Cyrus has unveiled an all-new range of premium hi-fi components, designed from the ground up and priced between £1995 (AU$3999) and £3995 (AU$7499).
The British audio brand’s “latest and greatest series of products”, the six-strong Cyrus XR series comprises two digital-friendly integrated amplifiers (the i7-XR and i9-XR), a preamp (Pre-XR), two CD players (the CDt-XR transport and integrated CDi-XR) and an external power supply (the PSU-XR). It utilises the company’s advancing understanding of DAC technologies and power supply designs and promises “substantially increased dynamic range”.
The range sits above Cyrus’ Classic series, which has enjoyed wide critical acclaim over the years – not least with the multi-award-winning CDi player.
For the XR series, Cyrus’ engineers were supposedly free to select components without consideration of cost to ensure unparalleled Cyrus performance. Huge efforts have gone into reducing noise in the circuitry, too, and the aesthetic of the half-width chassis, while still very ‘Cyrus’, has been treated to a Phantom Black painted finish, LCD screen and new touch buttons.
The two XR integrated amplifiers – the 52-watts-per-channel i7-XR (£2295, AU$4499) and 91-watts-per-channel i9-XR (£2995, AU$5499, pictured top) – feature user-selectable DAC filters (a first for Cyrus products), four analogue inputs (including a phono stage) and five digital inputs (two optical, two Coax, one USB). Cyrus has worked hard to optimise the amplifiers’ efficiency, which it says has lead to very low levels of distortion.
Courtesy of an all-new power supply design and componentry, the Pre-XR preamplifier (£3995, AU$7499) delivers a “vast improvement” over Cyrus’ existing DAC XP Signature, with an increased dynamic range, wider file support (up to 32-bit/768kHz and including DSDs) and a built-in phono stage.
The CDt-XR CD transport (£2195, AU$4499) and CDi-XR CD player (£1995, AU$3999), meanwhile, promise to surpass the performance of the aforementioned CDi with a new power supply design and loading mechanism, new custom-designed transformers, and a second-generation QXR DAC specifically optimised to the CD-specific 16-bit/44.1kHz.
Where the nittier-grittier details are concerned, the players both use twin microprocessors – one handles the interface and housekeeping while the other runs the CD engine – and boast a re-clocking circuit to ensure accurate replay.
Both players can be upgraded with the addition of the PSU-XR power supply (£tbc), which can deliver 60 per cent more power than the existing Cyrus PSX-R2 and is twice as efficient.
Designed to help connected equipment fulfil their potential, the PSU-XR’s processor can communicate with it to identify its exact power requirements. Meanwhile, the isolated power supply itself can supply up to three separate circuits on each, at any of 256 digitally controlled voltage levels, to ensure precise matching.
The full range of Cyrus CR Series products will be available in Australia from Indi Imports, arriving towards the end of February 2021.
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