Cyrus 40 ST

"Despite all the clarity, this Cyrus has enough in the way of refinement to keep poor recordings listenable"

- 

Cyrus Audio sees the launch of its 40 Series as something of a new beginning. While the brand has produced plenty of exceptional products since it was founded in the early '80s, it is also fair to say that it has struggled to hold on to the limelight in recent years.

Beyond the extraordinary success of its CDi CD player - an 11-time What Hi-Fi? Award-winner in its price category no less - and the Phono Signature phono stage, there is little else that Cyrus has produced over much of the past decade that has truly excited us. Even the recently introduced premium XR range seems more like a reheat of past efforts than a determined effort to take a step forward. The new 40 Series products are different, with an all-new design that looks firmly to the future. If our experience with the Cyrus 40 ST music streamer is anything to go by, this new range could well be good enough to kick-start the brand's resurgence.

Currently, the 40 Series consists of four products: the 40 ST streamer we have on test here, an integrated amplifier (the 40 AMP) and a one-box CD player (40 CD). The final member of the quartet is the 40 PSU outboard power supply, which in traditional Cyrus fashion offers an upgrade path for the other three units. The company's products have always tended to be upgradable and we are thankful that Cyrus has continued to offer such an option. We have samples of the amplifier, CD player and PSU in our test rooms and the reviews will follow in due course.

The anodised aluminium casework for the 40 Series is all new and all the better for it. While it follows the half-width proportions associated with the brand, the designers have taken the opportunity to grow it just a little in every direction. This gives a little more volume inside, allowing extra leeway with the internal layout and componentry. While this increase of space doesn't matter so much in something like the streamer, in the amplifier it proves extremely useful.