Cyrus Amp 40

The audio industry is adept at ensuring its products maintain what marketing types refer to as ‘visual continuity’ - but even by industry standards, Cyrus Audio has been exceptional at minimising change. The company has released products on a fairly regular basis, but almost all of them have used a variation on the same half-width casework which has been in use for the best part of 30 years. Even when they released the more affordable ONE Series, those products riffed on casework used before. 

The Amp 40 is different - very different. While it takes some thinking from the existing XR models, it is a new design intended to take the company further upmarket. To this end, it has connectivity that is entirely of the moment. 

This begins in a largely traditional way. Four RCA line inputs are supported by a moving magnet phono stage. This latter input is likely to be rather more than a convenience feature, as Cyrus is rather good at phono stages. 

These analogue inputs are supported by a digital board built around an ESS Sabre ES9039Q2M DAC, which is made available to a USB input, two coaxial connections and an optical socket. This is a reduction in the number of optical connections from the XR models, but the second has been sacrificed for a good cause. The Amp 40 has an HDMI eARC connection on the back, and this should make integration with a TV a great deal easier. Sample rate handling is comprehensive, with the USB connection supporting PCM to 384kHz and DSD to 256 - which should be enough for all but the most committed test pilot. 

The amplifier section is new, but builds on some of the ideas that appeared in the XR models. The power output of 100 watts into 6 ohms (Cyrus doesn’t tend to quote output into the more traditional 8 ohms, which reveals a lower number) is a little down on some notional rivals, but it doesn’t quite tell the whole story. The Amp 40 is designed around the premise of delivering enough power to get the job done and doing so over an exceptionally wide bandwidth. This idea of sufficiency might not appeal to people that simply want to know there is a big number available when they need it, but it does seem to work well in practice. 

One feature of the Amp 40 is very much in the Cyrus tradition. As standard, it uses a single IEC mains socket for power which can be augmented with the 40 PSU external power supply. This takes over powering the preamp and digital board, and means that as well as offering a notional uplift in performance (and I use the word ‘notional’ because I’ve yet to test it), it means that the power output of the Amp 40 climbs slightly to 113 watts into 6 ohms- the first time I can recall seeing such a thing on a Cyrus product. 

Sound quality

While the Amp 40 is all-new, it doesn’t take too much of a listen to determine that there are elements of its performance that closely match the XR models - and this is no bad thing. Cyrus has always been about a sound that is extremely immediate and able to handle even the most complex and high-tempo material with an effortlessness that makes many rivals feel like they are trying to run in wellies. The Amp 40 still does this, with a nonchalance you only really notice when you stop listening to it and move to something else. 

Where the XR connection comes in is that this speed has been joined by a level of bass extension that reduces some of the leanness that used to be part and parcel of the Cyrus listening experience. The Amp 40 doesn’t have ‘good bass for a Cyrus’, it has a level of low-end shove and authority that is the equal of anything at the price - and that price includes some very hard-hitting rivals indeed. 

This is combined with a space and airiness that the XRs showed a glimpse of but the Amp 40 really runs with. Regardless of the size of the soundstage you are asking the Cyrus to reproduce, it manages to generate both a convincing rendition of the performance itself and the commensurate space around it - which means you never get the sense of the presentation being beamed at your head. 

This is combined with a tonal presentation that is almost perfectly judged. I am sure that, if you went out of your way to partner the Amp 40 with a very forward-sounding speaker, you might provoke it into sounding a little aggressive - but you really will have to work at it. With all the speakers I test it with, it demonstrates an endlessly convincing grasp of tonal realism together with impressive refinement. 

Something else that the Amp 40 does extremely well is demonstrate these traits across its different inputs. You can have it handle a TV concert over HDMI eARC before using a source via the RCA inputs, and the fundamental balance of the amp is unaffected. That phono stage is a bit of a star, too - a device that is more than up to the task of being used with turntables in the £3K/£4K price category without sounding out of its depth. The ambition to build a hub that works in the manner you need it to, rather than you adapting to its needs, has been met extremely well.

And no less importantly, that power output is enough. I use the Amp 40 with a selection of speakers, including a pair of current-hungry Kudos Titans that cost more than twice as much as the Amp 40, and the Cyrus simply gets on with delivering its admirable performance each and every time. Unless you want the Cyrus to stand in for the pyramid system at Glastonbury, it is unlikely to struggle. 

Living with

Spending some time with the first all-new Cyrus casework in many years is A Big Deal - and after two weeks with the Amp 40 I have two slightly contradictory things to say. The first is that this is a modern-looking and modern-feeling amplifier that has some genuinely nice design flourishes. The shape, with its cut-in lower section, looks extremely smart - and the white on black display is crisp and up to the minute (although it allocates quite a lot of real estate to displaying not that much information - there is no sample rate indicator, for example). This is a decent-looking piece of kit.

The second is that, for all these positive comments, I do feel that the Amp 40 lacks a little of the Cyrus visual identity. Cyrus devices have looked like, well, Cyrus devices for so long that the Amp 40 seems to lack the same DNA. Aside from the small Cyrus logo on the front panel (which changes from red to white when you turn the Amp 40 on), there is little in the way of visual branding. How much this matters to you is going to be a personal thing - but I find the Amp 40 ever-so-slightly anonymous. 

There is a huge amount to like, though. The Amp 40’s many inputs are easy to access, and the implementation of functionality such as the HDMI eARC is very good indeed. If you use the 40 Series in a stack with the matching products, they can be linked by communication cables that tighten up their relationship with one another still further - so extra information regarding what other products are up to appears on the display. A huge amount of thought and effort has gone into the Amp 40, and it really shows. It’s also extremely well made but still benefits from a footprint that makes most rivals look hulking by comparison. This is an exceptionally easy device to live with. 

Conclusion

The Amp 40 arrives in the Cyrus line-up like a storm in smart casework. It does all the things we expect a Cyrus amp to do, but does them better and more flexibly while adding features and functionality that makes many of its rivals look positively crude. We’ve had to wait a very long time for an all-new Cyrus amp, but the results have certainly been worth waiting for. 

Listening notes 

The National Trouble Will Find Me 

The Cyrus takes this collection of brooding, emotive and weary tracks and manages to balance technical excellence and fearsome detail retrieval with absolute preservation of the soul of the material.

Bjorn Berge Live in Europe

A jewel in the niche category of ‘guitar pornography.’ To understand what I mean when I describe the Cyrus as ‘fast’, listen to the live rendition of Trains and I promise you’ll understand. 

Zola Blood Black Blossom

An album that needs hefty bass response combined with tonal delicacy - and in both regards the Cyrus excels. The result is a truly joyous listen. 

This is a technically accomplished amp, even judged at the asking price - but it’s the sheer engagement and drive it brings to all those inputs that set it apart. Cyrus has managed to take all the things that make them so highly regarded and bring them bang up to date. It’s brilliant.