i am currently looking at adding a good cd player to my av system and am looking to spend up to £1000. I realise that a dedicated stereo amp will probably sound better than my 875 onkyo but at present the av amp will have to surfice. Has anyone any opinions on a better cd player than the cyrus? Any help would be much appreciated. Thanks
cyrus cd8x?
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The CD8XSE is coming in the next few months, which apparently should be better than the CD8X. WHFSV have also just edged the Naim 5i (not sure if the model number is correct, see April edition of WHFSV)) as a better CD player for less money.
thanks for the reply. Do you think that im wasting money by budgeting £1000 for a cd player as its going through an av amp? Ive also heard that you can send the cd8x away to get it upgraded to the se if you wished to. Any other opinions?
The CD8x is a very good player and different (better to these ears) than the competing older Naim equivelant. I can't comment yet on the newer versions.
Worth it for you? Only if you eventually upgrade the rest of your system substantially. The difference between the expensive player and any £300 or so cheaper current cdp is rather small taking into account the difference in cost. Thats not to say its not worth spending the cash on the cyrus but you will reap greater rewards in upgrading the amp and speakers first and then change the source. Its all different to a few years ago.
Worth it for you? Only if you eventually upgrade the rest of your system substantially. The difference between the expensive player and any £300 or so cheaper current cdp is rather small taking into account the difference in cost. Thats not to say its not worth spending the cash on the cyrus but you will reap greater rewards in upgrading the amp and speakers first and then change the source. Its all different to a few years ago.
this is where it gets v awkward. I cant really change my spkrs just yet as they are all matched for the av side of things, and as for a dedicated amp, then i am in a difficult situation as im unsure how, or even if its possible, to connect my front spkrs as they are already connected to the av receiver. As you are probably aware, im new to the hi fi side of things.
You will get the CD8x much cheaper than £1k because of the new upgrade on the player. A friend was offered one by a dealer at £800 pounds and he bought it after negotiation at £725 (Practical Hi Fi Manchester). I have heard this player with the integrated amp and thought it was quite dull. I have heard it with £7k's worth of monoblocks, Dac XP etc and it sounded good but that is out of the equation for you.
I looked at many new CDP's and home demoed the Naim 5i (new version) and the Musical Fidelity X Ray V8. Quite by chance I was listening to a friends Meridian 500 series kit and was just blown away. I ended up buying a Meridian 506 24 bit cd player second hand for £390 at 7 years old (7 years ago it cost £1195 and was given 5 stars in What Hi Fi ). The build quality is bullet proof and the sound is better to my ears than either the Cyrus CD8X, Naim or the MF. I also bought the Meridian 551 amp for £235 (£900 in its day)....its fantastic...dual mono with huge transformers and a very smooth spacious sound. Conclusions? BUY SECOND HAND!
I looked at many new CDP's and home demoed the Naim 5i (new version) and the Musical Fidelity X Ray V8. Quite by chance I was listening to a friends Meridian 500 series kit and was just blown away. I ended up buying a Meridian 506 24 bit cd player second hand for £390 at 7 years old (7 years ago it cost £1195 and was given 5 stars in What Hi Fi ). The build quality is bullet proof and the sound is better to my ears than either the Cyrus CD8X, Naim or the MF. I also bought the Meridian 551 amp for £235 (£900 in its day)....its fantastic...dual mono with huge transformers and a very smooth spacious sound. Conclusions? BUY SECOND HAND!
[quote user="Hi Fi Decision"]Conclusions? BUY SECOND HAND![/quote]
Mmmm ... Fine if you know what you want (have heard it) and after checking out if your new aquisitions are serviceable if developing a fault. There is without doubt very good used hifi out there. If new to the game, go to a good dealer and audition first. Today you can buy sound quality for £200 new that only a few years ago would have cost 5 times as much in a player. Slightly different for amps as development has not been that drastic.
Mmmm ... Fine if you know what you want (have heard it) and after checking out if your new aquisitions are serviceable if developing a fault. There is without doubt very good used hifi out there. If new to the game, go to a good dealer and audition first. Today you can buy sound quality for £200 new that only a few years ago would have cost 5 times as much in a player. Slightly different for amps as development has not been that drastic.
John Duncan
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Having just done that (bought a player s/h for 200 quid), I'm with you on both your posts - can be a bit of a minefield, with marginal benefit on the CDP front. Unless you're prepared to a) not like your expensive acquisition, or b) can afford to throw away a couple of hundred in case it has issues, get a Marantz or Cambridge or NAD and add a great stereo amp.
Notwithstanding gerrardasnails issues with getting his stereo and AV amp working together (he ended up going down the amp/speaker switching route), you ought to be able to take the pre-outs from your receiver to a line-level in on your stereo amp so you can combine the benefits of both.
Notwithstanding gerrardasnails issues with getting his stereo and AV amp working together (he ended up going down the amp/speaker switching route), you ought to be able to take the pre-outs from your receiver to a line-level in on your stereo amp so you can combine the benefits of both.
sorry if im being a pain but are you saying that if i spent £500 on a stereo amp and £500 on a cd playerand connected them in the fashion described, that would give better results than spending £1k on a cdp and using my receiver.
John Duncan
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Yes. And 300 quid on the CD player and 700 quid on the amp would (in my limited experience), be even better. Until, like, last weekend, my Cambridge 640 was paired with a Creek Classic (250/850 split) to outstanding effect, though no dealer will be able to play you that particular pair - try to find somebody who can play you a Marantz 6002 with the new Naim Nait 5i and your MAs - this is just an example of how I would skew it, have no idea if they'll work together with your MAs - and see what you think.
thanks for the advice, without it i could have been v disappointed with an (in my opinion) expensive mistake. Out with my back issues of whfsv again to do more research methinks.
Id agree with posts above that for £1k, you could do hell of alot better by going for a decent Hifi amp and CDP instead of all out on a CDP and running it through an AV amp
Check out Ebay, there's all sorts of decent amps and CD combos you can go for. In particular take a look at Musical Fidelity amos and CDPs as well as Cyrus 6 & 8 amps and CDPs.
A Cyrus 8 amp and Cyrus 8 CDP went last week for just over £800! With the remaining you can get decent enough speaker wire and an interconnect. Obviously youll just have the hassle of having to swap the speaker cable connections from your AV amp to the HiFi amp everytime you want to listen but thats a small price to pay i suppose.
Check out Ebay, there's all sorts of decent amps and CD combos you can go for. In particular take a look at Musical Fidelity amos and CDPs as well as Cyrus 6 & 8 amps and CDPs.
A Cyrus 8 amp and Cyrus 8 CDP went last week for just over £800! With the remaining you can get decent enough speaker wire and an interconnect. Obviously youll just have the hassle of having to swap the speaker cable connections from your AV amp to the HiFi amp everytime you want to listen but thats a small price to pay i suppose.
is there such a switching device that u can plug your speakers into and switch dependent on which system you want to listen to?
John Duncan
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Search for 'Niles' in this forum, Andrew recommended something to gerrardasnails but can't remember the model number. However, note that this was a workaround because he couldn't get the more elegant solution to work, which is to feed the left and right front pre-outs from the receiver to a line-level input on the amp, and match levels - then you shouldn't have to bother with a switching unit. The thread where the Niles is mentioned has a full discussion, will try to dig it out.
Edit - here you go. That has a discussion of how to connect amps without the switching device. If that doesn't work (it hasn't for gerrard, though still have no idea why) then try the Niles DPS-1 switching unit (I found the model).
Edit - here you go. That has a discussion of how to connect amps without the switching device. If that doesn't work (it hasn't for gerrard, though still have no idea why) then try the Niles DPS-1 switching unit (I found the model).
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