I love those type of questions.
That one, the Marantz AV8801 is one of the best ones for Home Theater duties. ...In that price range.
Your question is actually so vast that it needs precision, because a SSP is first and foremost a surround SOUND decoder and transmitter.
People use them in their home theater rooms for sound envelopment. And some of the best sound envelopment is from Blu-ray movies, Blu-ray Audio, Multichannel SACDs, DVD-Audio, and whatever else is out there in high resolution multichannel sound.
So, if quality multichannel sound decoding and transmitting is the prime objective, and if the digital stage is the one mostly used (HDMI), more so than the analog one (because multichannel analog outputs from players are becoming less and less important in the now world we live in), then the playing field should concentrate on that aspect; the digital implementation in the SSP.
Then you want the best DACs, the most DACs per channel (dual-differential) for all the channels (up to fourteen - 11.3), and truly balanced (using XLR connections). You want also the best implementation of all the best digital parts, and separate circuits for sensitive sections (power transformers away, even from a separate component). ...All in the pursuit of the ultimate elimination of noise and improved dynamic range, clean separation, and wide soundstage and imaging.
<<>> Tomorrow's state-of-the-art SSPs will consist of four different boxes, even five. ...When we'll reach the 8K and 16K high resolution cinema threshold. ...Or each speaker will come with its own separate surround sound processor (Acoustic Room EQ) integrated in its base, and its own mic implemented between its mid-range and woofer driver (tweeter's frequencies don't need as much Equing or close miking).
Ok, now we have to look at our usual suspects:
Krell (Evolution 707 => $30,000), Meridian (Reference 861), Theta Digital (Casablanca IV), Anthem (Statement D2v 3D), Cary Audio Design (Cinema 12), Bryston (SP-3), Lexicon (MC-12), Classe (CT-SSP), Integra (DHC-80.3), Denon (AVP-A1HDCI), Marantz (AV8801), McIntosh (MX150 NAD ), Onkyo
(PR-SC5510), Yamaha (CX-A5000), NAD (Master Series - M15 HD2), Arcam (FMJ AV888), naim (Statement - MC?).
Like I said, I put the analog stage behind, because I'm thinking more HDMI connections here, to be in touch with that 2014 world.
If the analog section would be added to it would have to include the analog multichannel sources, if you are following me, and I would rather keep things in the digital domain here, all the way from in to out.
Some of these SSPs just above are putting a lot of effort into the analog stage, fine, but service yourself; meaning that if you are going to use the multichannel analog connection you'd better add one heck of a great multichannel analog source.
Are we still on the same page? ...We now live in an HDMI world of high resolution audio and high definition picture; in the digital domain.
So, this post of mine right here is about
Digital Multichannel Surround Sound.
- Another day in another thread it will be about
Analog Multichannel Surround Sound. ...And converted to digital and then back to analog? ...Yes for some. ...Or Analog all the way in, and out? ...That too. ...The best analog SSP on the planet.
Now, some of these SSPs have some sort of Room correction and EQ system (Auto, or/and manual), and others don't (you can buy a separate one if you desire so). Some people like one system more than another (Perfect Room, XTasY, XTZ, Audyssey, Dirac, Live In, Trinnov, ARC, etc.) and other people like none at all, or one they can download from their computers and with programs assistance like REW for example (there are others).
So you see that it is becoming complex, and the question of personal preference takes over at a certain point.
You would have to try them all, and with all the variations possible. ...Which is almost impossible to do for any sane human being.
One audio guru, and multichannel music lover extraordinaire, and reviewer of multichannel surround sound audio equipment, and also reviewer of multichannel music recordings, is
Kal Rubinson from Stereophile (Music in the Round). ...Kal has been at it for many years, and he is constant in that department.
And he also reviewed most of the SSPs out there in the nearest world. ...There are others too, from professional in the film industry (pro film mixer and recording engineers for motion picture soundtracks, and multichannel music mixes), and it's a good source of information as well.
Mike, you know very well that I'm not the guy who experiment with all that stuff; but I do read extensively from the people who I believe have the best handle than most people in general.
From my extensive readings I would probably (if they have no HDMI handshake issues) love to give a test run to SSPs from Classe, Meridian, Anthem, to start first with. I am totally wide open regarding which Correction & EQ system they use. At the end I just want the very best multichannel sound in my room. And I like to stay digital all the WAY.
Which one is the best SSP today? I just don't know yet the answer to that complex question. ...And by the time I find out, tomorrow will keep coming up.
Read Kal's column, every month, and check reviews from the multichannel gurus from Europe, Japan, France, Germany, etc.
And like I said, my own personal attraction is towards SSPs from Meridian, Classe, and Anthem. But also Denon AVP-A1HDCI, and perhaps Bryston too.
{I'm using an Integra DHC-80.3 right now, but I am abso!utely certain that it's not the best; only that it was the one I decided on at the time.}
I hope that my answer is satisfying you enough.
P.S. I did not mention the Video equation at all because you can give me the best video processor in the world in that SSP and I wouldn't use it. I never use the HQV Reon-VX video processor from my Integra, ever (and it's a good one, with tons of ISF picture control selections, and for each individual/separate video/source input); I simply select Pass Through for all my video sources, and let them do their own video stunt (simplest way to operate, and my sources have great VPs to start with).
As long that the picture is passed totally virgin, untouched, without the smallest picture degradation ever, I'm all good with that SSP in that department.
SSP = SURROUND SOUND first and foremost. ...Then choose your poison: Digital, or Analog. ...And stay all the way in, and out.
...In only one of them cures, without mixing them together.
