Official Classe SSP-800 thread. - Page 95

Good question. The TI DSPs support HDCD.

As to why it's not in the SSP, I don't know.

Probably not expensive to license as it's in my Oppo BDP-83, and it offers me the option to turn it on/off (PCM/Bitstream mode).

My previous AVP (Tag McLaren) had HDCD decoding--and once in a while it caused some low-level clicking in the audio (a "Ftwp" in Don Martin parlance). Turned out that I was playing a Madonna "best of" CD where cuts were collected and remastered from prior HDCD releases, and that corrupted the HDCD encoding enough to cause the decoder to switch it on/off a few times thru the song. Only solution was to turn it off. This was not the only disc that did that, IIRC, but it's rare.

I should try that disc in the Oppo in PCM mode to see what happens. It of course plays fine in bitstream mode.

Thanks for the response Roger. As its supported by the DSP's, how can I put in a feedback/feature request as I'd really like to see it supported by the SSP if possible?

A number of folks here direct comments to Tom McConville as referenced in Post 1503. You might need to build a case for HDCD, since it's gotten a lot quieter after a) Pacific Microsonics was acquired by Microsoft, and b) SACD, DVD-A, and now BD have answered the need for high res audio delivery.

Are there a lot of HDCD discs out there? Are they still being released in any numbers?

And don't forget the wave of the future-- hi-rez downloads.

Did you ever get your center channel Chris? How about the tweeter upgrade? If the diamond tweeter in the Usher is anything like the new B&W tweeter, I bet it'll sound terrific!

FWIW, dBpoweramp will rip HDCD into 24 bit files for streaming.

Hi Chris -
Yes, my center channel came in a couple of weeks ago and I have Dean coming over today to dial in the PEQ, so I'm very interested hearing the outcome!

As for the diamond tweeters, I haven't gotten them yet, and have to nail down the timeline for that. BTW, the JC-1s are working very well and I'm very happy.

Diamond tweeters sound very good

The Usher "Diamond" tweet may sound great (thats purely subjective), but just to be clear, it is not a true diamond diaphragm. It is a carbon coated metal dome. Similar to their Beryllium (Be) tweet, which was an aluminum dome with a Be layer. There was quite a bit of controversy over their Be tweet, because until recently they had claimed that it was pure Be.

Usher's description:
"Our new Dancer Diamond DMD speakers employ a laminated diamond-metal-diamond tweeter (DMD), which consists of a proprietary metal alloy dome coated with an amorphous diamond-like carbon layer on both sides."

Very cool. Sounds like you're system is finally all together. Just curious, what are you using for surrounds? Glad the JC-1's worked out for you. They are superb mono-amps (and your is one of a kind). Let us know how the PEQ adjustments in the Classe turn out.

Thanks for clearing that up. I suppose it's the cubic zirconia to the B&W diamond tweeter. I'll be curious to hear how it sounds.

I have a challenged room that only allows in-ceiling surrounds and they're built into a suspended "cloud" from the ceiling that houses the speakers and doubles as acoustical treatment.

The current speakers are B&W CDS6 S3 although I'm thinking I might switch them out for B&W CCM7.3s if they'll fit

Well, as long as they sound good, I don't care what they're made from!

Not criticizing you choice in speakers, if they sound good, they sound good and it doesn't matter if the tweeter are made of rice paper or diamond.

I just have a thing for authenticity. I don't like being sold on the promise of one thing when it is really another.

Curiously the video issue I was experiencing and reported earlier on this forum (video not going to my Pioneer plasma display, but showing up on the SSP-800 display) has not happened on the last 7 or 8 bd disc's I've played. This issue seems to come and go, and lately it seems to be working fine and the video is going to my TV.

I agree with this statement... (just wanted to add my 2 cents)

Like I said, and hifisponge agrees with, I don't care what the tweeters are made from, they sound good -- pure BE or otherwise, it didn't change my opinion about how they sound. FWIW, the professional who set up my PEQ yesterday, was very impressed with the sound and he likes Ushers except he made a comment that "they're expensive". When I told him that my speakers list for under $5K a pair, his jaw dropped. Now this is a guy who last week was working on a $750K home system and, while I am sure my room doesn't sound as good as that system should, I do respect his opinion about both Usher as a brand and these speakers in particular.

As for the BE/Usher controversy, if people are interested in learning more about it, you can start off here:
http://www.avguide.com/forums/the-wh...ium-diaphragms The first post is by Steve Mowry who apparently is the guy on a mission about the subject. I'll let others decide whether or not Usher was intentionally mis-leading anyone on the BE subject or if it really is a controversy since the speakers in question (BE-718) are highly regarded by all reviewers.

The new diamond series tweeters, like hifisponge found above, are described that way on their website and I don't have an issue with what they are calling the new line of speakers -- Diamond Series -- since it appears that they are being transparent in how these tweeters are manufactured and the tweeters are described this way under specifications on the website: "metallic-ceramic dome tweeter". If you open the PDF below, you'll find more information on the tweeter and how they came up with the diamond designation. Perhaps there is a bit of marketing involved here by Usher, but again, they are being transparent about the manufacturing process.

As for the cubic zirconia comment, while I know it was in jest, buyers can make up their own mind whether B&W speakers with a diamond tweeter http://www.bowers-wilkins.com/displa...623&artid=1572 sound better than Usher Diamond Series speakers http://www.usheraudiousa.com/files/d...es-catalog.pdf after listening to them.

Ultimately, I believe that we are all after truth in advertising. I, too, don't like being sold on the promise of one thing when it is another, but to me the BE/Usher issue is pretty far down on the list of things to be upset about since it doesn't impact how these speakers perform.

Since we're all after truth in advertising, I assume that you'll agree with me that Classe needs to change the advertising for the SSP-800 and be authentic. I suggest that they add the following to the second paragraph of their copy (in bold) http://www.classeaudio.com/delta/detail-ssp-800.htm :

"The SSP-800 was conceived with pure performance as its raison d'être. It can seamlessly weave audio and video into a faithful reproduction of the original master, reproducing music and movies exactly as the artists imagined. It was created by people who are uniquely qualified, having both the technical skill and aesthetic judgment to bring performances to life. But you won't hear all of the music on quite a few CD tracks because we truncate it, and we still have some issues with the HDMI handshake that our mid-fi competitors have largely solved. "

Afterall, we love the SSP-800's transparent sound, so they might as well be transparent about the operational shortcomings especially almost two years after it was introduced http://www.classeaudio.com/press/pre...ease.htm?id=19 and I don't want anyone being sold on the promise of one thing and getting another!

I have similar issues with my 2 year old Samsung TV too, whereas it always works perfectly with my Epson video projector. HDMI voodoo I guess

I have another funny bug:


The two counters (the big and the small one) are desynchronized. This is a "permament" issue anyway (but I haven't hard reset yet).

From that image, looks like you're running beta firmware?

I tried to induce that in mine, but was not able. Which code are you running?

ETA: Ah yes, the stripe on the display means it's beta. Probably the same one I'm running, HA74. Hmmm...that always makes me wonder of it's setup, code, or hardware.

Oh yeah, forgot to mention, he also said that, in his opinion, there isn't a better pre/pro than the SSP-800 on the market right now at any price.

Yes worth a try

Linn: Studio Master (192) FLAC 24bit 192kHz
http://www.linnrecords.com/recording...36--linz-.aspx

2L: 2L FLAC 192kHz 24 bit
http://www.klicktrack.com/2l/search?...+192kHz+24+bit

HD Tracks
https://www.hdtracks.com/

Music Giants
http://www.musicgiants.com/musicgiants/index.html

I hope that all went well with Dean's work. Did he make any drastic changes to the EQ? Good to see another person take advantage of the EQ.

As for the cubic zirconia comment, while I know it was in jest, buyers can make up their own mind whether B&W speakers with a diamond tweeter http://www.bowers-wilkins.com/displa...623&artid=1572 sound better than Usher Diamond Series speakers http://www.usheraudiousa.com/files/d...es-catalog.pdf after listening to them.

Agreed. Hopefully I get to hear the Ushers diamond series. Although I thought the previous tweeter sounded pretty nice on my one audition, so I imagine the newer one will sound great. No offense meant by my comment. I was speaking more to the tweeter material rather than the sound it would produce.

Room treatments, professionally tuned, JL subs, Classe SSP-800, Kuro TV and Usher speakers. Top of the line all around. Would love to hear and see your setup sometime.

Yes he made some significant changes both in the EQ and the placement of the speakers...to get the mains as flat as possible, they're now right against the front wall. My room, even though acoustically treated, isn't ideal -- I have an opening to stairs and a hallway to the right of the listening position and an open hallway to the left, so the speakers behaved quite differently prior to EQ -- a couple of big suckouts on both. One point of interest was we threw out the ARC settings for the JL Audio subs, the un-corrected settings were actually flatter than the automatic settings from the ARC set up.

I'm still getting used to the sound...my ears aren't what they used to be and flat may not be best for these old ears that were damaged by too many rock shows in my wayward youth (you should see the curve from my hearing test!). Also, I'm not sure that I like the soundstage with the speakers set where they are, but I have to do some more listening. One thing that we're going to have to address is I have noticed distortion on a track (Stars by The xx) which is probably being caused by where one of the filters is set...it appears in the right channel only never happened prior to the EQ.

I know some folks on this list think that it is a fault of the PEQ (hearing "hash), but Dean says it is more a function of steep filters...here's what he had to say about this issue when we were talking about it on this forum a few months ago. I sent him this link and below is his response http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...post18202304in :

"It's a function of ANY steep filter anywhere near another filter/or crossover point. I've already had this happen with an SSP. The solution was to get rid of the least necessary filter causing the problem and be very careful of filters that occur near the sub crossover point. I had to deal with this on another project where a four way active speaker system, B&W Nautilus, had one amp dead. The client heard an occasional buzz/rattle. We replaced crossovers and drivers. We even had engineers from B&W fly over from England. In the end, we determined that if you had a step filter in just the place you could hear part of an instrument or voice for just a moment break through the foreground music. It sounds just like distortion. I took a random speaker to the client's house with a programmable eq and showed him exactly the same effect."

I think that's what I'm hearing, so we'll have to fine-tune things once I get some listening time in. He does very good work, highly recommended.

Tom McConville from Classe e-mailed me late Friday and said "We have developed Beta Test code is designed to address the performance you were experiencing on your Denon player." he did not clarify whether this was to address my video issue or my DVD-A audio issue. I hope to upload the new code to my unit to see if it fixes either one. I don't recall when looking at the volume counter and checking to see if the large volume matches the small. I will have take a look at that.

The PEQ hash problem has been identified and confirmed as a bug, and fixed by MDS. I expect the next SSP code to reflect that.

Good to hear. If you find that you don't completely like the EQ'd sound after living with it for a while. Send me a PM with a description of the sound quality and I may be able to help you adjust the filter settings to get it closer to what you want.

Where did you get your hearing tested and what sort of "uniqueness" did it uncover. I need to get mine checked, as I've recently been blessed with a mild case of tinnitus which may be coloring the sound I hear.

Input setup issue - thanks for any help you may offer-

Assume this is an easy reply -

am a new owner - BTW my wife and kids already have picked up on the improvent in the sound of the ssp 800 vs the IR- RDC-7 it is replacing,

Have set up a Panasonic BR player w/o a problem and am now adding a denon 3910 - connected with a HDMI cable as a way of getting my SACD - DVDA discs but in setting a new input on the connector the HDMI option seems to be greyed out- what is the problem there?
I could use an analog % ch connector but I thought HDMI was the or an option!

Easy, you must select an HDMI input first under video then select HDMI audio.

Menu->system setup->input-(next input until you arrive at the input required)->video (select HDMI 1 - 4 as required) ->back->audio->connector->HDMI audio.