Cyrus DAC X+ vs DAC XP+...? need advice!

[krolikgena]

To WHF team...... (and also to everyone that has made a comparison) or just share thoughts!

in your review of dac XP+ you say:

"Puts control ahead of excitement;

we respect the DAC XP+ rather than love it.

If control and composure suit your tastes, great, but it doesn’t have to be that way"

But in review of CDXT SE+/DAC X+/PSX-R you are completely excited by the performance of the DAC X+, of course paired with the transport.

What dac xp+ lacks in excitement?

Can you explain how different will sound dac xp+ with cdxt se+ compared to the dac x+?

does the built in preamp somehow affect the dac performance?

Is it better to take cdxt se+/dac x+/pre/power or... cdxt se+/ dac xp+/power?

Thanks!

 

[krolikgena]

Anyone..?

 

[Anonymous]

I have a DAC XP+ but with an added PSX-R which adds a bit more weight to the overall sound which might have been missing in the original review. Personally, I absolutely love it but then I like to have an accurate representation of the music as a preference.

The pre-amp in the DAC XP+ is the best one that Cyrus offer. I believe that the DAC is exactly the same in the two systems. I don't believe that the DAC will be adversely affected by the pre-amp's inclusion. I would go with the cdxt se+ / dac xp+ / power and two PSX-Rs as well. Golly. That looks like just what I have done.

 

[Frank Harvey]

When these products first came out, I wrongly jumped to the conclusion that the seperate DAC and pre would be the way forward. Having done many demos since, I can safely say that the DACxp+ is a stunning product, and worth every penny. The pre is the heart of the system, and is usually where many top quality systems fall down. Used with Mono X300's and CDXTse+ on a pair of very revealing KEF 207/2's (which let you know exactly what the system is doing), it lacks nothing. The whole system has excellent detail, is extremely open, and proves itself to be worthy of it's 'high end' aspirations.

As Cyrus no longer make a fully analogue pre-amplifier, a CDXTse+ and DACx+ would have to be used with a PreXpd, whch is no match for the pre section of the DACxp+, and would have redundant digital circuitry on board. The DACx+ is a product that is mostly used to pair with the CDXTse+ when being used with non Cyrus amplification.

How different these two products will be in your system will mostly depend on the difference between your pre-amp and the pre of the DACxp+.

 

[krolikgena]

i was actually planning to pair it with active studio monitors, genelec 8050a in particular. plug them directly to xlr outputs in dac xp.

what do you think of the setup?