I received my 8cs yesterday. I set them up in a temporary configuration on my Skylan stands to test them. I am impressed with the detail and the bass. I planned to listen to a track or two and ended up listening for over an hour. They are very musical. I am running them from my ROCK through my Matrix X out the AES port. I’m downsampling from Roon to 96/24. I can’t wait to get them set up in their permanent location along with some tuning for the room. Have you noticed any change in them as they break in?
Edit: I’m using Belden 1800F XLR cables for the AES connection from the Matrix to the speaker and from speaker to speaker. I didn’t want to spring for the BAVs until I evaluate how they sound as Roon endpoints over ethernet.
Like almost everything electronic they are better with age. I have about 650 hours on them and the new PSA gear and they have relaxed quite a bit.
I’m not sure when they will have the Roon endpoint software done. Right now they don’t show up as an available Roon endpoint on my network.
I think I will add a sub to mine as I really don’t get to play them as loud as I like most of the time and the bass is a little subdued at the lower volume settings. When you turn up the volume though they are really really good sounding. No regrets at all.
I have the stack hidden in a closet and the BAV’s run under the floor and back up thru just behind the speakers so the install is really clean looking and great sounding. Just what I was trying to accomplish…
The AES input only supports up to 96/24. I have many DSD and 192/24 files. I am using Roon to downsample to 96/24. If you look at the Stereophile measurements of the 8c, they imply the 8cs run at 48KHz internally as well. I plan to try downsampling to 48K to see how it sounds. There is a big debate on the roon forums about why they use 48k internally.
What do you have set for gain for your 8cs? I have mine at 0.0dB and am using Roon for volume control. I have tried higher and lower gain settings but keep going back to 0.0.
That is good information Baldy, I look for good bass at modest volume. My wife complaints I play my music In our living room too loud, I do that because my speakers play way better loud, better bass and hight. Anything I‘d consider buying for the living room has to improve the SQ at lower volume.
The Stellar Gain Cell DAC in my home office did not let me down in resolution and detail at low volumes but my active Yamaha active monitors are just not capable of going down deep, maybe I‘ll get a sub. I fancy an ELAC sub, the active ELAC Navis (that I had tried) at the dealer were an excellent match with the SGCD.
You haven’t had any issues controlling the 8Cs with Roon? That would be ideal, but I know they aren’t officially Roon Ready yet. It’s been a LONG time coming on that front.
They have proven to be rock solid performers with the SQ to boot. It will be interesting to see how the Roon endpoint via network connection works out.
I use a Roon Nucleus+ > USB out > Matrix converter > I2S > DS DAC > BHK preamp and send preamp outs to the D&D analog inputs.
I tried the AES input from the Matrix converter and in my system using a preamp was a better sound quality.
No problem. I could have been clearer. The Matrix X-SPDIF 2 has an AES output that I connect to my left 8c and use the AES passthrough on the 8c to the right speaker. There is no need for a converter.
Oh, have a lot more going on with a PS Audio DAC and preamp than I would. I’m looking at going direct from streaming source to the Dutch 8C’s digital input. Still though, I’m perplexed…I’m looking at the Matrix converter online and it doesn’t look like it has an AES/EBU output.
Ha! Amazing. It must look like I was intentionally cropping the photo. I wasn’t! I was viewing the website on my mobile phone and it must have rendered incompletely. Thanks!
I was viewing the website on my mobile phone and it must have rendered incompletely. Thanks!