Cyrus is the latest to launch streaming music products: Andrew Everard checks out its all-in-one unit

Visit any hi-fi show, and you'll be left in no doubt the audio landscape is changing. While some exhibits are still sourcing music from CD, more are playing their demonstration tracks from computers or network storage devices, and tablet computers are in control of many rooms.

Computer-stored music isn’t the future of home audio: it’s the here and now, and just about every company is embracing it. As indeed are these pages: we’ve come a long way from files stored as low-bitrate MP3s, and now have systems able to equal – and in some cases better – the performance of CD.

British company Cyrus is one of the latest arrivals on the streaming scene: not content with launching a network-capable product, it’s made life hard for itself by introducing three units, all designed to access music stored on a home computer or network or local storage, along with internet radio.

It’s also adopted a two-way radio-frequency control system rather than the control applications – or ‘apps’ – on third-party devices chosen by most of its rivals. The majority of streaming devices require you either to peer across the room while handling a conventional remote control, or invest in an Apple iOS or Google Android device with a control app, the Cyrus units come complete with what the company calls the n-remote.

This device, docked on a charging station when not in use, uses 2.4GHz radio communication with the Cyrus streamers rather than infrared, so doesn’t have to be in line of sight, has two-way feedback of information so you can see what the unit’s playing on the handset’s colour display, and will control other devices either via the Cyrus MCBus control system, or directly via infrared and learning capability.

The three Cyrus models have similar features but significant differences: common across the range is wired or wireless networking (Cyrus recommending wired for the most stable results), UPnP and DLNA compatibility, and a USB input for the connection of local music storage – a USB stick or an external hard-drive – or an iPod, iPhone or iPad, from which the unit will take music digitally.

All three models will accept WAV, FLAC, AIFF, AAC, MP3 and WMA files, at resolutions up to 96kHz/24-bit where the formats support them, and have three electrical and two optical digital inputs.

Beyond that, the models diverge: the Stream X, at £1400, has only digital output, and is designed to be used with a standalone DAC or an amp with digital input. At the other end of the range sits the £2000 Stream XP, with onboard digital conversion, fixed or variable analogue outputs – so it could be used straight into power amplification – and the option of upgrading with a Cyrus PSX-R.

Between these fits the model we have here, the £1600 Streamline: this model has built-in power amplification delivering 2x30W and can be connected straight to loudspeakers.

PERFORMANCE
Slimline and compact the Streamline may be, in the usual Cyrus ‘upside down’ cast casework but it’s not without competition at this price level.

The obvious rivals are Arcam’s Solo Neo, at £1350 including a DAB/FM tuner and a CD transport, both of which are missing from the Cyrus, and the Naim UnitiQute, which sells for £1425 and has DAB/FM radio and an analogue input, but fewer digital inputs than the Cyrus. The Arcam is a little long in the tooth now, but the Naim certainly offers a real challenge to the Cyrus newcomer.

In use, the Streamline is relatively simple to set up, at least once the n-remote handset is charged on its base-station and ‘paired’ with the main unit. That handset is excellent, and is going to prove crucial: the display on the Streamline is a nasty black on green affair, and hard to read even from a modest distance.

Less convenient is the location of the USB socket for iPod/hard drive/memory key connection: it’s on the rear panel, so really the only solution is to have a spare lead for your device permanently connected and run round to the side or front of the Cyrus.

Even less fathomable is that the headphone socket, in this case a 3.5mm stereo type, is also on the rear panel. I’m afraid the logic of that escapes me totally.

Finally, it’s worth noting that the speaker connections are on the BFA safety type sockets, for which four plugs are provided in the box. Conventional banana plugs can’t be connected to the unit: if you have cables so terminated, it’s easy to cut down the Cyrus plugs and use them as adapters.

As an aside, I noted that, when I scrolled through the recommended internet radio stations, I found well up the list – not too far behind Schleswig Holstein Radio – Spire FM, the local station for Salisbury, where of course Naim is based! Perhaps a Cambridge station would be more appropriate…?

The sound here will be familiar to those acquainted with other Cyrus components: dull it isn’t, and while there’s plenty of pace and drive to the sound, some caution will be needed when it comes to choosing partnering speakers if the presentation isn’t to become somewhat wearing, especially at higher volumes. Loudspeakers with a smooth, rich sound will tame things down a bit.

The sonic signature of the system is at its most extreme when new, and after some extended use, things calm down a little, and there’s some mellowing of that top end.

There’s no denying that with a clean, crisp recording the Cyrus can sound truly thrilling, but too often it teeters on the edge of brashness, and there’s a sense of lack of substance in the lower frequencies. Strings can sound a trifle glassy, and orchestral textures a bit bleached and lacking in warmth.

That’s the case across the range of sources and bitrates, but the Cyrus does sound best when playing at CD quality and above: its presentation tends to emphasise the effect of hefty bitrate-reduction.

The lack of a DAB/FM tuner may become less of a drawback if and when more stations are available as high-bitrate internet streams, although this may prove a problem for those on data-capped broadband tariffs.

However, for the moment, although the Streamline is impressive at what it does well, its remote control a delight to use and its compact size appealing, too many niggles hold it back from firm recommendation.

Cyrus Streamline
Type Network music system
Price £1600
Sources UPnP/DLNA streaming, internet radio, local playback from iPod/iPhone/iPad and USB devices
Formats played WAV, FLAC, AIFF, AAC, MP3 and WMA
Inputs 3 electrical and 2 optical digital, USB, Ethernet, Wi-Fi
Audio outputs Fixed and variable analogue, electrical digital, one pair of speakers, headphones
Accessories supplied n-remote handset, Wi-Fi antenna, Ethernet cable, speaker plugs
www.cyrusaudio.com