Cyrus Streamers

[manicm]

Well looking at the WHF video Cyrus seems to have a better out of box experience than Naim or Linn - that remote's display looks pretty decent for browsing through music in the absence of an iPod controller.

Looking forward to the review.

 

[unison]

Had the opportunity to listen to all three products this week. I was told the local dealer have a 10% discount available for a limited period. I heard the all in one streamline the least but it sounded impressive through some totem speakers., it makes a lot of sense for a one box system for people who don't already have a hifi. The other demo systems were through very expensive B and W speakers giving the opportunity to hear possible limitations in reproduction. The two box system comprising an X power and stream XP impressed me, I can,t imagine a better compact system which gives flexibility and increased access to uncompressed Internet radio as it increases.
The final system using 4mono X300 power amps and a stream x had impressive scale and weight, but having listened to a few tracks that I am very familiar with I concluded that my cdxTse with psx-r sounded better to my ears. But when listening to some Beatles tracks in 24bit quality I thought it was the equal of the cdxTse .so I'm excited about the prospect of such tracks becoming more widely available and affordable . So maybe we all now own our last cd player?

 

[Frank Harvey]

So maybe we all now own our last cd player?

Quite possibly - quality-wise the Cyrus streamers are very impressive.

 

[WinterRacer]

Unison, you might want to try the Squeezebox Touch? I too have a XT-SE and find I can't hear any difference between it and the Squeezebox. The XT-SE has now been 'relocated' to the loft until I can get round to selling it, as I can't see me ever wanting to bother with CDs again.

The user interface is very good on the Squeezebox and provides the same capability around internet radio plus support for hi-res audio as the Cyrus steaming range. Agreed it won't match the look of other Cyrus kit, but it does cost a lot less (less than a tenth) and as far as I can tell they do pretty much the same.

 

[Frank Harvey]

But do they sound the same? .....

 

[WinterRacer]

Yes, that was the point of my post. The OP has an XT-SE so must have a DAC he plugs it into. In my experience, plugging in the digital output of the Squeezebox Touch and the XT-SE into my DAC-X gives me results I can't distinguish.

Would you expect them to sound any different when doing this?

 

[Frank Harvey]

That's a comparison that the individual needs to try for themselves. Digital sources can sound different, but whether these differences reveal themselves depends on the user's system.

 

[WinterRacer]

I agree with your points, however it's missing the point I'm trying to make.

Digital sources can sound different, however, in my system they didn't. I would have thought the systems I have done this comparison with should be 'revealing' enough by most standards. Perhaps it's my hearing that's at fault?

System was Cyrus XT-SE, DAC-X, Roksan Caspian M1 pre and mono-blocks, Monitor Audio PL100s.

BTW, I've not heard the Cyrus steaming range and I'm not saying they're poor products, just that I urge people to be open minded about digital sources and not let price guide you!

 

[Craig M.]

i don't think it's your hearing, winteracer. i've had four friends try to hear differences between different cd transports (including xtse) and my mac mini and none of us could. system was chord qbd76, atc sia2-150 and scm19 - which i think was more than revealing enough.

 

[Frank Harvey]

I agree with your points, however it's missing the point I'm trying to make. Digital sources can sound different, however, in my system they didn't. I would have thought the systems I have done this comparison with should be 'revealing' enough by most standards. Perhaps it's my hearing that's at fault?
System was Cyrus XT-SE, DAC-X, Roksan Caspian M1 pre and mono-blocks, Monitor Audio PL100s.
BTW, I've not heard the Cyrus steaming range and I'm not saying they're poor products, just that I urge people to be open minded about digital sources and not let price guide you!

It just may be that your system isn't showing those differences. Also, and I find this hard to explain clearly, but basically put, I think many people when comparing products listen to different aspects of the sound. Some listen to what it placed in front of them by the system, or follow specific instruments, or certain aspects of those instruments. It's obvious from some people's comments that they listen to the tonal balance of the system (treble or bass level/intensity) and not to the more important aspects. Others listen to what's also going on behind the main sound presented by the system, the ambience, soundstage size etc. Listening to certain aspects of the sound and not others isn't wrong, but maybe differences may show themselves in aspects that some people aren't listening to.

 

[WinterRacer]

It just may be that your system isn't showing those differences. Also, and I find this hard to explain clearly, but basically put, I think many people when comparing products listen to different aspects of the sound. Some listen to what it placed in front of them by the system, or follow specific instruments, or certain aspects of those instruments. It's obvious from some people's comments that they listen to the tonal balance of the system (treble or bass level/intensity) and not to the more important aspects. Others listen to what's also going on behind the main sound presented by the system, the ambience, soundstage size etc. Listening to certain aspects of the sound and not others isn't wrong, but maybe differences may show themselves in aspects that some people aren't listening to.

Thanks for your reply, however I'm not sure I buy the 'not listening correctly' (sorry to paraphrase). Perhaps more likely is that Craig M and I are using DACs that can sufficiently reject interface and sampling jitter, meaning that, in our systems, they do indeed sound the same.

 

[Anonymous]

Cyrus DAC-X is known to be sensitive to jitter!

When CD came out a lot of people said that all players sounded the same (probably did as all used Philips mechanism). Well why wouldn't they? It is digital (lots of 0 and 1's) how could they sound different?

Some people now argue that if you have a decent DAC, the source (CD transport or streamer) doesn't matter. Personally I'm not convinced by this line of argument and no I've not done a double blind test yet!

Of course hearing does vary a lot depending on age and other factors. I had a friend who listened to Handel's Messiah and asked me what language they were singing in!

 

[manicm]

Techradar has published the review of the Stream XP. In ultimate sound quality terms they implied, without making direct references, that it was slightly behind the Naims and Linns. However, as I suspected, in control terms it seems superior to the other two.

 

[Dan Turner]

I read that review in HiFi Choice. Bear in mind that they were testing it as a combined streamer and pre-amp, which to my mind slightly limited the usefulness of the review

 

[the record spot]

IMO - Cyrus could have delivered a streamer that contained something a little more powerful than a 30w amp. In fact, to my eyes, that's a waste in the product it is. Vastly underpowered and a lesser product as a result. Rather takes the bluster from its marketing claims and not least given the price.

 

[Frank Harvey]

Although it can be used as a main system, the Streamline is more of a '2nd zone' type product, something for Cyrus owners to expand on their existing Cyrus system.

 

[WinterRacer]

I seems to me that the general consensus is that it's a good thing that digital transports sound different and that I don't get. When suggesting that a Squeezebox Touch and Cyrus XT-SE sound the same, I've had suggestions that my hearing and/or system is deficient, isn't it more likely, that they do indeed, just sound the same?

In fact, properly implemented shouldn't they all sound the same? Reading a digital file from a (good) CD or HDD is hardly a differentiating capability and it's not like transmitting a digital signal over a network or a couple of metres down a cable is beyond the wit of man!

I get hi-fi components sound different, and having normal hearing and the interest, I have been able to clearly hear differences between various components over the years.

However, if consumers and the industry could agree the choice of digital transport was one purely of aesthetics, usability, functionality, etc. we could then move on to more important factors, e.g., loudspeaker design, sufficiently powerful amplifiers at reasonable cost, etc.

Sorry for the rant! 🙂

 

[manicm]

However, if consumers and the industry could agree the choice of digital transport was one purely of aesthetics, usability, functionality, etc. we could then move on to more important factors, e.g., loudspeaker design, sufficiently powerful amplifiers at reasonable cost, etc.

If only this were true, if only...