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New Member - Hi

post #1 of 4
Thread Starter 

Hi,

 

I have been lurking for quite a while and recently bought a pair of Sony MDR SA5000 headphones. Very happy with them, however i do not think I getting the maximum performance from them.

 

I run the headphones from a Cyrus 8vs2 integrated stereo amp (with PSXr) and is fed by a Cyrus CD7Q cd player (with 4 x burr brown PCM1728 24 bit DACs). 

 

Should I be looking for an integrated DAC/headphone amp solution that will improve both my speaker rig (with improved dac) and headphones (with improved amp and dac?). Alternatively should I be looking at seperate boxs?

 

I have a budget of circa £300 - £400 (prob only enough for an amp?)

 

Thanks

Gear mentioned in this thread:

post #2 of 4

You seem to be in an awkward place. I can't get to the manual (and I'm not registering with Cyrus just to get a peek at a manual!); but it looks like you have an older model Cyrus receiver with no integrated DAC. Is this the case?

 

Does the CD7Q only have S/PDIF out?

 

If both of the above are true, then you certainly do need a DAC that includes a S/PDIF in; and that excludes a lot of the more headphone oriented gear. I would either look for a DAC with an input that matches that of the CD7Q as well as line level outputs for both a headphone amp and the 8vs2; or find a pre-amp with integrated DAC that provides similar inputs/outputs.

 

Please excuse me if I am speaking out of turn, but why limit what is obviously a fairly high-end system with a disproportionately low budget for a DAC/pre-amp? Cyrus sells the Pre XPd for £1350; and, since you seem to like Cyrus, why break faith now?

 

Alternately, forget about the CD7Q, and go with a computer-based system (which assumes you have a computer of course!). You would need a USB DAC with twos pairs of line level outs, or you would need a headphone amp that provides a line level out in addition to the headphone connection(s). However, even with this approach, I would think a somewhat larger budget would better complement the rest of your system.

post #3 of 4
Thread Starter 

Hi,

 

Thanks for the reply.

 

My amp is an older model without an integrated DAC. My CD player has 2 pairs of analogue outputs and 1 coaxial.

 

You are probably right about with sticking Cyrus for my loudspeaker rig and/or to buy a better DAC from Cyrus.  Thinking about it a bit more it might actually be better to separate my headphone rig from from my hi fi? My Imac is in the same room as my hifi and to be honest its no bother using the imac as my headphone rig as I only use headphones when my wife is watching tv (which is where my hifi is).

 

I am happy with my Cyrus setup for hifi, so perhaps my question now can be refined to......

 

What is the best way to get a reasonable sound from my SA500 headphones when fed lossless music from my IMAC, Budget £300 - £400.

 

Thanks

post #4 of 4

LOL. Now we are almost in the same boat. I am weighing my options when it comes to a DAC, and I only recently bought my first dedicated headphone amp. So I am more of a spectator at this point. However, here are the DACs on my short-list:

 

 

Hopefully you will get some suggestions about an amp for the SA5000s.

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