Cyrus CD XT SE2/Cyrus PSxR

I felt compelled to post this item because of my previous "negative" posts regarding my poor experience with my Cyrus CD XT se.

I've had the SE2 for a few weeks now - this was a "free replacement" for my previous SE which just skipped and hopped and generally pissed me off. I say free, it wasn't actually free it was the thick end of £600 but that was originally the quote to upgrade my old unit to SE2 spec but Mr Cyrus doubtless fed up of my whinging and whining gave me a sponfire new unit ;)

I will stick my neck out and come straight to the point - the CD XT SE2/PSxR is absolutely brilliant. Yes, it digs a bit more data off the disc than the SE, there is definitely more low level information to hear but it's what it does with the data that stuns. On fast driving tracks (Otis Taylor - Ten Million Slaves) it's like being repeatedly punched in the gut, bass is relentless, low, powerful, tactile, but, and here's the clever bit it doesn't drown and swamp the rest of the presentation, everything is in it's rightful place. And that is oft way out beyond the speakers - the soundstage is immense. Yet, on softer, quieter pieces (Einaudi - Nightbook) it has a delicacy and finesse - you can "see" him stroking the ivory keys (easier for me as I've seen him perform this piece live).

There is an emotion and energy to the music that was just not there on the previous unit - nothing else has changed in my (digital) system - (yet ;) )

In terms of reliability, clearly very early days but so far not one hop, skip or jump nor any eject issues either.

Clearly, this is not a cheap CD player, especially when you add in your chosen DAC your going to be nudging £2K but if that's the market your in then you will not be disappointed.

There - honour satisfied :)

Steve

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Originally Posted by worrasf

Clearly, this is not a cheap CD player, especially when you add in your chosen DAC your going to be nudging £2K but if that's the market your in then you will not be disappointed.

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I use a Denon DCD-700AE with a Bushmaster. Total cost about £400. It would be interesting to compare my Denon against your Cyrus. The DCD-700AE is a sleeper as far as I am concerned.

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Originally Posted by StanleyB

I use a Denon DCD-700AE with a Bushmaster. Total cost about £400. It would be interesting to compare my Denon against your Cyrus. The DCD-700AE is a sleeper as far as I am concerned.

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Indeed it would Stan. I blanch at £2K to spin a CD (in my defence it was funded by buying and selling over the years) and I'm not 'sold" on the idea that kit has to be expensive to be good - plenty of bona fide "giant killers" out there - in fact I reckon I own a fair few ;)

Looking forward to hearing how the BM sounds with the Cyrus - think I'll put it on "repeat" overnight before listening seriously.

Steve

Hi Stephen
I'm desperately searching for a musically satisfying CD-player!
Interested in the NuForce-modified Oppo players I found a review of the Oppo:

-Digital vs. Analogue Audio Performance

-I am one of those dinosaurs who do not find CDs particularly agreeable. They are, pretty much across the board, a less involving medium than LPs, for all of the older medium’s foibles. I have a small library of CDs. I don’t take them seriously as music, but they come in handy. The only CD player I’ve heard that made music and gave the LP a run for its money cost $150,000 - and worth every penny of it. It’s called “The Fifth Element” - probably because in both performance and cost, it’s astronomical, perhaps even godlike.

and another section of the review:
-I might add, in the interest of full disclosure that none of us felt that the BDP-95 actually made music that could be seriously enjoyed for the length of a disc, unlike the CDT-Two/II / DAC3, which at least kept a couple of our panelists interested for as long. But keep in mind we are an extremely difficult audience that do not represent the general public who would, we believe, be perfectly happy with the BDP-95, even if hours earlier they could be found to be listening to MP3 without embarrassment.

Unfortunately that is also the way I feel everytime I listen to CD. The only player which made me buying more and more CD's (and of course listening to them) was a Naim CDX which died years ago and was replaced by a CDX2 (much worse) and afterwards by a Philips CD104 modified to NOS and filterless status by Roman Gross (much better but than the CDX2 but still no cigar!)
No from your descpription thr Cyrus into a Metrum NOS mini dac could be the solution!
Is the Cyrus really that good?

Michael

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Originally Posted by krugdoktor

Is the Cyrus really that good?

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Hi Michael,
Like you CD is my "second choice" source and I continue to prefer my vinyl analogue - there is an intangible quality (gain sayers call it distortion) that I find more musical but at the end of the day it's down to personal preference.
All I can say is that the CDXT SE2/PSxR/REGA DAC combination brings a similar smile to my face that my vinyl system does and no other digital source I've owned has done that.
If you can get to demo one then it's well worth taking a half day out to listen and see if you agree.

Steve

Hi

I'm re-opening this discussion as I'm seriously thinking about investing in a used CDXT SE2 to partner my Rega Dac-R.
I'm currently using a Rotel RCD965BX cd player for transport duties but suspect I'm not really getting the best out of the Rega.
Can you confirm that the Cyrus transport has been a reliable performer etc?

i have one of those rotels too , i had to replace my cyrus /psxr which was brilliant with a marantz sa8005 which is probably as good . it would not play discs and very sad to say it is not reliable . if you find one to buy you have to check with the owner that that model has been reliable as unfortunately it is their achilles heel