What would your choice be?

[drallan]

I have just setup my new system (friggin excited!) and have a question. Please go easy on me because I'm a newbie. My CD is a CDP300 and is hooked to an SSP800 in 2 ways. The first is with balanced Virtual Dynamics Revelation XLR analog interconnects as well as an Audioquest HMDI-3 digital cable. The audio is slightly different between the two, both 2channel and I can't decide which is preferrable. The XLRs seem more accurate but the HDMI seems more open, if that makes sense. It's fed to B&W 800 Signatures, each with CAM400s.
Thanx

[garak]

Congrats on the new system!

Well there isn't really a right answer on this, except go with whatever you like better. Since you haven't decided which you like better, I suggest spending more time listening. Eventually, I think you'll figure out which you prefer.

Personally, I prefer accuracy, but to each his own.

[Oddiophile]

Hi drallan,

Congratulations on a fabulous system!

As a prospective SSP-800 owner and a current CA-M400 and B&W 802D owner, I asked the same question of both Classe and my dealer. Both said that they thought the HDMI would be better because of the greater bandwidth. Normally HDMI is problematic because of high jitter rates. These problems have little to do with HDMI itself but rather the implementation. In the case of the SSP-800, the implementation is quite superb as demonstrated by the incredible jitter rejection specs that you will find in the "first official review" thread.

Ultimately, your ears should be the determining factor. Your system is set up so you can make a thorough comparison. Indeed there is no reason why you could not keep both connections and configure separate inputs to use whichever one suits both your mood and the particular recording.

Jim

[sikoniko]

Since the money is already spent, there is 0 cost to use either. Experiment. You might find you like some recordings with one connection better than the other. Ultimately, there is no right answer.