From the outside, the Cyrus CD8 SE closely resembles the old CD8x, except for one important respect.

With the SE giving freedom to build up the mechanical parts of the system to taste, Cyrus has opted for a slot-loading mechanism instead of the former tray loader.

Welcome improvement

We're not sorry to see the rather rattly old Cyrus tray go, though we do have one niggling reservation about this slot loading replacement. When it ejects the disc, it doesn't push it quite far enough out and gripping it without touching the playing surface is distinctly awkward.

Even worse, if one accidentally ejects a disc and wants to reload it, simply pushing it back in achieves nothing except making it completely impossible to grasp, unless you actually end up grabbing the playing surface.

If Cyrus could use its omnipotence over the CD replay experience to fix that, we'd be delighted!

Top-quality components

Looking inside the CD 8 SE, it certainly has a familiar ring – indeed, Cyrus is quite happy to admit that the audio electronics are unchanged from its predecessor, which seems sensible enough as the results we got from it were always on the impressive side of decent.

Power is derived from two tiny toroidal transformers, one on each side of the case, while the audio board effectively hangs from the top of the case: the new servo board is stacked underneath it. Components throughout are good-quality, with a DAC chip of recent vintage and high- performance op-amps.

At the rear, two sets of audio outputs are provided, plus both flavours of digital output and Cyrus's 'MC-Bus' control system in and out. There's also a socket for a PSX-R external power supply for upgraders.

The features are the usual set and operation is slick and simple, with moderately fast disc loading.

Unremarkable first impression

Obviously we're always very interested in the performance of a much-trumpeted new model, but in this case the stakes seem to be higher than ever for Cyrus.

The thing is, the CD8x was a very good CD player, so in order to avoid a damp squib at this point the SE has to achieve something pretty splendid.

So, we plugged it in and cued up a familiar disc... but weren't really blown away. Very nice, but nothing remarkable.