The CD Xt SE is the transport or disc spinning half of the ultimate Cyrus CD player system. At the highest levels of CD player development we have learnt that it is beneficial to separate certain sections of the CD mechanics from the low level decoding sections. The most successful way we have found to do this is to manufacture the player in two separate and isolated die-cast chassis. The benefits of this approach bring higher resolution, quieter background and improved imagery.

The SE engineering was originally developed for the CDXt. You can read more about Servo Evolution here, but in a nutshell, the SE brings the following key benefits;

• Specifically developed for Audio data standards
• Up to 5 times fewer data errors than ordinary players
• Less reliance on error correction
• Better signal to noise ratio
• Improved laser control accuracy
• Upgrade path from recent Cyrus CD players

We realised quite quickly that if we could incorporate SE across the range this would bring an economy of scale and therefore only a relatively small extra cost to each model, rather than loading all the SE development overheads into the high-end model CDXt. This is why CD Xt SE is (in the world of high-end audio) relatively inexpensive.

The ‘other half’ of the high-end CD playing system is a matching DAC called DAC X. Separating the mechanical elements from the low-level decoding circuits offers significant improvement to the resolution of the audio signals. Conversely joining the low level analog signals, post DAC, with the preamplifier delivers improvements so we make a combined DAC and preamp model called DAC XP for the ultimate hi-performance solution. You have a choice between our high performance DAC X with our most advanced engineering or the preamp equipped version for the best systems. Being Cyrus, the multi-input decoder only (DAC X) can be upgraded to full DAC XP dual mono, fully balanced preamplifier specification later on. So if the DAC XP is beyond your means initially, you can upgrade later and gain the benefits of the ultimate performance as funds allow.

This integration brings several benefits because, unlike the transport, the preamplifier benefits from it’s closer physical link to the DAC and a much smaller circuit topology.