Help with processor decision

It took about as long as the 105 for burn in about 100hrs or so to gain its refinement, I found in comparing the two that it comes down to mood as you will have two very capable playback dac's to choose from and even via hdmi for stereo the 8801 will amaze at its handling of jitter when compared to rca or xlr for stereo, the 8801 does indeed have a nice rytm and pace that will have one's toe tapping, while the 105 will have that extra something you will like indeed. I will say a reference sacd via hdmi w/Audyssey for multi/ch is quite breathtaking and with the setup you now have you can enjoy playback option glore at the touch of a button.

Bebop, you don't need to use XLR to use the Oppo DACs. Consult the manual about optimizing stereo. At the bottom of the Audio Processing menu set Stereo Signal to Front Left/Right. Use the LR stereo outputs, either XLR or SE, and take the surround outputs to an amp or your processor. I suggest you visit the Oppo 105 owners' thread at AVS. I doubt the 8801 DACs are superior, but you may prefer acoustic room correction, and that would suggest HDMI-2 from the Oppo to the 8801.

db

The dac's in the 8801 may or maynot be superior but different in its overall implementation as a whole and after a comparison between the Oppo 105 direct to my Halo A21 ( xlr & rca connections) and with the 8801 in the chain as a pre and also against the 8801 doing the conversion for stereo I came to the conclusion I liked all three options and considered it just system flexibility, now having said that the end configuration and use has been the 105 via XLR assigned to 8801's cd input for 2/ch ( but when I want a sub its the 8801 doing the job)

Whilst all things multi/ch the 8801 with Audyssey my defacto standard. Regardless of how good the 105's dac's are I had to come to the conclusion the also good dac's in the 8801 + DRC is hard to touch for playback of reference material. great thing is I have all the connected methods above at the touch of a button (not counting the direct to Halo A21 from the Oppo but haven't tried it again since the comparison)
Best of both worlds!

Jdub,

Three? Analog from the Oppo direct to the amp and HDMI-2 from the Oppo to the 8801 would seem sufficient. I hope you don't take analog from the Oppo to the 8801 and digitize it again. Or do you take analog from the Oppo to an 8801 passthrough, and if so, what's the point given the 8801 can't process a signal if it doesn't digitize it? The Oppo has ample output level to drive the amp and has a fine volume control.

db

Dbphd

Three? Analog from the Oppo direct to the amp and HDMI-2 from the Oppo to the 8801 would seem sufficient. I hope you don't take analog from the Oppo to the 8801 and digitize it again. Or do you take analog from the Oppo to an 8801 passthrough, and if so, what's the point given the 8801 can't process a signal if it doesn't digitize it? The Oppo has ample output level to drive the amp and has a fine volume control.

While the method above is sufficient, it would bring into play the hassle of connecting and reconnecting the XLR's for different use and why I use the pass through option on the 8801 and the XLR's can be digitized if one wants to, as Marantz decided to send the XLR input signal through there HDAM, they did however leave the 7.1 inputs pure analog with no option to digitize at all , so if one wants the option it does exist which is why I have all three methods connected but use the one's I noted above. Trust me I know how good the 105 sounds direct to the amp but after the comparison I did, it would be splitting hairs to justify a more complex setup for little return and why I feel the 8801 as a preamp is transparent to the source. So the point is the 8801 does offer a non digitized path via its 7.1 analog inputs via rca but after considerable listening sessions for 2/ch the Oppo 105 via its XLR's to the 8801 assigned to the CD input in Pure direct gave me extremely close to that Oppo direct sound that I listen to daily.