Hi Norks et al,
I've had an interesting weekend as I've managed to get my hands on two sets of leading 2 ch amps & cd players to see which combination made the biggest difference to 2ch stereo & 6.1 sound. many thanks to Sevenoaks & Audio-T in Nth London.
Cyrus CD6 & 6vs Amp
The Amp/CD combo Needed quite sometime to "warm up" & was quite lumpy on initial play. Once it had warmed up though it was very nice but a little overblown, i.e. some loss of detail for sheer power & a little boom (not quite as tight as I like my bass).
I did notice an increased level of detail when playing the CD6 directly into my pio Ax5i av amp (via direct) but on balance I didn't think it was enough to replace my Rotel RCD-02.
Outcome - more impressed with the cyrus 6vs amp than the CD6.
Arcam A80 & CD192
I've home demo'd the 192 before & once again I was very impressed with the level of detail this cd player pulls out. Not only very impressive detail, it's combined with power & good grip of bass, excellent (it made me smile whilst playing disc's).
Not so impressive was the A80. It was fine when directly hooked up to the 192 but the 192 was actually better conected to my Pio Ax5i in direct mode - SHOCK - AV Amp better than dedicated 2 ch amp!! Of Course this is just my opinion but the good wife, whilst not entirely interested did back this up.
The A80 does have the neat processor mode which makes it easier to live with when in 5,6.1, i.e. not having to re-adjust volume's to match processor's gain (volume) & this was quite easy to set up.
I just don't think the amp has enough clout/power (65 watts) when integrated with my Pio Ax5i (105 watts).
Overall
the Arcam Cd192 is a cracker & IMO worth the £850. My Pio Ax5i is better than expected in 2ch stereo when partnered with a quality cd player.
Adding a £600 2channel stereo amp to my Pio Ax5i didn't actually achieve any signifcant improvements in sound, in both 2ch & 5,6.1 & IMO - not worth additional the money.
Maybe I will look into a 2nd hand A85 as these have more power or even a secondhand FMJ A32 but I think at the moment, my money's going into a quality CD player - may also have to home demo the Cyrus CD8x.
Thanks to all who have posted on this thread.
Cheers
Matt