Cyrus Soundkey DAC & Headphone Amplifier - Teal

Great little product. Certainly improves the volume and detail from digital music into headphones. Of course, sound quality is all a very personal thing and I can certainly hear a difference. It comes with 3 cables to link the unit to your device...including a USB C cable for newer phones. Something to note is the unit is powered from the device, so I've noticed battery usage from my phone and tablet is much higher than usual when I use this. Overall, for me, I'm really happy with it. It makes a big difference to low quality recordings and drags out even more detail in great recordings. 4 stars only due to the higher battery drain on phone and tablet.

The Cyrus SoundKey is a lovely bit of kit. The SoundKey itself is a compact marvel from a UK company. It uses very little energy and doesn’t heat up like many other USB DAC/Amplifiers. This makes ideal for use with both phones and lap tops. The sound quality it extracts is a huge step up from the “on board” DACs on your phone and lap top. Naturally the better the source quality, the more you get out of the Cyrus high quality DAC. So if you have Hi Res Audio files and use the Onkyo Hi Res Player app or stream HiFi quality from Tidal, the Cyrus SoundKey will (along with high quality headphones) help you get the best sound possible from your music. They easily drive all the headphones that I have tried. The only downside is the need for the “3 cable solution” to use it with iPhones/iPads (needing the camera adapter lead) but still worth persevering with this slightly clunky look for the great sound. All in all a great sounding truly versatile portable DAC/Headphone Amplifier.

I've been using the SoundKey for about a month now in conjunction with and iPhone 8 and Bose QC25 headphones. Clarity of sound, at all frequencies, is extremely good with a punchy bass and detail I had never picked up before. Channel separation and the presentation of the sound stage are very solid. At its price, it's an absolute steal. Like many others, the only gripe is that you have to buy a USB C (Camera) adapter to use it with an iPhone. If you buy the Apple version, that's another £30. If you're using a phone or other device with a USB output it's less hassle and works out the box.

Stunned at the difference this makes. Paired with Sennheiser Momentum 2.0 and only playing Spotify 320kbps from my phone, the difference in bass, separation and clarity is extraordinary, whilst retaining a sweet, rich tone. Also gives volume a bump up. I wouldn't have believed you could squeeze this much quality out of those downloads. It does affect battery life but for this sound quality I'll put up with it, as it isn't intolerable.

I have had this DAC for whole week and tested it with 2 android and 2 windows devices, the result was not satisfactory therefore returned the item.The DAC tends to cut out when sound signal drops below certain level and reconnect when recovers, this makes two audible clicking noises like turn off then on an amplifier, the threshold is varied across devices, but pattern is similar. This behaviour makes listening to music with quite background or radio programs and especially audio books impossible, number of cut-offs increases with gaps between the words in human speech, beside this when used with my Asus tablet it clicks in and out regularly every 5-10 secondsQuality of sound was much better than my phone and tablet's internal amp as expected but easily overtaken by Realtek High Definition Audio sound card fitted in my laptop and desktop.For me didn’t work as my main reason to purchase was to use with my Nokia 8 phone (Android 8.1) which as explained wasn’t well-suitedI also contacted Cyrus and requested call back but heard nothing backI hope you find this review helpful

Oh my god.... I have a set of AKG noise cwncellong Bluetooth headphones. Which are good. But seriously. With the wired connection and this DAC it’s literally WOW. I have been testing it out with different music. Underworld, nick cave. But just put on nirvana smells like teen spirit and feel the difference. It is unbelievable. So so happy with this.

What a waste of money.Makes no difference whatsoever to the sound, especially through a smart phone with a decent set of headphones. I tried, using Grado headphones and Beyerdynamic (both audiophile, low impedance sets) and the quality enhancement was negligible. All that happens is the volume is hiked and because it relies on the phone's battery to power the amplifier, your phone's efficiency drops rapidly! An utter waste of £50. Save it for a good set of headphones and don't be fooled by all the hype. Cyrus make superb amplifiers but this is a pure joke.

Used on my android phone and PC, sound quality greatly improved, much clearer and overall much better dynamic range. Worth every penny at £49.99, makes it so much more enjoyable now listening on these devices.