Upgrade Cyrus 8XPD - whats the best option?

[JamesOK]

Hi all,

Well I am long overdue a Christmas present to myself.

My system is shown in my signature. And as you will see from my signature I have been thinking about upgrading my amp to 8XPD QX for a while now.

So the question really is what is the best upgrade option? Would I be better off upgrading to the QX or even adding a power amp? Not sure about the power amp situation given my speakers are single wired?

Any advice welcome - I am itching to spend a bit. 🙂

 

[Frank Harvey]

If you want to improve quality, you can add the QX option, but I'd be tempted to add an X Power and give those A5's what for 🙂

 

[BronC]

+1

Also perhaps add a PSX-R to the 8XPD?

 

[Triggy]

I treated myself to an X power for Christmas!

The sound is more open and soundstage much improved and detail is great!

No need to worry about single wired speakers, I am running my MA RS6s single wired with the X power connected to my 8xp amp and speakers running from the X power.

Go for the X power!

 

[Anonymous]

The A5's are single wired so wouldnt the OP be better in selling his 8XP and buying a decent Pre and matching that with an X Power?

My parent-in-laws did this replacing their 8VS2 with a Cyrus Pres, added and XPower and PSX-R and run their B&W CM7's off this single wired and they sound so much better, open and detailed but with bags of punch still!

 

[Anonymous]

I treated myself to an X power for Christmas!

The sound is more open and soundstage much improved and detail is great!

No need to worry about single wired speakers, I am running my MA RS6s single wired with the X power connected to my 8xp amp and speakers running from the X power.

Go for the X power!

Have you tried bi-amping your RS6's? Using the 8XP to power the HF and the XPower to power the LF on the speakers?

I had RS6's years ago with Arcam integrated & power amps and they sounded so much better when bi-amped rather than single wired!

 

[BronC]

Another possible upgrade path would be to get a single x-power first and use that to drive the A5's. You can then later get another x-power and use both in mono-mode to drive the speakers. You can use the 8XPD as a pre-amp. Or rather than buying the 2nd x-power you could sell l the initial x-power and get some Mono-x's.

Spoilt for choice.

 

[JamesOK]

If you want to improve quality, you can add the QX option, but I'd be tempted to add an X Power and give those A5's what for 🙂

Thanks David - so as others have mentioned, you would suggest an X Power running single wired in to my A5s?

I dont know why I havent got it on the signature, but I shouldve mentioned I already have a PSXR on the amp!

 

[JamesOK]

I treated myself to an X power for Christmas!

The sound is more open and soundstage much improved and detail is great!

No need to worry about single wired speakers, I am running my MA RS6s single wired with the X power connected to my 8xp amp and speakers running from the X power.

Go for the X power!

Thanks for the info Triggy, I may just do that. 🙂 I love the fact you have pretty much infinite upgrade paths with Cyrus.

 

[Anonymous]

I treated myself to an X power for Christmas!

The sound is more open and soundstage much improved and detail is great!

No need to worry about single wired speakers, I am running my MA RS6s single wired with the X power connected to my 8xp amp and speakers running from the X power.

Go for the X power!

Thanks for the info Triggy, I may just do that. 🙂 I love the fact you have pretty much infinite upgrade paths with Cyrus.

if that's not asking for trouble I don't know what is lol 😛 😉

If you do decide to sell the 8XP and go for a pre/power combo let me know; I'd be interested in it. I know we can't trade on here but we can swap details via an administrator etc...

 

[JamesOK]

I treated myself to an X power for Christmas!

The sound is more open and soundstage much improved and detail is great!

No need to worry about single wired speakers, I am running my MA RS6s single wired with the X power connected to my 8xp amp and speakers running from the X power.

Go for the X power!

Thanks for the info Triggy, I may just do that. 🙂 I love the fact you have pretty much infinite upgrade paths with Cyrus.

if that's not asking for trouble I don't know what is lol 😛 😉

If you do decide to sell the 8XP and go for a pre/power combo let me know; I'd be interested in it. I know we can't trade on here but we can swap details via an administrator etc...

Ha indeed it is. Ive come around to Cyrus after many other systems, all with their own merits, Rotel, Arcam, Naim etc, but this setup really suits me. I probably wont be letting go of my 8XPD as I am rather fond of it, but yep I will let you know if I change my mind.

 

[Gusboll]

I treated myself to an X power for Christmas!

The sound is more open and soundstage much improved and detail is great!

No need to worry about single wired speakers, I am running my MA RS6s single wired with the X power connected to my 8xp amp and speakers running from the X power.

Go for the X power!

Have you tried bi-amping your RS6's? Using the 8XP to power the HF and the XPower to power the LF on the speakers?

I had RS6's years ago with Arcam integrated & power amps and they sounded so much better when bi-amped rather than single wired!

Yep, that's what I do; the 8vs2 runs the HF and the X Power runs the LF. Give it a try if you get an X Power.

 

[Frank Harvey]

If you want to improve quality, you can add the QX option, but I'd be tempted to add an X Power and give those A5's what for 🙂

Thanks David - so as others have mentioned, you would suggest an X Power running single wired in to my A5s?

Yes, and as mentioned, you can then at some stage change the integrated amplifier for a dedicated pre-amp, or even their Stream XP2 streamer/pre if you're only using digital sources. Usually, anyone looking to buy a Cyrus amp I will ask them what their intended upgrade path is - whether they're sticking to the integrated or looking to go pre/power in the future - I always try and recommend that people start with a pre/power as this saves any unnecessary swapping later on. Plus, the pre/powers are quite a step up from the integrated amplifiers.

 

[Crossie]

If you have the 8XP and an X power it is worth putting the better amp, the X power, on the HF where the detail is, and the 8XP on the LF. It made a small improvement for me.

Cheers :cheers:

 

[JamesOK]

Well, its a year and a half later and I have finally got round to buying an X Power. Got it second hand from eBay for 650 so quite pleased.

Initial thoughts, the soundstage seems bigger and theres a higher level of detail. Slight negative - it really shows up the poor quality on some of the streaming options I use (some of the five live podcasts for example!). Oh, and I need to move all my stereo stuff as the extra box wont fit on the shelf!

So now on to working out how to justify a Pre XPDQx, or whatever theyre called now...

 

[bluebrazil]

nice one, if all your sources are digital tho and you already stream then i would suggest the stream xp instead. (with or without qx ). only thing thats stopped me has been i listen to fm a lot.

i see you use sonus, would be interesting to see how they compare.