CP-500 + CDP-102 or SSP-800+MacMini+iPod Touch

[zele]

It appears to me that on new price level the two combinations listed in the subject field of this letter are near equivalent. On used price level the SSP combination is still higher somewhat but eventually it will change as SSP-800 wears off its novelty.
So the question is, is the SSP combination any inferior in terms of audio quality? Because as far as convenience is concerned it beats the CP/CDP combination easily (top HT performance, no need to juggle CDs, extremely convenient remote control via the iPod Touch). So for me it seems like such an easy decision. Or am I missing something in this comparison?

[sikoniko]

SSP-800+MacMini+iPod Touch is the better deal, plus the convenience of all your music at your finger instead of having to get up and change disks is a bonus! I like to queue my music and listen to different tracks off of different albums...

[AV-OCD]

In my experience, the SSP-800 is the great equalizer when it comes to the digital signals it is fed. It doesn't seem to matter if you use a cheap or an expensive digital transport (CD player), the SSP-800 makes them both sound equally great. I was using a CDP-300 as a transport feeding the SSP-800, and later added a Mac Mini as a music server. When I compared the sound quality of the $7000 CDP-300 to the $800 Mac Mini, there was no clear advantage to keeping the CDP-300, so I sold it.

[AV-OCD]

A little more food for thought . . .

Kent Poon is widely regarded as one of the top Asia audiophile producers and engineers. He was a technical consultant for one of the largest Asia consumer audio distributors, Radar Audio Company from 2003 to 2007. In the year of 1997, Kent became a full member of Audio Engineering Society (AES) full member. He is one of the youngest full AES members.


Kent Poon wrote:

Computer Audio is binary data. For a digital output device, you can verify if the output data is exactly same as the one stored on the computer (the original) by looping back the digital signal and recording on the computer. We did this test and wrote an article on my blog. I am from professional mastering world where we have all the professional audio workstations and software. We can test if the output of all digital devices is transparent to the input.

From our test, the iTunes rip is as good as EAC/Plextor rips on a disc in good condition. It is not a big deal in ripping with today's computer resources.

I look at a good DAC as a complete design. Jitter reduction must be good. Digital interface and analogue interfaces also need to be good. This includes the digital input de-jittering and analogue output driver, and the clocking path, power supply, and blocking interferences of RF and EMI. All these details are more than just a look at what chipset one DAC uses versus another.

Don't try to use money as measure of sound quality. For example, saying that a Mac Book pro can never sound as good as the $10,000 CD transport because of all the audiophile terms regarding their differences simply isn't true. This sort of thinking represents a gap between the traditional audiophile and the new generation of audiophiles. The biggest concern in computer-based audio is the DAC. A good DAC will guide you through.

The SSP-800 is a phenomenal DAC, so you should be in very good shape feeding it a digital signal from a Mac. At least this accredited audio engineer thinks so.

[zele]

Thanks guys. Sounds like an easy choice. The question I have to figure out is whether to go for a brand new SSP-800 or wait until one is available on the second hand market for 50%-75% price. This will be a battle of patience vs. budget.

[btf1980]

Thanks guys. Sounds like an easy choice. The question I have to figure out is whether to go for a brand new SSP-800 or wait until one is available on the second hand market for 50%-75% price. This will be a battle of patience vs. budget.

There is one on audiogon right now.

http://www.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/cls.pl?homeproc&1247356662&/Classe-SSP-800-Preamp/Processo

[zele]

There is one on audiogon right now.

http://www.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/cls....reamp/Processo

Thanks. Ship to USA only. I'm located in Central Europe and customs + value added tax would add up to more than new price. So I have to wait until the unit is available on the second hand EU market.