I am going to buy the following cyrus, what could I improve ?

[admin_exported]

Hi,

I would like to buy the following equipment:

Cyrus CD Transport

Cyrus Pre XPdQX

Cyrus X-Power

Spendor A6

What could I improve in this list ? Do you have any suggestions ?

I thought another X-Power.

Thanks

Simone

 

[Frank Harvey]

Hi Simone

It's a nicely balanced system actually, and while speakers are very much a personal preference, more amplification will get more from the speakers. The Spendor speakers are only single wire, so you wouldn't be able to use them to bi-amp - you'd have to mono them. I'd start with just one X Power though, and see how you get on.

 

[Anonymous]

so should I improve my speakers, I have a 2000 extra budget ?

 

[Overdose]

It depends upon what you consider you are going to improve and it is difficult to answer, particularly as you don't yet have this system.

It is also worth bearing in mind, that at least one other person on this forum has sold an expensive Cyrus system and bought a pair of ADM40s, which by all accounts, was an improvement.

http://www.whathifi.com/forum/hi-fi/am-i-going-wrong-somewhere-your-advice-and-views-please

It's about as balanced and tidy as you are likely to get and your not inconsiderable savings would buy a lot of music and maybe a streamer.

 

[Frank Harvey]

It is also worth bearing in mind, that at least one other person on this forum has sold an expensive Cyrus system and bought a pair of ADM40s, which by all accounts, was an improvement.

Although, to be fair, it was never really a well balanced system that the OP moved away from, and he just added to his woes by improving the system in the wrong places. This seems to be quite common among these sorts of claims. People are rarely dissatisfied with a well balanced system.

so should I improve my speakers, I have a 2000 extra budget ?

Depending on the speakers you choose, you may then need to improve amplification, depending on how easy those speakers are to drive. As I say, as it stands, it's a well balanced system.

 

[Overdose]

What would concern me is the possibility of spending thousands of pounds on a system that may or may not sound good. Surely components costing thousands (each) should not be so poorly designed that they affect an entire system to its detriment?

Do expensive components really need to be so carefully matched?

Perhaps it is such highly strung components that when seemingly thrown together, are the focus of many 'giant killing' claims?

At any rate, an all Cyrus system should be able to exhibit at least some sort of synergy (the new buzzword it seems) surely? If not, I'd steer clear of Cyrus, as any statement like a 'lack of balance' seems to be a bit of a cop-out for an explanation of less than satisfactory performance. Are the same lack of balance claims made for other high-end, one make systems, such as Naim?

 

[Frank Harvey]

At any rate, an all Cyrus system should be able to exhibit at least some sort of synergy (the new buzzword it seems) surely? If not, I'd steer clear of Cyrus, as any statement like a 'lack of balance' seems to be a bit of a cop-out for an explanation of less than satisfactory performance. Are the same lack of balance claims made for other high-end, one make systems, such as Naim?

Any manufacturer that provides a wide range of equipment and upgrade paths are still subject to system balancing. You can't just shove on the cheapest, least capable pre with the most expensive power amps and a pair of speakers that don't gel with the power amp and expect audio nirvana. And yes, Naim isn't exempt from this. They will all work together, but some common sense needs to be used when putting a system together - you're not going to add a power supply to a top of the range CD player when it's being fed through a Nait 5i - but then again, you wouldn't put that sort of system together in the first place, but some muppets seem to.

 

[Overdose]

And the cheapest Cyrus Pre is what? Around £1K?

You are trying to defend the indeffensible. You cannot blame a customer for his very unhifi system, simply because he was daft enough not to spend much more than a grand on a preamp.

£1K should be more than enough for just about perfection, particularly for something as low tech as a preamp. Most people are happy with entire systems costing this much and less.

 

[Frank Harvey]

I'm not talking about blaming the OP for not spending enough on the pre, I'm saying that the system could've been far more balanced than it was. The mono amps are far more in line with the DACxp+.

You may feel a pre-amp is low tech, but there's very few really good quality pre-amps around (stand alone or integrated into a product). The pre-amp can make or break a system.

 

[BronC]

Going back to the originakl question

As a Cyrus / Spendor owner I would suggest going on e-bay and :

1 Getting another X power and run them in Mono mode. They do sound a lot better than just one X power

2 Getting a couple of PSX-Rs to put on the Pre (first) and then on the transport

Another area to look at / listen to is what interconnects and speaker cables you have. I don't want to open up the on-going debate about whether or not there are differences - I have tried blind a/b tests and I can hear it.

I'm not a great fan of Cyrus interconnects - they were always my least favourites in the tests - so Its worth trying to borrow some and try them out at home.

 

[gregvet]

Hi,

I would like to buy the following equipment:

Cyrus CD Transport

Cyrus Pre XPdQX

Cyrus X-Power

Spendor A6

What could I improve in this list ? Do you have any suggestions ?

I thought another X-Power.

Thanks

Simone

The A6's are great speakers in my opinion. Sticking with Spendor, you could go to the A9s but they are quite big and I believe more demanding of amplification. How big is your room?

If it was me (I have the 8xpd qx driving Spendor SA1's in my second system BTW, so I like the sound of the system you are putting together), I would go for the Stream XP and lose the transport. Obviously this only works if you are happy with streaming tho!

If you have an extra £2000 to spend, and want to spend it, then I would combine the Stream XP with a pair of Mono X 200's, and stay with the Spendor A6's.

Alternatively, if the transport is important and you are not interested in streaming (or have another streamer source to use in this system already), I would spend the extra by going for the Dac XP+ instead of the Pre XPD QX, and a second X Power, to use in mono. This would be an awesome system, and is the route I expect I shall end up going down when I get bored of my little system and decide to start upgrading.

Of course you could always stick with the original proposed system, and spend the extra on a nice holiday?

 

[DandyCobalt]

[/quote]

Alternatively, if the transport is important and you are not interested in streaming (or have another streamer source to use in this system already), I would spend the extra by going for the Dac XP+ instead of the Pre XPD QX, and a second X Power, to use in mono. This would be an awesome system, and is the route I expect I shall end up going down when I get bored of my little system and decide to start upgrading.

[/quote]

+1 for this suggestion.

 

[Anonymous]

which is the difference bwt my pre XPdQX and the DAC Xp+ ?

My room is 220 sqf

 

[Frank Harvey]

The PreXPdQX is more of a 'pre-amp with a built in DAC', whereas the DACxp Plus is more of a 'high quality DAC (DACx Plus) with a built in analogue pre' which includes balanced outputs (which can be used with the monos and the X Power). Hearing this pre and the PreX pre-amps in a high quality Cyrus system really shows the difference between them.

The X Powers will go fine with the PreXPdQX. rather than adding extra amplification (unless the speakers really need it), I would rather spend that money on the DACxp Plus, as this will improve sound quality. You then have a dedicated CD transport, and the finest pre-amplifier and digital/analogue decoding that Cyrus offer, which is your front end covered and taken care of. Of course, you can upgrade your Pre XP to a DACxp Plus at any time in the future - unfortunately I don't have the upgrade figure to hand, but it will bypass any loss you would normally make selling it on to replace it.

I would recommend getting the main electronics right first before adding power supplies. Money for power supplies can be better spent on areas that will bring greater gains.

 

[MUSICRAFT]

Hi,

I would like to buy the following equipment:

Cyrus CD Transport

Cyrus Pre XPdQX

Cyrus X-Power

Spendor A6

What could I improve in this list ? Do you have any suggestions ?

I thought another X-Power.

Thanks

Simone

Hi Simone

From an electronics side i would recommend that you should also consider an alternative makes of pre amplification as i don't feel Cyrus pre amps are on par with the performance levels of their power amps. At a similar price as the Pre XPd QX i'll recommend Antelope Audio's Zodiac 192kHz DAC or if you can stretch your budget the Zodiac + Mastering DAC.

http://www.antelopeaudio.com/en/products/zodiac-dac

http://www.antelopeaudio.com/en/products/Zodiac-Plus-Mastering-DAC

As for speakers ATC's SCM40 monitors are also worth consideration.

http://www.atcloudspeakers.co.uk/scm40.php

http://www.atcloudspeakers.co.uk/studioDriveUnits.php

All the best

Rick @ Musicraft

 

[Crossie]

I have been down this route. May I suggest getting a pair of Mono X's from ebay for just over a grand to replace the X Power. Mind you I think your proposed system will take some beating IMHO.

 

[Frank Harvey]

From an electronics side i would recommend that you should also consider an alternative makes of pre amplification as i don't feel Cyrus pre amps are on par with the performance levels of their power amps.

A personal opinion from those who have heard them is fine, but a blanket statement like that is proven wrong by various systems we've used with speakers up to and including the KEF Blades.

 

[WishTree]

You may feel a pre-amp is low tech, but there's very few really good quality pre-amps around (stand alone or integrated into a product). The pre-amp can make or break a system.

+1

Most overlooked and taken for granted component.. I only understood recently the importance of a good pre-amp. Used Audiolab M-DAC directly into the power amp (CA-2100) vs running through an integrated Amp (Classe CAP-2100). The difference is night and day.

May be the pre-amp of M-DAC is good for headphone but not good enough for a proper system.

 

[Gusboll]

Hi Simone

It's a nicely balanced system actually, and while speakers are very much a personal preference, more amplification will get more from the speakers. The Spendor speakers are only single wire, so you wouldn't be able to use them to bi-amp - you'd have to mono them. I'd start with just one X Power though, and see how you get on.

I agree with David; you have the makings of a great overall set-up. Enjoy your music with it and if you want to try out other options in the future you will have a concrete baseline to work from and compare to.

Currently listening to: Goldfrapp - Seventh Tree

 

[Overdose]

You may feel a pre-amp is low tech, but there's very few really good quality pre-amps around (stand alone or integrated into a product). The pre-amp can make or break a system.

Ergo, only 'very few really good quality' amplification solutions are available, given that some sort of preamplification is required?

 

[gregvet]

which is the difference bwt my pre XPdQX and the DAC Xp+ ?

My room is 220 sqf

I think that the A6's are fine for a room that size, and personally I wouldnt go for the A9's unless it is a hifi only room, as they will dominate. In a living room with other functions too they would be more than i could get away with anyway!

 

[MUSICRAFT]

From an electronics side i would recommend that you should also consider an alternative makes of pre amplification as i don't feel Cyrus pre amps are on par with the performance levels of their power amps.

A personal opinion from those who have heard them is fine, but a blanket statement like that is proven wrong by various systems we've used with speakers up to and including the KEF Blades.

After many years i'd be happy for the performance of Cyrus pre amps to prove me wrong by at least being on par with their power amps. I'd then be happy to also openly share this as i feel credit where credit's due (even if it means that i don't deal with a certain make). In the meantime i'll still recommend that the OP (baronl) should also consider pairing the Cyrus source and power amp/s with alternatively makes such as the similarly compact Pre/DAC Zodiac 192kHz and Zodiac + Mastering DAC components from Antelope Audio. On this last point i trust you are comfortable in an alternative manufacturers products also being recommended to the OP (baronl).

Btw, even as a Cyrus dealer i never sold any Cyrus pre amplifiers.

To the OP (baronl) - i just want to be clear that i don't deal with Antelope Audio so therefore i don't benefit at all by recommending their products.

 

[Frank Harvey]

With that attitude, I'm not surprised.

The DACxp Plus is our most popular Cyrus pre-amp, and we have a lot of satisfied customers, using speakers ranging anything up to the KEF Blades - I'm sure if it wasn't up to scratch, the customer would've said something, and his system wouldn't have sounded anything short of stunning. Which it did.

 

[MUSICRAFT]

With that attitude, I'm not surprised.

The DACxp Plus is our most popular Cyrus pre-amp, and we have a lot of satisfied customers, using speakers ranging anything up to the KEF Blades - I'm sure if it wasn't up to scratch, the customer would've said something, and his system wouldn't have sounded anything short of stunning. Which it did.

But then again as a Cyrus dealer i was comfortable with their source and power amplifiers.

Anyway as i said in my previous post i don't benefit at all by recommending Antelope Audio products to the OP (baronl). Fwiw, when i am also comfortable with Cyrus pre amps i'll let you know first. I can't be fairer.

 

[DandyCobalt]

Is there really a big sound difference between a preXPdQX and a DACXP+ ?

(My system is biwired mono from two Xpowers to CM8s).