P8i Users - Survey


Just wondering what other P8i users find in their systems:

Filters 1,2,3 or 4 ? - I find 2 suits me best - 1 is a bit sharp, the others are a bit rolled off

Balanced or unbalanced - I find unbalanced gives me a magical result - balanced perhaps gives me more detail, but does not integrate the sound stage as well or naturally as unbalanced.

Upsampling on redbook – I definitely (!) prefer non-upsampled – much more dynamic, clear and clean.

Burn in – mine seemed to take forever (ie say 2 months of daily use (1-hour average) to settle in – left on all the time). Fresh it was not pretty and I wonder if this might be the cause of some negative comments about the P8i?

Direct or via a pre (my ulterior motive here)? Presently I'm using mine direct to a Pass X350.5 and B&W 801Ds with Ridge Street cabling – it seems quite excellent. I haven’t tried it with a pre yet but would like to so that I can add vinyl again.

What pre if any would you suggest as a good match?

I’d be really interested to learn what other owners have found.

Thanks

Murray
murrayp
I switch between 3 and 4 and run balanced. I don't know about unbalanced since my cables are all XLR. I've tried direct into my ML 335, but prefer it best thru my ML380S. Cabling is Golden Reference.
Hi Lenny,

Sometime try borrowing some single ended cables and try those - you never know - in my system it works better and i have the same Ridge Street Cables for both single and balanced.

Have you tried non-upsampling on CD? I prefer the snappier presentation to the smoother with upsampling.
Hi Murray
I use it generally on filter 1, using Crystal XLR interconnect directly into Halcro MC20. Tried a Nordost Valhalla but was underwhelmed.

I was also using Crystal speaker cables to my ESL 2905's, I have now changed the speaker cables to Anti Cables, the difference is incredible. Now waiting for the arrival of an Anti Cable XLR to test.

My feeling is that a pre-amp is really to control volume (turn it down in this case) so I feel adding a pre amp is unnecessary and would put much circuitry and cabling in your sound path.

What about a Phono line stage amp with passive volume control then direct into your second input.

regards

Andy