All hi-fi fans know the unique Cyrus components with their iconic design – and many love it. But to celebrate the brand’s 40th birthday, the Brits have dared to pull off an ingenious design coup that may well last for the next 40 years. The Cyrus Series 40 consists of an amplifier (40 Amp), a streamer (40 Stream), a CD player (40 CD) and – how could it be otherwise with Cyrus – an additional power supply unit (40 PSU).
But first things first: When the Cyrus One was presented to the public in 1984, quite a few hi-fi fans turned up their noses. The amplifier was small, the housing was made of plastic, it had no bass, treble or balance control, the headphone output was at the back and it had very little power – 2x 25 W into 8 ohms. But it sounded incredibly good!
How did that happen? This is the NEWS section, so let’s keep it (relatively) short and sweet: the developer, Henry Azima, had paid particular attention to the quality of the components, especially the power supply, but cut back on the output power. In an interview with hi-fi journalist legend John Atkinson in 1987, Azima said: “The power supply is one of the most expensive parts of any amplifier. So, given the cost constraints, you have to learn to design the rest of the amplifier accordingly…
But apart from that, other aspects of the amplifier, especially the output power specification, play a major role. For the same power supply cost, you can build a 200 watt per channel amplifier that would be lousy, but a fantastic 20 watt amplifier. You have to weigh the sound quality against the power you actually want to deliver.”
Which brings us to the current Cyrus Series 40 amp. Wait a minute! The manufacturer has one more important message. Quote: “Please note that although we are currently celebrating our 40th anniversary as an audio brand, the 40 Series is NOT an anniversary product range. The 40 Series marks a new and exciting start for Cyrus as a long-established British audio manufacturer.” All right.
So what can the amp do? What does it bring to the table?
The amplifier: Cyrus 40 Amp
First of all, more power: Cyrus has written 2x 113 watts into 6 ohms in the data sheet – if the PSU helps. It could hardly be more English. The dimensions are modest as usual: With a height of 88 mm, the amp and its three siblings are only 22.0 cm wide, the depth is given as 38.5 cm. Nevertheless, there was still room for a 5-inch TFT touch display. The housing itself is made of black anodized aluminium. Inside, we find an ESS Sabre ES9039Q2M DAC and a built-in phono preamplifier, which is said to offer low residual noise and a high dynamic range. In general, the little one is impressive in terms of connectivity. Take a look at the picture gallery above.
The streamer: Cyrus 40 ST
Very practical: Cyrus has lifted the 40 ST into the cosmos of the BluOS HiRes streaming platform. This means that music can be streamed from the tiny device to any room in the home (BluOS-compatible speakers required). It goes without saying that the BluOS app also works with the Cyrus 40 ST, including its wide range of functions. The 40 ST is also equipped with an ESS Sabre ES9039Q2M DAC. It works with Spotify, Tidal and qobuz, and is also Roon ready. For some reason, it can also do MQA. Doesn’t matter. The resolution works up to 24 bit/192 kHz. It also works with WLAN and AirPlay2.
The CD player: Cyrus 40 CD
New CD players have become rare, so it’s all the better that the Cyrus 40 series is a complete package. The 40 CD is equipped with a so-called slot-in drive, which we know from notebooks or car radios. It has already been mentioned in the caption above, but it should be pointed out once again that the legend that slot-in drives scratch CDs is exactly that: A legend. In other words, there’s nothing to it. Because it was so nice, an ESS Sabre ES9039Q2M, you guessed it, is also installed in the 40 CD. Why, you ask? Well, it could be that you want to take the little one away from the usual quartet. In this rare case, the 40 CD also plays on an external amplifier.
The power supply unit: Cyrus 40 PSU
Last but not least, but especially important, the Cyrus 40 PSU. If we follow Henry Azima’s reasoning, the PSU is indispensable, even if the components would work on their own. It would be sacrilege. Unfortunately, we didn’t have a photo of the inner workings of the PSU, which is a bit of a shame. However, the weight alone promises that the components used have not been spared: 9.4 kg.

So we can only quote the press release: The 40 PSU has five independent power supplies. All five power outputs are routed to a connected 40 Series product via a multi-core connection cable. The Cyrus PSU has two fixed-voltage power supplies for sensitive, low-voltage analog circuits. There are also two variable high-capacity power supplies for supplying analog circuits with low or high current consumption. The variable power supplies also have two unregulated voltage settings that can be used to boost the power supply in current-intensive circuits such as power amplifiers.
As I said, it’s a shame we couldn’t take a look inside. Coming soon.
Cyrus Series 40: Availability and prices
The Cyrus Series 40 will be available from November 2024. Further information is available from the German distributor: www.tad-audiovertrieb.de
- Cyrus 40 AMP: 4,795 euros
- Cyrus 40 CD: 3,595 euros
- Cyrus 40 ST: 3,595 euros
- Cyrus 40 PSU: 2,995 euros
For the first time, the Cyrus Series 40 will be presented in its entirety at the HiFi Days Darmstadt on show…