Cyrus Buying Advice Needed

[Hasselblad100]

Hi,

I have a CD8SE which I'm very happy with, and a 6vs2 amp, which I am upgrading to something in 8 series.

I have an 8 DAC on-loan for a few days, & although it is good over analogue, it is highly average over digital (I guess the CD player's DAC is better). I have been told that 8 Qx DAC is the way to go for great digital sound...would the CD player sound a lot better when fed optcally into the 8 Qx DAC than it does via analogue into the 8 DAC? If not then I might as well revert to straight 8a amp.

Someone is offering me a CD8X, 8vs2, DAC X and PSx-R for about £1300...

I'm a bit concerned that 8vs2 is long in tooth now compared to latest 8-series, but would the 8vs2/PSX-R/DAC X combo be better than the 8 Qx option. I would sell the CD8X on Ebay as I'm pretty sure that's not as good as my SE.

I haven't got time to grab any mre loan kit from the hifi shop before I need to decide

Any thoughts welcome?

Thanks, Paul

 

[moosey]

hi,

i have no advice:shhh: but your dilema is of great interest to me.

I am after a new amp, and was hoping for a built in dac, so the 8DAC was top of my auditon list, but i have seeb some exdem 8xpd-qx available at a similar price.

If you're not impressed by the 8dac (i will be using a sonos connect as primary source, all files alac), then i might need to revisit my planned audition list

good luck in your quest

mike

 

[kmlav]

If you put the CD player into the 8 dac via the analogue outs you will still be using the dac on the CD player.

I had a 8vs2 which was great at the time but your comment that its a bit long in the tooth now is valid.

I would go for the 8 QX dac. Put all you tunes on a nas and stream you music. It will sound every bit as good as you CD player but without the messing about.

 

[kmlav]

If you put the CD player into the 8 dac via the analogue outs you will still be using the dac on the CD player.

I had a 8vs2 which was great at the time but your comment that its a bit long in the tooth now is valid.

I would go for the 8 QX dac. Put all you tunes on a nas and stream you music. It will sound every bit as good as you CD player but without the messing about.

 

[Hasselblad100]

Went for 8 Qx Dac in the end. Got a repro with 2 yr warranty from Fanthorpes for 1275, via mail order.

I really like the sound.

 

[Deliriumbassist]

An upgrde option for the future now is upgrading your CD8SE to a CDXTSE2 transport and go into the 8 Qx DAC digitally.

 

[Hasselblad100]

Thanks...I've got the cd8se via all interfaces at the moment and I like optical the best of all...noticeable differences between all 3 methods. The analogue now sounds quite compared to the Qx digital processing.

Will audition the high end transport as you say

 

[moosey]

for my interest, could you compare the 8dac sound compared to the 8qx?

and just to clarify. was it the 8xpd-qx or the dac8qx?

thanks

mike

 

[Deliriumbassist]

Thanks...I've got the cd8se via all interfaces at the moment and I like optical the best of all...noticeable differences between all 3 methods. The analogue now sounds quite compared to the Qx digital processing.

Will audition the high end transport as you say

it's well worth trying. I've listened between the CD6SE2 and the CDT into an 8DAC (non Qx), and for me it was CDT>CD6SE2 (coaxial)>CD6SE2 (optical)>CD6SE2 (analogue). But then you could add a PSX-R to the amp instead. A really good demo track for it is Maria Mena!'s cover of Kiss' I Was Made For Lovin' You- the difference in how the double bass is presented was profound.