Is Cyrus 8XPD over kill for listening music via Squeezebox

[NigelF]

I am in process of overhauling my entire electronics and wondering if integrated am in process of overhauling my entire electronics and wondering if integrated DAC like cyrus will give better sound with squeezbox or it will be overkill and I am better off buying Dac Magic and decent Stereo Amp. Also does it make difference to sound if Squeezbox is connected via Optical and not analog to DAC Magic and Dac connect to Amp via optical too. I have also learned that there are very few 2 ch amps which are equipped with optical-in.

If you are recommending Stereo AMP please help me recommend ideally partner Speakers for a 5x5m room. Thanks.

 

[Anonymous]

NigelF:
I am in process of overhauling my entire electronics and wondering if integrated am in process of overhauling my entire electronics and wondering if integrated DAC like cyrus will give better sound with squeezbox or it will be overkill and I am better off buying Dac Magic and decent Stereo Amp. Also does it make difference to sound if Squeezbox is connected via Optical and not analog to DAC Magic and Dac connect to Amp via optical too. I have also learned that there are very few 2 ch amps which are equipped with optical-in.

If you are recommending Stereo AMP please help me recommend ideally partner Speakers for a 5x5m room. Thanks.

you wouldn't want to connect the dac magic to the amp via optical i believe; it would defeat the point of the thing.

If your mp3's are lossless then i don't think it would be overkill, but it just depends on if you can justify the difference.

 

[NigelF]

Thanks for your input and interesting point on not connecting dac magic to amp via optical, so you think analogue connection via decent interconnect will give a better sound?

The whole idea of moving to Cyrus was that it is all integrated , DAC & AMP but a two box solution like Dac Magic and Amp (I currently own rega brio) can give on-par sound or at least close to Cyrus then I will be a one happy person, I can put the rest of money on decent speakers and get rid of my B&W DM series.

 

[Anonymous]

NigelF:Thanks for your input and interesting point on not connecting dac magic to amp via optical, so you think analogue connection via decent interconnect will give a better sound

Given that DAC's are Digital to Analogue Conversion (not meaning to sound patronising by spelling it out) then by wanting to not output in analogue from the DACmagic it wouldn't actually be doing anything.

If you like the current sound you have then i'd probably save my money and get a dac (or at least a trial of one) and see how that sounds.

 

[The_Lhc]

Nigel, the data arriving at the Squeezebox is Digital, this needs to be converted to analogue electrical waveforms before it reaches the amplifier stage in the Amp.

You have (up to) 3 possible stages at which you can perform this Digital to Analogue Conversion, however you can only do it once:

1) The first point you can do it is in the Squeezebox itself, if you choose this option, you'd connect the analogue out from the Squeezebox directly to an analogue input on the Amp, no need for an external DAC, however most people don't consider the DAC in the Squeezbox to be all that great, so,

2) You can use an external DAC (such as the DACMagic etc), in which case you need a Digital cable from the Squeezebox to the DAC and then analogue cables from the DAC to the Amp (because the DAC has converted the Digital signal to and analogue signal, so there's nothing for a further digital connection to do) or,

3) You can use the DAC built into the integrated Cyrus amp's digital input, in which case, you still don't need an external DAC you just connect the Squeezbox's digital output to a digital input on the Cyrus.

You'd have to determine for yourself which of the 3 options sound the best, however if you've already got the Cyrus XPD then I'd have to believe the DAC in there is better than the one in the Squeezebox, so you might as well use a digital connection from the SB to the XPD, although you could connect both analogue and digital from the SB to the XPD and switch between the two inputs to see which you prefer.

Anyway, the point is once you've done the digital to analogue conversion, every connection from there has to be analogue, not digital.

 

[Anonymous]

NigelF:

I am in process of overhauling my entire electronics and wondering if integrated am in process of overhauling my entire electronics and wondering if integrated DAC like cyrus will give better sound with squeezbox or it will be overkill and I am better off buying Dac Magic and decent Stereo Amp. Also does it make difference to sound if Squeezbox is connected via Optical and not analog to DAC Magic and Dac connect to Amp via optical too. I have also learned that there are very few 2 ch amps which are equipped with optical-in.

If you are recommending Stereo AMP please help me recommend ideally partner Speakers for a 5x5m room. Thanks.

I canned my Cyrus and ProAc kit. I bought AVI ADM9.1 and a Squeezebox classic and have never looked back. The AVI's have a pre-amp and amps built into active speakers. 250 watt p/c for the bass, and 75 watt p/c for the tweeter. All you need to do is connect a toslink cable between the SB and the AVI's, and you're good to go. The system sounds better than the Cyrus ever did. it has a power, clarity and reality that Cyrus can only dream of at a far lower price.

Please audition them, you will not be disappointed.