CYRUS ONE CAST

The Cyrus One amplifier design has had quite the evolution. The very first Cyrus One was launched in 1984, but the friendly yet purposeful re-design pictured here arrived a few years back, as an entirely analogue amplifier. Then a version with digital inputs was added: the Cyrus One HD.

Now we have this new Cyrus One Cast which, as its name suggests, adds Chromecast to the mix, along with Apple’s AirPlay 2 and Bluetooth, so making this latest amplifier an easily-selectable end-point for streaming music services, and transforming it into a smart amplifier to which you could, at a minimum, just add speakers if all you want is a high-quality streaming playback system. To make this even easier, the One Cast can be controlled by any of the three main voice assistants — Google, Alexa or Apple’s Siri.“Great music made simple,” is how Cyrus describes it.

But of course the available inputs could equally be utilised to make this new smart amplifier a hub for an expanded system including other sources, including your TV audio, thanks to the inclusion of an HDMI ARC-compatible connection.

EQUIPMENT

The recent trio of Cyrus One models are, as noted, continuing a long tradition. The very first Cyrus One was released 35 years ago, in golden days when this amplification brand partnered Mission loudspeakers in the UK and shared their rise at the centre of a veritable ‘Britpop’ world invasion of high-quality mid-price UK-based brands