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Classé SSP-800 AV pre/pro ships, sans video processing and lossless support
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.
Bowers & Wilkins / Rotel / Classe CEDIA 2008 booth tour
B&W, Rotel and Classe didn't go out of their way to announce anything new this CEDIA, but we couldn't resist the urge to wade on through their combined booth and snap a few shots. Of course, the lovely Zeppelin was getting an uncomfortable amount of attention, but even the more obscure hardware was seeing its fair share of onlookers. Say, why don't you become one by hitting up the gallery below? %Gallery-31295%
Classe SSP-800 preamp / processor arrives this month
If you're one of the lucky few who can afford Classe gear, chances are you've been waiting for its SSP-800 preamp/processor combo for a while now. We don't know what it is about Canada, but it certainly has its share of high end deliciousness. Part of Classe's Delta series of components, the 10-channel SSP-800 is slated to show up this month at $8000 MSRP, and features a good-looking touchpanel control up front. Looks don't tell the whole story, though -- there's also some serious silicon brains inside the tank-like chassis. Processing is handled by a 64-bit TI DSP that is replaceable for "future proofing," and the video circuitry can handle 36-bit Deep Color. In our world of rapidly evolving changing standards, we tend to take the term "future-proof" with a dash of salt and can't justify purchase of this kind of gear for our own rigs. But if you've got the coin and want to invite us over, we'd be happy to oblige.
