Cyrus Audio, the British manufacturer known for designing and manufacturing HiFi amplifiers, DACs and CD players, has introduce their new XR series.

The XR series will include six brand new products, including two integrated amplifiers with DACs (the i7-XR and i9-XR), a preamp (Pre-XR), two CD players (the CDt-XR transport and the integrated CDi-XR) and an external power supply (the PSU-XR).

Cyrus i9-XR amplifier with DAC

Cyrus XR Series

Cyrus has nearly four decades of experience making Hifi products, designed and assembled entirely in-house at Cyrus in the UK. A fundamental step change in design approach for XR series has been possible due to an accumulated understanding of DAC technologies and power supply designs, combined with Cyrus’s recently updated manufacturing processes and the availability of higher-grade components.

XR Advancements in Design and Technology

For the XR series, Cyrus’ engineers were free to select components based on efficiency and optimal performance, without consideration of cost.  In designing these products from the ground up, the engineers were able to create a low noise platform, through power supply design, DAC optimization, component choice, circuit topology, as well as some more fundamental design approaches. One of the driving principles behind the design of the XR series has been noise reduction. Tremendous efforts were made to protect and isolate the signal path from potential sources of noise.

Another significant area of focus was power supply design. Last but certainly not least is the crucial DAC that reconstructs analogue signals.

Phantom Black

Naturally, the XR series also features a new aesthetic. All products in the new XR series are wrapped in a new “Phantom Black” paint finish, introduced especially for the XR series.  The XR series user interface is also new, incorporating capacitive touch buttons with audible feedback. The new UI also features a high resolution LCD screen and reassuringly weighty solid metal rotary encoder.

Amplifiers

The newly designed i7-XR and i9-XR amplifiers are built with relay input switches and Schottky diodes. The efficiency improvements generated grant a far greater burst power capacity. A key new feature Cyrus has introduced for the XR series amps is user-selectable DAC filters. These filters can be changed easily on the front of the product, or via the remote from the comfort of your listening position.

The i7-XR produces 2 x 52 watts per channel and has a dynamic range of 101dB.

The i9-XR has more grunt at 2 x 91 watts per channel, with a dynamic range of 104 dB.

Both amps are fully integrated with four analogue and five digital inputs (two optical, two Coax, one USB), a new software update port, and pre and fixed level outputs, as well as dual speaker outputs on the back panel. To cater for the continued growing market for vinyl, both amps feature a built-in moving magnet phono stage.

Preamp

The Pre-XR uses an all-new power supply design with high-value reservoir capacitors. The transformer is also a new custom design. The net result of this is a dynamic range performance of 110dB.

The Pre-XR represents a vast improvement over Cyrus’s existing high-end preamp, the DAC XP signature. The Pre-XR offers increased dynamic range and a broader bandwidth capable of handling files up to 32-bit/768k as well as DSD files. It also features a built-in phono stage.

CD Players

Both new XR series CD players, the CDt-XR and the CDi-XR, feature a new power supply design and bespoke transformers designed specifically for the new CD players, making their SE CD engine even quieter than before.

Both the CDt-XR and CDi-XR use twin microprocessors. One chip handles all the user interface and housekeeping, while the second is dedicated to running the SE engine. This prevents crucial timing information from being interrupted by the processor being asked to do other things.

The physical loader is also new, giving better performance than the previous model. There is a re-clocking circuit to reduce jitter too. In terms of board layout, flow and return principles have been applied to the DAC section and the signal path throughout the entire player. Other improvements include new filter stages and a 2nd Generation QXR DAC specifically optimized to 16bit 44.1kHz. Finally, both players can be upgraded with the addition of the PSUXR.

Power Supply

Cyrus has been looking for the perfect power supply since 1987 when they first launched the PSX, the precursor to the classic PSX-R2. Thirty-three years later, the PSU-XR is a truly intelligent power supply with its own on-board microprocessor. It is also flexible. The microprocessor communicates with the host product to gather its exact power requirements. The PSU-XR can supply up to three separate circuits on each host product with superior clean power, at any of 256 digitally controlled voltage levels, to ensure precise matching.

The power supply itself in the PSU-XR is as isolated as possible from extraneous noise. There is no common ground inside the PSU-XR, grounds only meet inside the host products, and even here at places where current flow is minimal. This prevents the power circuits from inadvertently infecting the musical signal.

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