Cyrus vs Naim

Posted by: Alco on 26 July 2002

Hi guys,

I was just wondering...
Especially In the 80's (still) the Britisch audio was well known for it's affordable musical brands like Naim, Linn, Rega, MF and... Cyrus.
I bet many people started of with either a Nait, or a Cyrus One or Two amp.
Imho there are some things Cyrus has in common with Naim, especially in the old days.
They both made nice musical amp in shoebox style, both on a 'less is more' basis, both (still) upgradeble by adding an external PSU.
Imo Cyrus often came pretty close to Naim.
Now, I've had a Cyrus-2,3 and recently tried a 7.
I must say that the 7 is pretty good (though it costs way more then the III)
(btw:don't get me wrong! I'm not gonna sell my Nait for a Cyrus)

I still have a Cyrus III which I feel is inferior to the Nait-2. The Nait is more open,detailed, groovy.
The Cyrus 7 comes very close. The 7 is more transparent, more detailed, more dynamic then a 3.
On first hearing is was on a par with my trusty old Nait-2. But...as I was playing a track ("Penquins") of a Lyle Lovett CD (I love everybody) I noticed a difference. Even thoug it was abvious that the Cyrus had more powerreserve, the Nait-2 was sounding more natural/musical.
The Cyrus sounded(!) impressive, but more in HiFi-terms, if y'all know what I mean.

Yikes, I'm making this story too long

(sorry, I'll get to the point)

So, I was just wondering: How many of you guys started out with Cyrus amplification and/or how do feel it compares to Naim these days ?

Greetings from a sunny Holland,
Alco

[This message was edited by Alco on FRIDAY 26 July 2002 at 16:37.]

Posted on: 26 July 2002 by David Ng

When I was still a student, always wanted a cyrus 1 or 2 amp, but could only afford a NAD 3020i. When I finally could afford the cyrus, I decided that are other options and bought something else.

Posted on: 26 July 2002 by Arthur

Alco,

I too started off with Cyrus: Cyrus 3 + PSX, dad5 CDP + PSX, and FM7 tuner. I changed to Naim for the same reasons that you did.

Arthur

Posted on: 26 July 2002 by johno

I had a Nad 3130 that I blew up.. had repaired then I got an Ion Obelisk 2 which I had for a few years through University... then I got a 32.5/140 system.. recently I have a 3X-Xpac1 driving my Kanns in my bedroom system and it rocks...

My mate had cyrus then naim now he has a Ion 3 driving Doublets...

Ion's worth a look.. especially their Nexus range.. lot cheaper than Naim kit for similar sound...

John
Shore

Posted on: 26 July 2002 by Mr_Sukebe

I replaced a Quantam IA100 with a Cyrus 2 in 1987, shortly followed by adding a PSX.

At the time I was really impressed. This year the Cyrus was due to be replaced. I listened to a Cyrus 7, Nait 5, Arcam A85+ and a Meridian integrated (can't remember the name, but similar cost to the other 3).

All but the Naim sounded very similar overall and mainly like a better version of the Cyrus 2. Personally I prefer the Cyrus of the none Naim, but that's probably because it was what I was used to.

Then the Naim swung into action, completely hammered the other 3 without a problem. The key differences I found were:
1. Miles more musical.
2. More detail
3. Controlled bass that went deeper (the Arcam and Cyrus were pretty rubbish in the bass reproduction).

It really was the difference between listening to live music and listening to a band that's around the corner in an L-shaped room.

So my take on that was that no, Cyrus gear is NOT like Naim gear. It's just another piece of pretty good hi-fi gear, as against something that makes music.

Posted on: 26 July 2002 by Alco

quote:
So my take on that was that no, Cyrus gear is NOT like Naim gear. It's just another piece of pretty good hi-fi gear, as against something that makes music.

That's axactly the same thing a local Naim dealer told me about 2 years ago. Because of many raving reviews in different HiFi-magazines I got curious what the Cyrus 7 could achieve, and if it was such an improvement over the old Cyrus III.
Also I got (still) pretty irritated by the low-level imbalance and the lack of a decent rc with my Nait-2.
I called the dealer who stocked Naim as well as Cyrus. I told 'm my story and he said:"We sell Cyrus and Naim: Cyrus sounds nice and looks even better, Naim looks decent but it just makes music,that's it!" So, he could sell me a Cyrus 7 but he adviced me to stick with me old Nait.

Regards,
Alco

Posted on: 27 July 2002 by David Stewart

I was very attracted to Cyrus when I was looking to buy a new amp back in 98 because, of its neat style and packaging. Then I heard a Cyrus system in a dealer demo - it was ghastly!! Totally unlistenable - helped to limit the shortlist though.
Arcam followed soon after (not sufficient of an improvement over my old A&R A60). That left Linn and Naim - Naim won convincingly!!

David