RoHS (Restriction of Hazardous Substances) legislation has hit Huntingdon, the spiritual home of British hi-fi. The evil lead is being eradicated from the face of audio. RoHS compliance is one reason for Cyrus revamping its amplifier range and bringing in the new vs2 (Virtual Servo 2) versions of its integrated amplifiers.
The Pre vs2 is currently the only preamp in the range; there is still the DAC XP (which is a DAC with a preamp stage), but the X series preamp has been usurped by this new upstart. Virtual Servo 2 is the latest incarnation of the preamp design in all new Cyrus amplifiers. Its precise details are closely guarded, but in practice, it allows for the use of fewer capacitors in the signal path than traditional circuits. The ‘2' indicates both RoHS compliance and a refinement of the circuit, to include a new volume IC and a simpler layout than its predecessor.
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This preamp is based on the latest Cyrus 8 vs2 integrated amplifier and has all of the features you'd find on that design, including full remote control, a 6mm headphone output (albeit on the back panel) plus luxuries such as balance control and variable input sensitivity (+/-2dB relative to the CD input). The latter is a first for Cyrus and will be useful for anyone with older source components and/or turntables. Such facilities are ultimately at the mercy of the recording level of the software, which can vary enormously, but it's nice to see them on mid-priced components. Other new features include a mute button and a headphone on/off switch on the front panel.
Inputs run to a generous seven; the corresponding front panel buttons sport names including ‘MP3' and ‘Link', the latter relating to connecting Cyrus' hard disk player and multi-room system.
