Intro
Contents
British company Cyrus Audio is known as a brand that does not launch new products very often. A company that continues to develop products in a very professional manner and only releases new devices on the market when they are significantly better than their predecessors. We take a look at the Cyrus Classic Stream.
Cyrus recently released their new XR series, a series that marked a break with the past. You can read our review of the I7-XR here.
Cyrus continues to invest in their Classic series and now provides a streamer in that series for the first time. This allows fans of the first hour, (the Classic series has been around for 30 years now), to seamlessly integrate a streamer into their system. It may be an inconspicuous box on the outside but as the expression goes: real beauty is on the inside. Let’s check it out!
Construction and appearance
The black cabinets in the Classic line look particularly austere. And the Classic Stream especially so. The cooling fins and logo bring a little playfulness, but it’s never going to be a real eye-catcher. There is no screen, no lights and almost no buttons.
The Classic series follows the principle of “Form Follows Function. So no crazy stuff. But solidly built enclosures that have proven their worth for decades. The Classic Stream is currently the most budget-friendly streamer in the range. And for the record. It is a streamer with a dac; so it’s not a streaming bridge. Unfortunately, you cannot use the built-in dac to connect other sources such as a CD transport.Â
There is quite a bit of technology from the more expensive XR series inside the Cyrus Classic Stream. For starters, there is the BluOS operating system. This software is among the best on the market and works extremely intuitively and is very stable.
With the new 4.0 update, everything works fast and without delay. The high ease of use of this app ensures that you can navigate without problems and master a lot of applications quickly. You can do an awful lot in the app and we love the fact that this app is now available to third parties.
Cyrus QXR
Up front, except for the power button, there is little to see so we immediately move on to the back. There, on the left, we see the Cyrus signature MC-BUS jack that allows you to connect several devices. Immediately next to it is the analog RCA output. Digitally, you can choose from USB, ethernet or wifi. The coaxial and optical connections are outputs for people than want to do an upgrade on the dac. That’s fine, but we still miss AES, BNC or I2S. A lot of modern streamers now offer these.
Below the USB connection is the Ethernet connection and below that the 5-pin opening for the separate power supply. In true Cyrus fashion you can off course upgrade the Classic Stream.
Under the hood is their tried and tested QXR dac. A proprietary implementation and filtering of the ESS 9038Q2M Sabre chip. The Classic Stream possesses the first generation of this dac, the Stream XR the second. There has to be a difference, of course. The dac plays lossless up to 24bit/192kHz. There is full MQA deployment, AirPlay 2 and, as mentioned, the ability to connect a PSX-R2 power supply.
Hello Rems,
I lived with the Frerot for almost a year and from what i remember the sound is very different. More easy going. You can read my review about the Frerot on our site.
Best regards
Geoffrey
How does it compare in term of sound with merason frérot ?