Sonos vs Cyrus

shado

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Having owned this system for 5 months I was keen to test Wifi against Hifi in a home environment. I picked 2 tracks and listened to them over a period of 3 weeks at different times of the day, working the equipment from either cold or warmed up for 3 hours before playing through the Cyrus 8XPd and KEF iQ50.

Sonos ZP90, Chord Prodac Digital Cable. Napster 256kbps.

Cyrus CD 6SE, Chord Cobra Phono Leads. CDs.

Tracks: Gerry Rafferty - Baker Street, Starship - Nothing's gonna stop us now.

Baker Street on the CD6SE was fantastic with plenty of energy, all instruments were easily distinguishable and had lots of body and weight around them that was lacking in the Napster version. At Track Index 4:30 there is a single piano note key that the CD6SE pounces on and gives it added weight. Because it is a split second, it is harder to notice through the Sonos and to be honest I have not noticed this key strike before. But I guess this is what Cyrus has a reputation for, it's revealing nature.

Nothing's gonna stop us now however, sounded more believable through the Sonos. The opening drum sequence has a lovely echo effect which to me sounded more natural than the Cyrus. Sonos played rhythm guitars and keyboards with the abandonment it deserves, whereas the Cyrus CD6SE was trying to control this presentation too much for my taste.

I was pleasantely surprised by this outcome as I expected CD6SE to trounce the ZP90. Obviously the next stage is to test this against the PSX-R and then try Lossless Files. I have had 5 wonderful months with my hifi/wifi system but I must seriously now find a job[:D]
 

The_Lhc

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I'd be inclined to suggest that's more of a test of 256kb mp3 against CD to be honest, you really need to sort out ripping your CDs to lossless in order for it to be a fair test.
 
A

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Rip at lossless as said above then go back to the track again
 

The_Lhc

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Andy H:Rip at lossless then put a dac on your Z90, it will improve it greatly.

Hmm, you'd hope the DAC in the 8XPd would be reasonable enough, he's connecting it with a digital cable.
 

shado

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Fair comments but I was interested in starting of with a lower rate and then work my way up for the next comparison test.
 

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