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!
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!