DAC-Pre or Pre-DAC. Benchmark compared to Cyrus

[pelagic]

Hi Folks,

 

First post.

 

I run a wired Squeezebox network with main system being an SB Touch streaming primarily FLACs but some MP3/4S through DACmagic and into Dynaudio Focus 110 actives. It's a great system. I love these speakers - they tick every sonic box for me within their price. My wife approves too, which is nice.

 

However, I am after a pre amp with DAC and today auditioned a Cyrus Pre XP-D QX with the 110a's. After several hours listening I came away mightily impressed and am sorely tempted. I have not been able to audition the Benchmark DAC1 HDR which was my first choice based on background reading reviews. It appears hard to audition in UK.

 

Has anyone listened to both boxes, or does anyone have a view on the relative technical merits of the two compared? My layman's view is that Cyrus have great expertise and experience engineering pre-amps, albeit with their own sonic signature, whereas Benchmark, coming from pro audio, seem to have their skill sets firmly in the DAC stages, but I am unfamiliar with their sound. Both cost around the same.

 

The Dyns imo have a neutral (to slightly warm) sound that suits my tastes, so I don't mind a DAC that errs on the more revealing rather than cosseting, if that makes sense.

 

Does the 30 days buy and try for Benchmark DACs apply to UK?

 

Should I be looking at another alternative in the £1500 space? Small footprint is crucial.

 

Thanks for any inputs.

 

 

 

[pelagic]

No views?

 

[pelagic]

...useful site.

 

[bixby]

and is probably the reason no one has commented. I am a Benchmark owner and don't know anyone who has even heard a cyrus. That being said, I know Cyrus is a well known range in the UK. you may want to try one of the forums that is UK based like pink fish media or something like that.

 

Even though CA is international, I would bet that most of its members are from the US so lots less chance of getting a hit on your request.

 

[PJH]

Hi,

 

I have only read good reviews about the Cyrus products and would certainly put them on top of my list.

 

I also own a pair of Dynaudio Focus 110A active speakers and I am amazed every time I listen to them. In fact my wife even thanked me for buying them after a good day of listening. I have purchased a lot of audio equipment throughout the years and never received that kind of reception from her. They are keepers for sure and deserve the best components you can get.

 

Myself, I have my eyes (and savings account) on the new Audiolab 8200CDQ. The best of all worlds wrapped up into one product, in my opinion.

 

[Ajax]

I own the Benchmark HDR DAC 1 and I am very very happy with it. I play AIFF files using J Rivers in WASAPI on a PC and Itunes/Pure Music on a MacPro both through ADAM A7 active speakers.

 

It is very revealing and transparent ... to quote my 11 year old son listening to a 24/48 track of Gwyneth Herbert downloaded from B&W's Society of Sound

 

" that's really spooky Dad, it sounds like she's in the room with us!"

 

You will find a lot of different opinions on DACs, and a lot of different types, and different technology such as adaptive vs asynchronous USB. There is a very wide range available starting at $200 - $10,000 and I suggest you refer to Chris's CASH LIST on this site and google the reviews of each.

 

 

I think the Benchmark could be a good fit for you as it is actually a pre amp as well as a DAC with its own remote.

 

A cople of features you may require which the benchmark does:

 

large variety of inputs - USB, optical, coaxial, analogue

preamp with its own volume control

headphone amp

balanced and RCA outputs

 

please refer to http://www.benchmarkmedia.com/dac/dac1-hdr

 

Check out this review by John Atkinson of Stereophile Magazine

 

http://www.stereophile.com/digitalprocessors/108bench/index.html

 

I have not heard the Cyrus but the people at What HiFi rave about it and gave it 5 stars. They also love the Focal 110A active speakers.

 

Best advice I can give you is to set a budget and then audition several DACs with your own Focal speakers.

 

Good Luck

 

 

[reverendo]

The Cyrus XP+ is probably the DAC you might be looking for. What is your budget?

best regards

André

 

[G7]

Well, I'm neither in the UK nor in the US, which must be the reason why I heard both... at my living room, with the rest of the system being the same.

 

The Cyrus is a previous model, the DAC XP, and you mention a newer model, which could only be better.

 

The System: Mac Mini, Cyrus Dac XP, 2 Mono-X Amps, Wilson speakers.

 

Yes, the Wilson seems to be "a tad" overkill… The Cyrus was supposed to be replaced with a higher system, and be later used at the office room.

 

The sound that came out of the Wilsons, through the Cyrus, was way beyond what I expected, so it stayed in the living room for much longer than planned.

It seems that Cyrus doesn't often get the chance to materialize its full potential.

 

However… The DAC XP stopped working after a short time. It took ages for the company to respond to the importer, and after the DAC was shipped to the UK, it took months before a new DAC was sent back.

I even tried contacting Cyrus myself. Emails, from all their published email addresses, bounced back, so I called… a very nice lady who received my call managed to rush things up.

The replacement DAC XP is working flawlessly for about 3 years.

 

As for the Benchmark DAC: To my ears, the Cyrus sound was more detailed.

 

Recently, starting to look for that higher system I originally wanted, and as Cyrus now offer very interesting new Amps (Mono-X 300), I decided to check whether Cyrus improved in responding to their clients. Nothing changed. Emails bounced back from every known email address.

 

I'm impressed with what gets out of those small magnesium boxes. I'm less impressed with the lack of sound that this company makes when I need them.

 

To be objective, as you're in the UK, service might be better, in which case I'd go for the Cyrus.

But... to be even more objective – I wouldn't buy any sound component without having heard and compared it myself… :-)

 

 

[willmanus]

I was interested to read your post because I have a similar setup. I was running a squeezebox into a musical fidelity V-dac then to a pre-amp. I have since moved to Canada and had to ditch the pre-amp as it was 240v. So rather than buying a new preamp here in Canada and find a 110v power supply for the V-dac I opted to go for a DAC/Preamp in one box.

 

I went for the PS Audio Perfect wave DAC as some great deals can be had on ebay (well they can if you forget about the import duty that Canadian customs slapped me with but that's another story for another forum) Anyway the sound was better than plugging the squeezebox directly into the BOULDER power amp but not $2000 better or anything like it.

 

So to cut a long post short my question is, would inserting the very nice benchmark or the equally nice Cyrus into the chain make much difference? I know the output of the logitech is bit perfect but god knows what jitter is being introduced by the squeezebox. My experiences with my set up leave me thinking that spending all that money on a decent DAC is the hi-fi equivalent to polishing a turd.

 

Someone with more technical knowledge than me would probably do well to step in at this point and refute or otherwise my "findings"

 

http://www.psaudio.com/ps/products/detail/perfectwave-dac

 

 

 

 

[willmanus]

The Cyrus kit is sexier and British made - go for that. Also you have decent upgradeability built-in.

 

 

 

[G7]

Naim is British made and upgradeable.

 

The Naim DAC is hard to beat regardless of price, and, unlike many DACs, it accepts the highest-res files.

 

Naim also reply their customers.

 

 

 

 

[willmanus]

Naim stuff is indeed excellent. Do they do a DAC that can be used as a pre-amp?

 

[reverendo]

nope... unfortunately not.

 

[G7]

I use the Naim DAC.

For me, it sounds better than the Cyrus DAC XP (which, IMO, is pretty good), and better than quite a few other DACs I compared it with.

 

The other Naim component which I use is the Headline headphone amp', with their Hicap power supply.

I think that this combination allows the Grado PS1000 to materialize its phenomenal potential.

I compared the Headline with the 3 power supply options: Flatcap, Hicap, Super cap.

The Highcap had a remarkable jump in sound quality vs the basic Flatcap.

The additional improvement that the Supercap made, was small enough to not justify (for me, at least) the steep jump in price.