Cyrus 40 CD review

Cyrus Audio’s 40 Series of products has been a rebirth for the brand. The 40-year-old British brand’s 40 ST streamer and 40 AMP integrated amplifier have impressed us hugely with their immensely capable and entertaining performance for the money, all while retaining core hallmarks of Cyrus’ identity with a fresh outlook on design, too.

Can the Cyrus 40 CD player continue this run of success? You can already see from the star rating that it has, but, like its siblings, it’s not without some quirks.

Design & build

It will surprise no one that the Cyrus 40 CD follows the same design blueprint – and footprint – as its 40 ST and 40 AMP stablemates. The classic half-width chassis design that identifies a Cyrus product has been refreshed and modernised successfully. The brushed anodised aluminium body and glass front panel are made of a high quality and exude a premium quality feel befitting its price tag.

It feels reassuringly hefty, while the crisp text display with basic touchscreen controls is sleek and effective. The track information is easy to read from a distance, although you’ll have to get up close to read the smaller menu items.

In comparison, our trusty old Cyrus CDi – with the grey metal chassis and green display – looks positively Jurassic. But it’s not hard to see the familial link between the two, which we think is a terrific job done by Cyrus’ designers.

The innards of the 40 CD spinner have been designed to achieve the “highest possible performance”. The digital circuitry is based on a 32-bit ESS Sabre ES9039Q2M chip and HyperStream IV Dual DAC technology. Cyrus says that every component has been chosen carefully, while the circuit board layout has been optimised by the engineering team during the tuning of the DAC to deliver the best sound from this CD player.

As with the streamer and amplifier, there are eight digital filters available in the player’s menu. The differences between them are quite subtle, but it’s worth auditioning them to see which suits your tastes and partnering system the best. We find that the Minimum Phase or Linear Phase filter options (in Slow Roll-Off modes) are most to our liking during our testing, as they sound most natural with our reference system.

The digital and analogue stages also have dedicated power supply stages to minimise any unwanted interferences between the audio signals, different stages and system controls. Additionally, nine individual stage regulators further distribute power evenly within the 40 CD according to the demands of the player.

As with all other 40 Series products, you can add on the 40 PSU outboard power supply (which costs an additional £2495 / $3495 / AU$4499) as a performance upgrade path for the 40 CD. This offers an even cleaner power supply to the CD player, as well as offering dedicated power to the master clock and analogue section of the DAC.

Features & use

Cyrus CD players tend to be fairly light on frills and features, and we find it’s the same with the 40 CD. There are two RCA line level analogue outputs, and one digital optical and one coaxial output apiece. That’s it for connections.

There are USB-A and RJ45 Ethernet ports on the rear panel, but these are reserved for firmware updates only, not for audio playback.

The 40 CD plays CDs only – there’s no playback support for SACDs. At this price level, the excellent TEAC VRDS-701 (£2499 / $3799) offers digital inputs, support for DSD files and full MQA decoding, and even a headphone jack (but still no SACD playback).

Bucking the trend of many modern CD players, there isn’t even a USB input for hi-res media playback, and you won’t find any Bluetooth here either. We don’t find this to be a problem at this premium level however, as previous five-star Cyrus CD players and CD transports we’ve reviewed have also stuck with this pared-down, no-frills approach, keeping CD playback performance as the main focus.

The controls on the 40 CD are fairly simple in use: you can tap on the Cyrus logo to turn the unit on or off (a clever touch), while there are touch buttons for play/pause, skip forward or go back a track, and stop/eject.

There are times when we have to tap on the touchscreen icons twice to make the action stick, especially the play/pause button, which is a tad temperamental on our sample. We prefer using the included slimline remote control, which is functional and responsive, and makes using the CD 40 a breeze.

One feature that’s been removed is the repeat function. Cyrus says this was a result of streamlining the product and the remote control in particular. We find it a little odd that such an innocuous feature has been taken off, as we can imagine it’s one you might not think is necessary until you really need it. Of course, it’s no trouble at all to simply press play again if you want to hear an album from the very beginning, but it was always nice to have the option.

Sound

Once we start spinning CDs, however, we stop caring about any missed features and simply enjoy the Cyrus’ performance. Plugged into our reference system of the Burmester 088/911MkIII amplifier and ATC SCM50 speakers, the Cyrus 40 CD delivers an assured and capable performance that’s impossible not to like.

Cyrus’ long-running CDi is one of our favourite CD players – it’s won a What Hi-Fi? Award for over 10 years running and is one of our reference sources in our test room. The new 40 CD is a step up in price, but it is a clear step up in performance in every single way.

The level of detail, clarity, stability and rhythmic precision here is fantastic, but Cyrus delivers it all with such ease that it’s at first hard to pinpoint exactly just how tremendously talented this CD player is.

We spin Norah Jones’ Feels Like Home album, and the sweet soulfulness of her voice on Sunrise, along with the delicate nuances and tones, is delivered with stunning detail and clarity. There is a naturalness and immediacy to her singing that grips you right from the start, with the leading edges of notes stopping and starting with precision as well. It’s a mature presentation where every note has its purpose and place, and instruments have body and texture.

Dynamically, it’s terrific. Quiet moments are contemplative and grab your attention with their emotional pull, just as much as the bigger crescendos thrill. We switch gears to Kendrick Lamar’s Humble and are met with an infectious sense of rhythm and sheer energy that drives the song. There’s punch and excitement and solidity to it all; a shapely, taut, grippy bassline keeps things moving at a snappy pace, while the top end has attack and bite without ever being wince-sharp.

Gershwin’s Rhapsody In Blue shows off the Cyrus 40 CD’s merits to the full. Here, Cyrus’s trademark agility and precision are put on full display, with the CD player marshalling the piece’s varying rhythmic patterns and dynamic swings with composure and verve. The piano playing is speedy, nimble, fluid and full of propulsive momentum; it sounds playful and characterful, while also revealing layers of texture and harmonies around every firm note.

The full spread of the orchestra is given ample space to flourish, and every instrument is placed precisely in a wide, open soundstage. We are swept up in the effusive, triumphant mood of the piece, having as much fun as Gershwin is having. It’s a compelling listen.

What’s admirable about the Cyrus 40 CD is that it gives every element equal billing; no frequency stands out more than the other; the agility and precision aren’t at the expense of emotion, depth or stability. It’s a sound you simply enjoy listening to rather than analysing, which is always a good sign in a hi-fi product.

The iconic bass notes in the opening to Led Zeppelin’s Dazed And Confused are resoundingly deep, solid and tactile, before Robert Plant’s wail cuts through like a knife. Stereo imaging is wonderfully stable and expansive, too. The drum patterns have a clear rhythmic structure, and the way it pans from right to left speaker is handled with utter precision and subtlety by the Cyrus.

It takes the textured electric guitar in Whole Lotta Love and balances it neatly against the more meaty, powerful drums, while even the woozy theremin elements in the song have more texture and viscera to them than we normally hear from such an ephemeral instrument.

Add the 40 PSU power supply and the CD 40 sounds more muscular, powerful and grounded than on its own. There is a greater sense of space and authority to the overall presentation, while the bass notes hit with deeper, stronger impact – it’s a much quieter noise floor, too. Gershwin’s orchestra has even more presence and the dynamic shifts are more dramatic and exciting.

While none of this comes at the expense of the 40 CD’s detail or precision levels, it does mean some of the Cyrus’s natural agility and fluidity that we like so much isn’t quite the main focus anymore.

Verdict

The Cyrus 40 CD is another confident and hugely capable product from the brand’s newest and premium range. It’s not without its quirks – some might want more features at this level and the touch controls could be more polished – but there are no doubts at all when it comes to its sonic ability.

It’s not a showy sound, but the way it handles every element of music with such precision, poise, subtlety and control is impressive. Simply put, this is a brilliantly engaging premium CD player to listen to. Pair it with an appropriately talented system, spin any CD in your collection, and we think you’ll have a terrific time.

First reviewed: April 2025

SCORES

• Sound 5
• Build 5
• Features 3

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Read our review of the TEAC VRDS-701

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