the one with Dolby True HD and DTS- Master Audio, how come every one else has a chip that can decode these new codecs except Classé?

Onkyo, Integra, Denon, Marantz, Lexicon, Yamaha, Rotel, NAD, Parasound.....

[Srrndhound]

So which one are they waiting for the one with Dolby True HD and DTS- Master Audio, how come every one else has a chip that can decode these new codecs except Classé?

Onkyo, Integra, Denon, Marantz, Lexicon, Yamaha, Rotel, NAD, Parasound.....

I have no other information besides what is posted here and at MDS's website.

>>"In terms of hardware development, we (Classé) are fully focused on the SSP-800 upgrade. HD decoding involves around 270 million instructions per second (MIPS), which is about 90% of the capacity of the only DSP that is currently able to perform this process. We considered that the 10% remaining capacity on this DSP was not enough to perform the sophisticated post processing that we require in addition to HD decoding, which is why we launched the SSP-800 with our current DSP, a platform that operates 1800 MIPS but which does not decode HD bitstreams.<<

The above appears to refer to the current DA710 module which MDS released in 2005, without support of HD codecs.

>>Our new platform is a Dual DSP where each chip is capable of operating at speeds of 2800 million instructions per second. It will not only decode the new bitstreams but also apply the post processing that you expect.<<

I cannot immediately find a module from MDS that meets this description--using dual DSPs. It may be that MDS is tooling such a module with the same footprint as the DA-710 to faciltate a direct plug/play swap.

[garak]

So which one are they waiting for the one with Dolby True HD and DTS- Master Audio, how come every one else has a chip that can decode these new codecs except Classé?

Onkyo, Integra, Denon, Marantz, Lexicon, Yamaha, Rotel, NAD, Parasound.....

These posts remind me of a kid in a long car ride.

Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet?

[beden1]

These posts remind me of a kid in a long car ride.

Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet?

Great Analogy!

I think he really wants to get an SSP-800, but unfortunately, the market has him down like many people. He may be trying to justify in his own mind that he really does not want one, but, I think he protests too much!

If I'm wrong, then he is just wasting our time.

[style]

Personally I dont think that the sound dts vs. dts ma will be sooo much different!
some even better but not so much....the track recorded on the disc will be make the different too


Style

[wettou]

These posts remind me of a kid in a long car ride.

Are we there yet :B

Wise Crackin' Donkey

[wettou]

Great Analogy!If I'm wrong, then he is just wasting our time.

Like you are wasting ours .... Peace

[beden1]

Like you are wasting ours .... Peace

How am I wasting your time?

[garak]

Are we there yet :B

Wise Crackin' Donkey

No!!! We'll get there when we get there. And stop bugging your sister.

[wettou]

No!!! We'll get there when we get there. And stop bugging your sister.

Fine will do :B

[wettou]

Spring 2009 until new codecs, maybe March 2009 or more likely April or May?