Which Pre/Pro regardless of $$$

Ears, I have multiple sources, so being limited to one input was not an option. I found on a previous Rotel Processor that I liked the analog pass of the 5.1 input, and from that rose the conundrum, CD player? DAC? SACD 5.1? or SACD 2 channel? I didnt want to be limited again.

Research or not, passing a signal through the DSP absolutely effects the sound. It was as night and day switching from a DSP processor to an inexpensive BP-20 preamp. Dynamics in particular were severely effected at low volumes.

Seriously though, their your ears , let them decide. Every one has different taste so what works for me may not for someone else, of course that obvious. Not to mention synergy of components and cabling. I did really like the balanced inputs on the C2.

I just wanted to clear up the re-digitizing of the pass thru.
The trim controls and analog volume only, are in the chain.
The 2 and multi channel sacd are run through the 7.1 inputs so there taken care of.
A stand alone cd player could be plugged into the balanced inputs.
The Bryston and most other pre/pros have the same problem [not for me] with limited ic's.
As far as the sonics on any pre/pro comparing to a quality 2 channel pre, I have my doubts,this is why I will only spend around 3k for a pre/pro to begin with.

Ears, the parasound manual, which is at my house so I cant reference it at the moment, explains that only one input bypasses the DSP and that was Multichannel. All other inputs, balanced or SE, pass through the DSP. Tone(trim) adjustsments are handled by the DSP. Thus eliminating analog only. I can offer this however, the Motorola 56367 is an awesome chip, and offers the cleanest DSP I have heard to date.

Also this can be tricky, some SACD/DVD-A players have multiple outputs. When outputing a multichannel format they obviously use the multichannel outs, but, the same format may use the 2 channel outs for all 2 channel material. e.g. I have 8 SE cables from SACD to Processor, 6 for 5.1, and 2 for 2 channel. My unit will automatically send 2 channel SACD material down the 2 channel outs, not the 5.1 outs.

Since my primary concern was flexability with analog bypass, I wanted a Processor which allows me to "analog bypass" all the 2 channel inputs. Thus effectively becoming an analog 2 channel preamp, Bryston goes so far as to provide each section, analog and digital, their own dedicated toroidal power supplies. I suspect thats where the very black backgrounds and impressive dynamics arise.

Bryston literature is a little ambigious about "analog bypass" with the multichannel input. They do call it a "bypass" but, I suspect it doesnt "bypass" the DSP because you have sub control in multichannel. It gets a little fuzzy from here....you can attenuate the sub but not change its Xover, I bet that attenuation is handled via the DSP. This may be an advantage to Parasound(my old Rotel RSP-976 was the same as the Para in this respect). It's fine by me since I listen to most SACDs 2 channel layer regardless.

Anywho, we surely are getting into the details arent we? which I thoroughly enjoy =).

This could be the best pre/pro regardless of price.
If you are charitable and have a big budget, check this out.

Ebay auction 304 2895 736
I don't gennerally use e bay but this is special.

This discussion made me wonder, so I went and checked. The Classe SSP75 and SSP60 are basically two channel preamps built into the same box as an AV pre/pro. All of the 2-channel inputs (including the balanced 2-ch input), as well as the 5.1 bypass, go straight through and are affected by only the volume control. There are no A/D - D/A conversions in those paths. The digital inputs, of course, go through the whole circuit.