Cyrus 8 DAC QX or 8 2 DAC

Narco

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Sep 18, 2015
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Hi

I know there is technically a difference between the two. One has the upgraded DAC and the other is newer with possibly upgraded components and/or processes.

My question is pretty straightforward. Which would be the best to plump for? Will I notice any real difference between the two?

I would test but I know I like the Cyrus sound and one of each has come up for me with £40 difference between the two so I have a dilemma at the moment!

Thank you.*biggrin*
 
Q

QuestForThe13thNote

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Dont know if you bought. The qx dac models are undoubtedly the ones to go for. The 2015 models added a 2 designation so the 8 2 dac ie second generation. There was some changes to the power supply, but I've heard people report not a lot of difference between gen 1 and 2, but more difference with the standard off the shelf burr brown dacs of the 8 dac and 8 2 dac, to the Cyrus designed dac of the 8 dac Qx (ie the Cyrus qx card which is an own design)
 

adamrobertshaw

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Nov 10, 2011
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My 8 xPD QX is about 7 year old and is a 16 bit 44.1 kHz DAC. I've noticed that the USB function won't integrate well with software like Audirvana in that you can't set the input rate above the basic 44.1 kHz. I think the DAC upscales internally to 192 kHz though. The USB is also very noisy. I use an external DAC these days and it is much better than the QX card. So I have had doubts that the 8 DAC QX would be any better.

I would always choose a QX card above the basic Cyrus DAC.

I think the generation 2 models have 24 bit balanced DAC in the QX versions, so a QX version won't be far off a DAC XP signature in terms of capability. Possibly it is the same as the signature but it is impossible to tell as Cyrus don't publish the full specs of the DAC chips.

I think if you do go down the route of an 8 2 DAC, if you later upgrade to QX you'll get a better DAC
 
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QuestForThe13thNote

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The gen 2 models from 2025 still use the same qx module as in older pre qx dac (which I used to own), 8 dac qx etc. It's a 24 bit design. But it is a fair way off the dac xp sig which has dual mono dacs ie one dac per channel and they are 32bit dacs too, also with a seperate power supply. The qx dac is one card for both channels ie a stereo Dac.
 

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