What Hifi is an absolute joke! The worst audio rag by a wide margin.
Why do Cyrus get such praise from What HiFi???
I had a complete Cyrus system, well amp and cd player and the special PSU units for both. The cd player packed in after a few months. The trouble with them was that because the player played therm at a lower speed, (apparently to get the most info off the disc without resorting to error correction), they were very poor at reading less than pristine cds, or in some cases, cds!
I actually had to send the unit back 6 times, along the way getting a brand new unit. To no avail. The cruncher was when the little standby button on the front vanished into the case. The cost for repair? £250!! This was despite the fact that the unit had only recently returned from Cyrus after yet another repair. The reason Cyrus gave was that the front of the unit with the buttons on was one piece, but also that all repairs are £250 regardless, to keep it fair!!! So £250 for a plastic button. I was so offended by Cyrus products that I refused to pay and they told me I had to pay return postage to the dealer, I told them to keep it...boy that felt good.
Later my top of the range Cyrus amp got hot and decided commit suicide. Due to the design using a shoebox shape, the output transistor had given up the ghost. It went back for repair. A few weeks later once again the amp turned off, blazing hot to the touch. The heat this time just triggered the overtemp sensor and poof. I hadn't even been pushing it that hard.
Result, sell the lot, I won't have Cyrus in the house again. Their customer service was snooty and the products fall well short of what I expect at that price. SO, why do What HiFi constantly praise them without mentioning their abysmal reliability? The dealers I have spoken to confirm that they have a "frightening" number of Cyrus products back that have failed
I actually had to send the unit back 6 times, along the way getting a brand new unit. To no avail. The cruncher was when the little standby button on the front vanished into the case. The cost for repair? £250!! This was despite the fact that the unit had only recently returned from Cyrus after yet another repair. The reason Cyrus gave was that the front of the unit with the buttons on was one piece, but also that all repairs are £250 regardless, to keep it fair!!! So £250 for a plastic button. I was so offended by Cyrus products that I refused to pay and they told me I had to pay return postage to the dealer, I told them to keep it...boy that felt good.
Later my top of the range Cyrus amp got hot and decided commit suicide. Due to the design using a shoebox shape, the output transistor had given up the ghost. It went back for repair. A few weeks later once again the amp turned off, blazing hot to the touch. The heat this time just triggered the overtemp sensor and poof. I hadn't even been pushing it that hard.
Result, sell the lot, I won't have Cyrus in the house again. Their customer service was snooty and the products fall well short of what I expect at that price. SO, why do What HiFi constantly praise them without mentioning their abysmal reliability? The dealers I have spoken to confirm that they have a "frightening" number of Cyrus products back that have failed
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One issue with Reviews is the financial relationship between the advertisers and the content producers. Another is the long term reliability product issue. If a reviewer has the product for two weeks and there is a high failure rate after 3 months you will never know this from a review. |
I think Audio reviews, adivice from friends, should be taken as a guidance rather than dogma. And the more adivce one can get,the more well rounded opinions and or experiences one can get to make your final decision. Also, Try to read between the lines. Is the opinion coming from a sellers point of view? Read and reread the sentences and each individual word. trying to scrutinize the whole sentence. |
I must day -I have better luck with Cyrus gear. I have Signature phonostage with outboard psu and found it very very good- in line with what hifi findings. I have CDt as well - and it's exceptional fom sound quality point of view. Better than Ikemi and Jays Audio I had as transport. Yes-it's less tolerant to bad disks but this is feature-not bug. It's the reason for better sound. Just do the copy of defective disk and no problems. |
Every bit of Cyrus gear I have ever had the unfortunate experience of owning - minus the psx r power supplies - has failed. Theres also a worrying correlation - in my experience - with the more high end stuff having the worst reliability issues. Last to fail was the CDi last week - apparantly their flagship cd player. Not much use if it cant play discs and skps around non stop that my linn classik reads perfectly.
I dont think ill bother informing cyrus, as after my 8vs2 failed for reasons unkown last month I got no advice, help, or offer of anything. Least of all an apology. Just a verging on rude email from a chap in an office. I definitely think theres something fishy going on regarding their close connection with what hifi |
hey I opened an account to respond to this, my first post here... I brought a Cyrus 7 second hand amp in 2003 while living in England, and a Cyrus DVD second hand as well. Also got a second hand FM tuner 7.5 and run them daily In about 20 years of hard use my only problem has been one of the inputs is now crackly, no problem, just moved those cables to another input Sound is amazing, running through some Celestion A1's that I also brought around 2003 and took back to Australia with me. Maybe I have been lucky, judging by the other comments in this thread. But I have been so happy with it, I have had some pretty good surround systems during this time, high end Denon's and Yamaha's but normally just switch it over to the Cyrus/Celestion combo which has no problem shaking the room if needed. |
Thanks RVPIANO. For the reassurance. I did have a worry. I bought a second hand CD and it did not come back out. The CDT unit was ex display and had run out of Warranty so after a phone call and before it going back to Cyrus... 300qd... I got the disk out with some tweezers. Other disks were OK. I cleaned the CD very well and it still stuck but after a few goes it was OK and has been so since. There may be a difference between cleaning a disk and mega cleaning a disk??? |
I hope that I've not bought another dud. Iv'e just ordered a CDt to replace my dud CD XT that I bought in 2008. Before a year was out it was failing to play some disks and I should have sent it back but I was poorly (ill) for a while so left it. I stopped using it because I had to warm it up with a playable CD first by which time I had gone off the idea. So there is sat. One day I sent it back for repair, £300. It came back virtually no better and within 2 months it was not playing disks again, well only 1 in 6. Off it went again. Bought 2 new CD - no play. But it worked with my favourites. So after another 4 months when I only played it once, It's acting up again. This unit is a "Friday After-nooner" It an old unit but in terms of playing, it's hardly been used. I was not impressed by Cyrus at all during the returning/repair period. Although the dealer Meadow Gate Acoustics were very much on my side. Seems it's not just me after all! |
I owned two pieces of Cyrus gear in the mid-90's. The integrated amp was pretty nice. Sounded really good. I liked it so much I decided to buy their CD Player (CD-1?). The CD player was a POS. The mechanism was very finicky and it would not reliably read CDs. I sent the first one back and got a replacement, but not long after that the replacement started having the same problems. These were the first high end components I ever bought. Luckily I moved on and now enjoy other components that bring me joy without the trouble. |
Just to support the previous comments on poor CDt reliability and bad service from Cyrus. For assorted reasons, I ended up with 2 of these units. The first one stopped working just outside the warranty period. PSU packed up. A very unsympathetic response to my complaint. Clearly they’re used to them. The second unit is wholly unreliable and unpredictable whether it reads a CD. About to scrap it. BUT transports are difficult to find, so I’ll press on with the repaired first unit. I long ago sold all my previous set up, power amps, external PSU’s etc. Like other contributors, I’d never buy another piece of Cyrus kit. Yes, how do they get those good reviews?!!! |
I'd keep using the Sony and add a jitter-reduction device between the Sony and DAC. This basically makes the transport a non issue, so when the Sony eventually dies you can just buy another cheap DVD player and you're good to go. Here is the one I'd buy.. https://www.empiricalaudio.com/products/off-ramp-converter With some of the money you'll have left over, I'd upgrade your digital cable as it does make a meaningful difference. FWIW, and best of luck. |
Hello everyone, I have been surfing Audiogon for a few months; finally decided to sign-on. I'm really glad that I read this topic regarding Cyrus. I was just about to order a Cyrus CDt from Kemela; because from what I've read on other forums; they're really top notch. Now, it seems a veil was lifted to reality. Can I get all of your inputs on recommendations on a new CD transport? I know this might be an old subject; if you don't mind, I would be grateful. I currently have a Schiit Gungnir multi-bit DAC being fed by an old, but pristine Sony DVD player; using a digital coaxial cable from Blue Jeans. The DAC is feeding a HK 3770. I'm looking to get a CD transport in the very near future. I researched Cambridge CXC (heard of reliability issues as of late). My budget is $2100 max. What do you all like for that money? Sound quality and reliability are paramount. Asthetics are nice, but not that important. Thank you for your time! |
Looks like they are willfully blind to and patently ignoring the wave of reliability issues with CYRUS, that are well-known . CYRUS has a huge base in the UK .They used to be built like a tank .... apparently not so anymore Scope out the UK audio forum for the actual UK consumer takes on the common product failings http://pinkfishmedia.net/forum/forums/audio.5/ Here is a pair of samples: "webster said: ↑ The Cyrus cdt appears to be highly thought of but there seems to be quite a few horror stories regarding reliability in general with Cyrus cd players and it is of course nearly 3 times the price of the CXC. From the limited research I’ve done there doesn’t appear to be any direct competition at a similar price point. I’ve had a few Cyrus CD players. Lovely sound but dogged with issues. I’ve had so many failures with Cyrus stuff I’d never buy any of their products again...." |
