After numerous posts on here about whether I should ditch the surround setup (Quad L series all round through a Pioneer Home Cinema amp) and go for stereo I finally managed to borrow a demo Cyrus amp to audition for myself. Thanks to the nice guys over at Movement Audio in Poole – I managed to borrow a Cyrus 8XPd QX for a couple of days.
I wondered whether it would be too bright coupled with my Quad 22L2 floor standers and Sony CDP-X3000ES CD player and even while I was setting it all up I wondered whether I would indeed notice that much of a difference – after all this is an £1800 amp so if the difference is small then it wouldn’t be worth purchasing.
It took approximately one minute to decide!
Bye-bye surround.
I won’t review the amp here – there is one on this site already, but what I noticed was a clarity that I have never heard before. I could hear every instrument which was accurately placed in a soundstage that was bigger than I had heard before. Vocals sounded so natural and clear that I could hear every single word. Every instrument sounded crisp and tight and you could follow any individual instrument you cared to choose. By using the DAC in the amp (connecting Sky box, CD player, and DVD player using digital cables) I was able to audition DVDs too and noticed an increase in sound quality on those too. CDs I have stayed away from in the past took on a whole new life. What had previously sounded harsh was now calmed, not because the amp smoothes everything out but because the amp was giving me what was on the CD and wasn’t colouring the sound. The treble was sparkly without being too forthright. What a leap in sound quality. I now see what my speakers are capable of and that my CD player works nicely as a transport. The increase in sound quality was more than I thought I would get and I am in no doubt now about selling my surrounds/centre/home cinema amp.
Sadly, I had to give the Cyrus back.
I wondered whether it would be too bright coupled with my Quad 22L2 floor standers and Sony CDP-X3000ES CD player and even while I was setting it all up I wondered whether I would indeed notice that much of a difference – after all this is an £1800 amp so if the difference is small then it wouldn’t be worth purchasing.
It took approximately one minute to decide!
Bye-bye surround.
I won’t review the amp here – there is one on this site already, but what I noticed was a clarity that I have never heard before. I could hear every instrument which was accurately placed in a soundstage that was bigger than I had heard before. Vocals sounded so natural and clear that I could hear every single word. Every instrument sounded crisp and tight and you could follow any individual instrument you cared to choose. By using the DAC in the amp (connecting Sky box, CD player, and DVD player using digital cables) I was able to audition DVDs too and noticed an increase in sound quality on those too. CDs I have stayed away from in the past took on a whole new life. What had previously sounded harsh was now calmed, not because the amp smoothes everything out but because the amp was giving me what was on the CD and wasn’t colouring the sound. The treble was sparkly without being too forthright. What a leap in sound quality. I now see what my speakers are capable of and that my CD player works nicely as a transport. The increase in sound quality was more than I thought I would get and I am in no doubt now about selling my surrounds/centre/home cinema amp.
Sadly, I had to give the Cyrus back.
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