Comparison: Nad C162/C 272, the Cyrus 8 and the Roksan Caspian M Series-1

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This article originally featured in ‘Hi-Fi News’ magazine.

Your amp is the heart of your system, but you don’t have to spend a fortune to find the fine sound – as this trio of well-known names shows. We compare Cyrus 8 integrated, Nad C 162 pre/C 272 power amp and Roksan Caspian M-Series.

If your antidote to the washout of summer that was 2004 is to spend several hundred pounds jetting off to far-off climes in search of some late-season sun, then maybe you should think again. A similar sum invested in a new amplifier for your hi-fi will reward you with years of musical enjoyment, and it’ll be a sure way to forget those soggy summer blues. With this in mind, HFN has rounded up three amplifiers costing between £800 and £999 to see how the latest offerings from some well-known names in the industry compare.

Taking things in alphabetical order (and coincidentally, in ascending order of price) the first amp to be considered is the Cyrus 8 integrated. This is the replacement for the Cyrus 7, its lineage being obvious from the unusually small 215 x 75 x 360mm (whd) dimensions, and the slightly Batman-esque looks, which it shares with both its predecessor and the rest of the Cyrus range.

At the bottom of the fascia is a row of seven buttons.  These are for source selection, and are labelled CD, TU (tuner), AV, AUX1 and 2, and Tape 1 and 2, the latter allowing for dubbing between two recording devices if required.Above the buttons on the left are the standby power switch and the sensor for the remote control; below these are buttons for Mute and Phones.

Parallel with these, to the right, is the volume control, which is surrounded by a ring of red LEDs that glow in relation to the volume setting. The volume control is unusual in its gearing: several rotations are required to increase sound levels at the lower end of the scale, allowing for very precise control when it comes to setting those late night listening levels.

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