This is a review written by Terry Ellis December 2024.

For my video review please see my YouTube channel link here

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The look of love

I know for many audiophiles a HiFi products design aesthetic is massively important to them and its totally understandable why, these are products we have to live with and look at all of the time. A great design, one that we can display proudly or one that can give us warm tingly feelings when we power the system on thanks to the lovely way it glows, its all very important for long term ownership satisfaction. If there was one product in a HiFi system where I might question the importance of the aesthetics it would be with an amplifier and yet some amplifiers are so stunningly well designed they set the standard. That is a great thought to take into my review of new 40 Amp.

This is my second review for UK based Cyrus Audio’s brand new flagship 40 range of HiFi products that celebrates 40 years of business for them, a real achievement. It alsomarks a new beginning for Cyrus in how their products look and its really very different and I like it a lot.

New and improved 

There is a lot that is obviously new and different with the 40 Amp compared to previous Cyrus products, however what has not changed is the classic Cyrus half width form factor. That makes the 40 Amp compact or small really by general high end HiFi integrated amplifier standards and that opens up some really interesting setup possibilities. It would be possible for an audiophile to create a super small but still very high performance HiFi system and I know many desire this.  Its also possible to go the other way and beef out a big or scale down the system over time, all with the same 40 Amp at the centre of the system. How can you not like the principle of that? I am going to explore this just a little bit in this review.

I think Cyrus has done a great job with the 40 Amp aesthetic because when I look back to my i9-XR amplifier review from March 2023, the i9-XR had the Cyrus design that many of you will have ingrained into your brain, its been almost the same for over 30 years, so it just looks like a Cyrus.  The new 40 series Cyrus look really does make the i9-XR look very much a 30 year old design.

This 40 Amp straight looks infinitely more modern, but also much more sleek and I think classy and more expensive too. The angled profile shape is nice and it makes the amp easier to pick up and set down because there is space for your hands, believe it or not this was intended for the design. I really like how clean and crisp the display text is from the high-res five inch screen that is set off by the whole front being a toughened glass and that gives the amp a different feeling in the room because of how light reflects off it, different to metal or plastic. The illuminated volume wheel is a very nice touch as is the Cyrus touch sensitive power button and other touch sensitive buttons down the left hand side. The 40 Amp has touch sensitive buttons instead of being a touch screen, so its still a touch to control device which has been a Cyrus thing for some time now.

I do like how the screen and the ring have independent brightness controls, both can be very bright if you want and the volume ring can be mega bright if you want it to. I liked having the screen set quite bright so its easier to read during the day sat far away but the ring set on a much lower brightness so its less distracting. Amazingly I could easily read this screen sat more than 12 feet away the text is just the right size and really clear.

I also like when your using other Cyrus 40 products they all have the same brightness controls so its easy to match everything up so your OCD does not go into overdrive.  Personally I am not a fan of touch screens on HiFi products because I hate finger prints so I would always use the remote control and Cyrus have created a custom remote control in the same visual profile as all the 40 series. The one remote can control all the 40 products which keeps things nice and simple.

Better rear is still the worst bit

The rear of the amplifier its not as sleek as the front because this is where the half width form factor shows its limitation to space. Cyrus find a way to have more connections than most in 1half the space for good or for bad. There are some big changes here from the i9-XR amp this replaces.  Firstly there is now only a single speaker cable output per channel rather than two which I prefer and its now possible to fit expanding banana plugs straight into the back of the amp rather than having to use a BFA adaptor, this I infinitely prefer for obvious reasons.  It is still a very tight fit though where the left and right speaker cables are very close together so Cyrus include a bracket system that will hold your speaker cables spaced perfect distance apart. I didn’t use it and I must have plugged in and out of the 40 Amp about 50 times in the few weeks of this review with no issues at all, so its not essential to use it, but it can get very cable busy when you have many connections so using the bracket makes sense for safety.

There is the same number of analogue inputs and outputs that Cyrus amplifier owners are used to and they are still all single ended, there is no balanced connections here which some will see that as a shame. Where there is the biggest feature difference is with the digital inputs, USB is the same but one optical has made way for a HDMI EARC connection which is possibly a reason for some audiophiles to upgrade on its own. The Lan and USB connections on the rear are not for streaming, they are just for updates and unit control and integration.

One other thing that has changed is the headphone amplifier output has moved from the rear to the front hidden underneath the volume control and its hidden so well as you don’t really see it unless your looking for it.  For anyone planning to use the headphone amplifier, especially if its just infrequent use this will be a major improvement for convenience.  Something you will see in my video review and the photos that might look a little strange are the square things on the front of the custom designed volume control. You can see them so clearly because I was blasting so much light at the units in order to create the visual aesthetic I wanted, in normal lighting they are much harder to see. These are sensors for the remote control and also for a cool feature called auto hide, where the display auto dims and leaves just the Cyrus logo illuminated for the super stealthy look, perfect for when the lights are dimmed. When you approach the unit movement is detected by the sensors and the screen auto comes back to life, but with a cool fade effect which is pretty cool stuff, the little details that make the difference to how lovely something is to live with.

Powerful

Now lets talk about the specs the 40 Amp can deliver 100 watts per channel into 6 ohms and its a Class A/B design, but I would rather Cyrus gave us an 8 ohm power figure. The built in DAC section is all new and its the same DAC that is used in all the 40 series products and its based around the latest ESS Sabre 9039 Q2M DAC chip with a fully custom board layout. There is a moving magnet phono stage built in based on the Cyrus classic phono stage. Cyrus say there is an improved amplifier power supply and the new chassis acts as an improved heat sink effect to better manage the thermals of the unit.

You can add an external power supply upgrade in the matching 40 PSU and I have two of them here for test and to review separately. So there is a huge amount of HiFi and a huge amount of potential packed into this still very small amplifier package that costs £3995. It made me think about how can we best leverage this for a super small but still very high performance HiFi system.

Small but mighty good

This is really easy in 2024 as we can take any of the WiiM streamers and feed a digital signal into the 40 amp and you have a great to use and listen to high performance digital HiFi system, just add speakers here and you are good.  I have the new WiiM Ultra here at the moment to review soon and as a pairing the sound was not perfect by any stretch but it massively exceeded my expectations. To clarify this was using the DAC in the 40 Amp not the DAC the WiiM as its not the same quality, but with the two connected together with a USB cable I was very happy with the sound I was getting. This was a great test for the DAC in the Cyrus and it elevated the very affordable WiiM digital source to massively punch above its price weight, with its strengths as a digital source masking its few weaker points.

The sound of this setup was a little bit light in the bass and a bit vague overall for my taste, but at the same time it sounded clean and easy going. The DAC in the Cyrus is a smoother sounding one, combined with the 40 amp that also has an easy going, slightly warmer sounding nature to it that delivers a good amount of oomph with the volume turned up enough. This pairing could deliver impressively dynamic sound with a very open and clear sound stage. This setup was a very easy listen that was delivery very enjoyable detailed, lively sound and I could see a lot of people being extremely happy with this setup given the small footprint, for the cost and modern features and look.

However I already knew the 40 AMP could do better than this, I had already worked out that the new Cyrus 40 CD pairs brilliantly with the 40 amp and the resulting sound is fantastically enjoyable and a significant step up from what the WiiM Ultra was offering as a digital source,  justified by the huge price difference. When you have more than one Cyrus 40 product together the new aesthetic starts to make much more sense, with units side by side or better still stacked they look better.  This is even even more true with the 40 ST music streamer that I also reviewed at the same time.

Sounds like

The first thing I noticed about the 40 Amps sound was how obviously more “ballsy” it sounded compared to what I was expecting. I remember my time with the i9-XR, the amp the 40 replaces, the i9-XR really benefited from the XR PSU upgrade to make it sound more authoritative and ballsy.  So it was surprising and great that the 40 Amp sounded more like that on its own with no extra PSU, that was impressive.  Its also a very clean sounding amplifier in the main with a touch of warmth and pleasing character for good measure, I know some will really like this. I used it mainly with the SVS Titan speakers which are quite a difficult load for an amplifier because they essentially have passive subwoofers built into them and I play music very loud at times so ask a lot of an amplifier.

I know driving these speakers as loud as I was for the long listening sessions I do for every review was a real test for the Cyrus, not so much because of the sound but but because how warm it got.  Cyrus told me the 40 Amp will not get hot and I think they are referring to how much power it can deliver in such a small form factor. It was getting pretty warm to the touch by the end of my taxing listening sessions where the amplifier was working very hard, but it did an excellent job of controlling the bigger bass from the Titan speakers, with very good control in the main but not so much where the bass became dry sounding.

The vocals in all music sounded particularly good and again I am thinking of the pairing with the 40 CD here. Vocals that sounded full and tonally warm and pleasing with a nice relaxed character. The treble has been smooth without being too soft, but to me it’s erring on the side of caution rather than trying to be exciting and that is ok, but I think will work better with some speakers and rooms and wont be for every taste.

The sound stage has been always very good from this amp and sometimes exceptionally good. The music’s timing is excellent and there must be a low noise floor to be able to create the sense of 3D sound it has been in my room with the right music.  I found I have enjoyed the 40 Amp slightly more at moderate to loud volume levels up to about -30 on the volume control. For crazy loud listening levels the composure of the music and the excellent timing get lost a little, showing the 40 Amp does have a ceiling limit to what it can do,  but whether you will ever hit that limit will depend on the room size and your choice of speakers of course.

Comparison

I did some extensive comparison listening with the new HiFi Rose 280 Class A/D integrated amplifier that costs about £1000 less but it doesn’t have a built in DAC so I see these as price comparable amplifiers. I used the CD 40 as the music source because why not and the HiFi Rose did what it does really well, give music great energy with excellent clarity, with a big sense of scale and occasion.  Compared to the Cyrus, it definitely highlighted the high frequencies more so the sound was a little brighter and that meant a little less warm in the middle regions of the sound, the vocals region.  Music from the Rose sounded more serious and impressive in ways but less smooth and pleasing and a little less easy to listen to, so these amplifiers are very different.

I like them both for different reasons, I cant ignore how the energetic music from the HiFi Rose made me feel more sprightly as the listener and the smoothness of the Cyrus amp is not as exciting, but I did find myself missing the Cyrus fullness and relaxed character which is quite telling. I think a part of this is the pairing of the 40 CD and the 40 Amp its really a very nice setup to listen to.

Final Thoughts

The built in phono stage I couldn’t test as I didn’t have the right cartridge setup for the MM only input, I am sorry about that. I don’t test headphone amps in HiFi gear for reasons I have spoken about before so I cannot comment on its quality either.

In summary, I have enjoyed my time with the 40 Amp a lot, especially using it with the CD 40.  That pairing is really cracking sounding for being just enjoyable to listen because of its really nicely balanced overall sound. Its a pairing I can very much recommend if you still spin the silver disc.

For streaming music I think the options for a digital source are ridiculously wide reaching in 2024 and I think the 40 AMP is worthy of a very good digital source to get the best results from it. I am sure Cyrus would recommend the 40ST that visually pairs up perfectly and these two certainly look great side by side..

For the 40 Amp, using it purely as an amplifier or even using its internal DAC I think so as long as your speakers are not ridiculously demanding and most mainstream speakers are not these days, the Cyrus sounds great across a very wide variety of music. I wouldn’t say its perfect or extra stand out in any one specific area but instead its very good across them all and I think that makes it a flexible amplifier choice that will be easy to pair with a variety of other components and speakers.  The fact that it looks great, has loads of inputs including HDMI EARC make it a very compelling option, especially if you want something smaller but even if you don’t.

An Essential Audition Award is granted in recognition of a products high performance but with a certain uniqueness that makes auditioning even more essential.

For the full specification of the 40 Amp see the Cyrus website linked here