Cyrus upgrades

[adamrobertshaw]

I may be about to contract a dose of Cyrus upgrade-itis this summer, so I'm just wondering if anyone tried the following Cyrus upgrades and what obvious results did they notice to justify the expense?

PSX-R to PSX-R2

Stream X2 to Stream X Signature

8XPd QX to 8 2DAC QX

For me potentially the PSX-R in my second system is a bit old and could do with a service but an upgrade is about the same price.

I bought a Stream X Signature and noticed it was significantly better than the X2. But that is a new vs old model comparison rather than a before and after upgrade comparison.

I didn't go for the upgrade to the CDXt Signature. I've seen another thread mentioning long wait times and I was informed yesterday that Cyrus where suprised and overwhelmed by the sheer volume.

The Cyrus dealer also said the integrated amp upgrade would probably yield little to me as it is about galvanic isolation to digital connections and not an upgrade to the latest QX DAC card. But can anyone advise on this?

 

[Superaintit]

Having owned several dacs (including the cyrus x dac), streamers, amps and speakers of various brands my experience is most can be gained from speakers, followed by amplifiers. Hence, if it were my money I'd consider buying the cyrus X200 amps or upgrade speakers. (One other outsider I would consider is the power amps based on hypex ncore 400 because they're so neutral and powerful)

 

[adamrobertshaw]

Interesting thought on speaker upgrade, Superaintit.

A dealer who knows my taste for Cyrus gear says that in my main system the upgrade I would get realistic VFM and benefit from is a speaker upgrade. He knows I like B&W and has been trying to tempt me with the new 805 stand mounts. But that's quite a bit to spend!!

Also advises that as I have two X power running mono with PSX-R I would only need the X200 or X300 if I go to mid size floorstanders.

But if I do go down the route of new speakers in my main system it means my PMC could move to my second system. But they're only four years old and give me no cause to question their ability.

I'll just have to fight off the upgrade-itis.

 

[Superaintit]

I can see your point: you have a great system.

When the time comes to upgrade it might be worth it to consider an actively powered pmc like the twotwo5 or buying second hand/demo from a dealer.

 

[Benedict_Arnold]

What are the differences between a PSX-R and a PSX-R2?

And will a PSX-R5 (when they get there) only work with Hawkwind albums?

Seriously, I had a whole batch of PSX-Rs with my Cyrus system, most of which I picked up used at or below half price on EBay, from people who, like me, couldn't really tell any difference between the "with" sound and the "without".

If it were me, and I really really really had to spend some cash, I too would spend it on speakers, although as I keep banging on, ProAcs work really well with Cyrus gear - the extra bass oomph of the Studio 140s made up for that clinical sound of Cyrus gear.

Otherwise, just buy yourself some new cables and a replacement cartridge for your turntable, a few CD box sets you've always put on your wish list rather than just bought outright, sit back and enjoy the music.

 

[expat_mike]

The Cyrus dealer also said the integrated amp upgrade would probably yield little to me as it is about galvanic isolation to digital connections and not an upgrade to the latest QX DAC card. But can anyone advise on this?

I don't have any Cyrus gear, but maybe the galvanic isolation principle used is similar to that used by Chord.

http://www.head-fi.org/t/749582/chord-electronics-2qute-dac-announced/720#post_12697348

"The isolation is via a separate isolation chip - so the I/O signals for the USB decoder device to the FPGA is via this isolation chip. "

So any USB input signals are first decoded, then pass through the galvanic isolation stage, and are then fed to the DAC.

If Cyrus do use the same principle, then the dealer is correct to say that the upgrade to galvanic isolation, is not to the DAC stage.

However any improvements to galvanic isolation, would improve the digital signal that is fed to the DAC stage, so I would expect there to be some improvement to the music that you hear.

If the dealer is implying that any musical improvement is marginal at best, then perhaps it is better for you to save your money.

 

[adamrobertshaw]

My integrated amp DAC is 16 bit and upscales to 192 khz but USB is very noisy. The Chord Qute DAC knocks the spots off it on USB ... and coax.

I think their latest integrated amps are 24 bit and top end Cyrus CDs and DAC/Pre are 32 bit and often dual / balanced.

But it doesn't warrant an upgrade for the sake of a better USB connection in one Cyrus box when I can tuck the Qute HD out of sight.

 

[adamrobertshaw]

The PSX-R I'm considering upgrading was bought ex-demo.

It must be six years old and may have contributed to why the PSX-R2 sounded instantly better. I get most benefit of them into my power amps and it's a lot cheaper than going to their top end mono power amps.

I think Cyrus are well down the route of getting the recent sources and power amps ''beefed-up'' internally which makes the PSX-R2 less of a must have option. Perhaps it depends what is already crammed in the small Cyrus box and whether there is insufficient room to place all the ''beefing-up'' components to make a PSX-R2 unnecessary.

 

[Benedict_Arnold]

IMHO the separate power supplies are simply because there isn't room in a standard Cyrus case for the extra smoothing circuit board and the (bigger?) transformer and to leave any room for, say, the big capacitors of a big power amp.
Maybe thePSX_R2 units do have "new and improved" components, I don't know. Maybe PSX-R1s did make an improvement in my sound (same dual X-powers running twin mono arrangement) but maybe the 15 x 12 room I was in was too small to appreciate the difference, I really don't know.