Audiophilepure

https://www.whathifi.com/us/reviews/cyrus-i7-xr-integrated-amplifier

You could say the i7-XR is like a professional orator – seemingly effortlessly articulate and a natural in getting messages across as precisely and coherently as possible. And in terms of these traits, the i7-XR is, like many Cyrus components before it, up there with the very best at this level. Play Eminem’s Killshot and his biting vocal cuts through the middle of the soundstage with intensity and focus, as if he’s spitting his lyrics just centimetres from your face during a rap battle. The track is fast and lively, and the Cyrus keeps up.

Switch momentum completely, to Ludovico Einaudi’s Oltremare, and the notes are precisely drawn and dynamically varied enough for us to stay interested during the composition’s 11-minute duration. There’s plenty to like.

We’re pleased to report that the second-gen QXR DAC is of a decent calibre, too, if you did want to connect a digital source that way. Not all DACs built into such machines offer quality as close to the analogue performance, but while the digital delivery (we stick mostly with the ‘Apodising’ digital filter) isn’t so fast-footed or full as the analogue, the stark clarity, spaciousness and general communicativeness are well retained.