Cyrus XR Full System Review with PSU-XR External Power Supply

I’ve reviewed the i9-XR integrated amp and found it to be excellent. Likewise, I’ve reviewed the CDt-XR CD transport and also found it sonically of the highest quality. You can read those reviews here at Secrets of Home Theater and High Fidelity.

To add to the mix, we have an external power supply from Cyrus, the PSU-XR. It can only be used with Cyrus XR line components.

The Cyrus PSU-XR power supply upgrade

Here’s the background on the PSU-XR power supply upgrade. It’s quite unique among offerings for audiophiles. Cyrus recognizes that often the weak link in any component can be the power supply. This would be especially true, I think, in amplifiers that need to sometimes call up a good deal of power for music with wide dynamic range or deep bass.

Cyrus feels the solution is an add-on power supply, and that’s what the PSU-XR is. According to the company, there are five independent power supplies in the PSU-XR. All five power outputs route to a connected XR component through a multi-way umbilical cable, which is provided with the PSU-XR.

Cyrus says the power supplies on the chassis include:

“A high-capacity logic supply to power digital circuitry in a connected XR component.
Two fixed voltage power supplies that are intended for power sensitive, low voltage analog circuitry.”

Finally, the company adds that there are “2 variable voltage high-capacity power supplies to feed power to low or high consumption analog circuitry. The variable power supplies also have two unregulated voltage settings that can be applied to boost the power supply in high consumption circuitry such as power amplifiers.”

In addition, to keep the noise down, the PSU-XR has, says Cyrus “fifteen separate transformer windings, ground isolated regulation circuitry and separate output power and ground returns in the umbilical cable minimize electrical noise in the multiple power feeds to a connected XR component.”

Theoretically, all these features should contribute to a very low noise, strain-free power supply. The PSU-XR can be used on either the Cyrus CD player I have under test or the integrated amplifier. I chose the amplifier as I reasoned PSU-XR would be of the most help to the amplifier. When integrated amplifiers are criticized, it’s usually due to their weaker power supplies when compared to separate amps and pre-amps.

I’ve gone over the features of the PSU-XR above. It’s basically a black box with a power cord and the special connector cable that lets it interact with other Cyrus products. There is also a port for a firmware update. This port exists on all Cyrus products in the XR series.

The PSU-XR comes packed identically to the other Cyrus products I was sent. It’s in a sturdy box, and inside is the power supply with sturdy foam end-pieces to protect it in shipping. Inside the box with the power supply is a smaller box with a manual, a power cord, and a firmware update cable.

To get things started I provided the PSU-XR with power and connected the special data cable between the power supply and the Cyrus i9-XR integrated amp.

That’s when the fun began. The power light indicated a firmware update was needed on the i9-XR integrated amplifier so it could work with the power supply. Joy. The firmware updates from Cyrus are not for the faint-hearted. You can do it from a PC or a Mac. Cyrus provides a USB cable to connect to your computer. The other end of the cable matches a port on the back of the external power supply or the integrated amp.

You download the new firmware after deleting the old firmware. Then you install the new firmware. The instructions are quite good, but not everyone wants to be replacing the firmware.

I followed the instructions, which involved using terminal commands on the Mac, and somehow the firmware updated and the PSU-XR lights now showed I had accomplished my goal. But it is easy to make a syntax mistake typing commands. This is a less-than-ideal upgrade method.

I checked the firmware on the i9-XR to confirm the process was successful, and happily, it was.

I think Cyrus would do well to write some loader software for this process that more easily guide a user through the update. There are a lot of ways firmware updates can go wrong, leaving the buyer with a very expensive paperweight. Or perhaps the dealers can do it for those of us less adventurous. The current method is not user-friendly. I would deem it user-hostile.
Even better, make the Cyrus components internet capable. That’s how most components work these days. The components could monitor the internet for updates, and ask if you’d like to get the new software. You click yes and it’s done.

Listening Tests

The first step was to connect the components. Since the PSU-XR works with either Cyrus component, I decided to use it exclusively with the integrated amp, where I thought it would be the most effective, as with integrated amplifiers, the weakest point is the power supply. The PSU-XR, I reasoned, should add some heft to the sound at higher volumes

I would say the technology does work, and for those inclined, it erases any technical shortcoming of the integrated amp that shares a power supply between the amp and pre-amp. Of course, the PSU-XR is still a single power supply, but it’s designed to work with this integrated amp and provides a lot more current. It’s on its own chassis, and all it has to do is be a power supply.

I listened to a few more wide-dynamic range discs and heard the same effect. The power supply did help, especially when there was deep bass with high playback levels.

I think the PSU-XR has the weakest purchase case of the three components. That’s not to say it’s bad, it isn’t. But the benefits it brings are going to be more subtle than the excellent i9-XR integrated amp and the first in its class CD player, the CDt-XR.

Yes, the PSU-XR can provide some additional heft when listening at high volumes to challenging material. Will the regular listener, even one already spending almost $8000 for the integrated amp and CD combination really hear a difference? I’m not really sure. I had to push the equipment to hear a benefit. That’s the nature of the high-end to get the very finest reproduction available, without compromise.

Summing up the whole Cyrus system

This has been a challenging review to write. I heard the integrated amp being fed by my own analog and digital sources. I then played the CD player through 3 of my home systems without the Cyrus integrated amp. I got a feel for what the two components brought to the musical experience.

For a finale, I re-assembled the Cyrus gear into a single system: integrated amp, CD player, and power supply. I did some extended listening to the combination and found that on most material the equipment’s strengths complimented each other. Listening to 3 different sets of speakers, I thought that the Cyrus system outperformed my pre-amps, amplifiers, and disc players. The differences were still subtle, but I felt I was getting closer to the music. And I should note that 2 of my systems (amps, pre-amps, CD player) were more expensive than the Cyrus components.

The biggest contribution I am certain came from the CDt-XR. I was hearing details on my silver discs that were eluding me in my home setup. The placement of instruments, more cues from the recording venue, greater definition of the individual instruments, a realism in recorded solo voices.

As good as the system is, I want to summarize the issues that remain. Cyrus should offer North American standard speaker connections. I understand this is an English Company, and our style of banana plugs isn’t approved for use over there, but this is ‘here’ not ‘there’, so if you want to sell in the U.S., accommodate our connections with the proper connectors. Adaptors can fail, so that’s not a great solution.

Installing firmware and typing terminal commands is the last thing I expected to do for an audio review. It worked out fine, but many people buying this gear aren’t going to be happy getting this much into the technical weeds. I’ll say again, equipment this sophisticated would do well to have wireless or wired internet capability, which would make updates a breeze.

In summary, these 3 Cyrus XR components are state-of-the-art in terms of sound. Cyrus gets a lot of the little details about how things should sound just right. It was a challenge and a pleasure to audition these components, and they set the bar for sound quality that will be difficult for others to surpass.