Cyrus CDt-XR CD Transport
Cyrus has nearly four decades of experience crafting award-winning products, designed and assembled entirely in-house at Cyrus in the UK. From the start, Cyrus’s mission has been to infuse the latest in technology with superb engineering to create ‘emotional’ musical experiences.
A fundamental step change in design approach for XR series has been possible due to an accumulated understanding of DAC technologies and power supply designs, combined with Cyrus’s recently updated manufacturing processes and the availability of higher-grade components. XR series, whilst faithful to the Cyrus core acoustic philosophy, provides remarkable sound quality benefits and substantially increased dynamic range, allowing every layer and nuance of the music to shine through. Indeed, the clarity and detail of the XR series will keep the listener wanting to go back and listen to tracks heard a thousand times before.
One of the driving principles behind the design of the XR series has been noise reduction. Tremendous efforts were made to protect and isolate the signal path from potential sources of noise. Another significant area of focus was power supply design. Using only the best components, XR delivers outstandingly high quality and reliable power to every bit of the circuitry to ensure optimal performance.
The CDt-XR is designed as a reference CD transport, building on the legacy of the CDt and the CD XT Signature models, but incorporating many novel technologies developed in-house at Cyrus over recent years. Housed within the iconic half-width chassis, The CDt-XR sits above the existing CDi and CDt models, offering a substantive performance upgrade. Listeners will notice a dramatic lowering of the noise floor, bringing enhanced clarity and nuanced detail, brought about through significant design improvements in many areas, yet the characteristic ‘Cyrus-sound’ has been retained.
Several years ago, Cyrus invested heavily in developing their own in-house CD ‘Servo’ mechanism, called ‘Servo Evolution’. The design principle is to read as much information as possible from the disc itself first time, rather than having to rely on ‘re-reads’ or ‘error-correction’.
Whilst it is true that the data on a CD is stored in ‘1s and 0s’, the way it is read, picking up different frequencies of reflected light, has analogue elements to it. Therefore, precision engineering can improve performance. Off-the-shelf mechanisms produce significant ‘system noise’ when the stepper motors of the mechanism are required to be used during the error correction processes when the data was not picked up on the first pass. The ‘Servo-Evolution’ system reduces these re-reads and corrections by around 20%, producing not only a cleaner data stream but significantly less noise.
The CDt-XR, like all products in the XR series, has had a complete overhaul of the power supplies to each circuit section. The power supplies are much stiffer and have enabled the Cyrus engineers to the get the remarkable SE engine to run even more quietly.
Upgraded components along with intelligently designed circuits using ‘counter-current’ methodologies to reduce noise pickup are in evidence throughout the design. The fundamental principle is that power starts at the ‘quietest’ part of the circuit, before flowing towards the ‘noiser’ sections. Less noise is therefore ‘carried’ or induced into the power paths, limiting the transmission of noise inside the product. Whilst this sounds logical, the application in practice is incredibly complex, and needs to be considered at a system-wide level. Even the geometric alignment of individual components has been optimized to facilitate the cleanest possible flow of power and musical signal.
A key improvement in the CDt-XR is the re-clocking of the digital signal just before it exits the case. Although noise and timing accuracy are both carefully managed throughout the circuit, this final re-clocking ensures the absolute purity of the outbound digital signal through both the optical and coaxial connections.
It’s worth noting that whilst an integrated CD player offers exceptional value and, although the CDi-XR is as close to ideal as technology reasonably allows, the presence of a DAC circuit in the same case, means the sound can never be as ‘absolutely’ clean as that from a dedicated transport. That, coupled with the fact that the integrated and pre-amplifiers in the XR series, all have pristine on-board Gen 2 QXR DACs, means the CDt-XR is, when used with a complete Cyrus system, the ultimate choice.
Naturally, the XR series also features a new aesthetic. All products in the new XR series are wrapped in a new "Phantom Black" paint finish, introduced especially for the XR series. If you’re worried that they won’t coordinate with your existing Cyrus products, don’t fret. The colour is sympathetic to both the existing core and signature range.
The XR series user interface is also new, incorporating capacitive touch buttons with satisfying audible feedback. The new UI also features a high resolution LCD screen.
Digital CD transport
Servo Evolution technology
Optical and coaxial outputs
PSU-XR upgrade port
User upgradable firmware
iR14 Remote control included
Dimensions (H x W x D) – 73 x 215 x 360 mm
Weight – 3.7kg