Cyrus soundkey Review

Tiny device with huge performance, the most surprising product I have ever reviewed.

[su_list icon=”icon: info-circle “]

• Developer: Cyrus
• Publisher: Cyrus
• Genre: Audio Hardware
• Platforms: PC
• Reviewed on: PC
• Supplied by: Little Big PR

[/su_list]

[su_accordion][su_accordion] [su_spoiler title=”About” style=”fancy”] Looking to get a powerful upgrade to your gaming experience? Our award-winning USB DAC is getting a gaming overhaul. Most PC gamers focus on their processor, GPU, ram and cooling whilst missing out on a crucial part of the gaming experience, audio. Re-think what a game sounds like and get a serious advantage when paired with 3D audio software, pinpointing where other players are, guiding you to dominating the battlefield. SoundKey is an award-winning revolution in USB audio. Perfect for laptop gamers where the audio department is lacking in their onboard soundcard, soundKey unlocks that data, using our years of expertise in high-resolution DAC and amplifier design. Cyrus quality audio is now available to Gamers. [/su_spoiler] [/su_accordion]

[su_accordion][su_accordion] [su_spoiler title=”Spec” style=”fancy”] • Improved clarity, more realistic sound • 3.5mm Jack for headphones connection • Robust aluminium casing • Extremely low current, conserving your phone’s battery life • Compatible with a wide range of audio format, including MP3, AAC, and FLAC • Can handle High Resolution audio files up to 24bit/96kHz. • Size 5.4cm x 2.3cm x 0.8cm • Weight 18g [/su_spoiler] [/su_accordion]

The Cyrus sound key came to me as a bit of a suprise, I had never before looked into seen or heard of a product that takes your audio and turns it into hi-res lossless audio.

So when I was offered the chance to review this sound key from award winning company Cyrus, it’s safe to say I was excited, I had no idea what to expect, in my experience the best sound quality I had ever experienced was from my cars Sony system.

When I received the sound key, first thing I turned my PC on, sat at my desk and got to word unboxing and inspecting everything (imagine your great grandad looking at a iphone for the first time) Not too long after I found myself reading the instruction manual (no shame here).

In the box you get the sound key, a branded travel pouch a short micro usb cable and a jack splitter. (for gaming headsets so you can plug in to both the sound key and mic port on your PC if your pc requires both, if you don’t want to use a mic you don’t need to use the splitter.

So let me clarify, its really easy, you don’t need the manual you simply plug the sound key in to a usb port with the included micro usb, then plug your headset into the sound key (add in the splitter if you want to use mic as well) after that the sound key will set itself up automatically.

Then just press play on your favourite track and be blown away.

I was absolutely stunned, the sound quality was insane, like nothing I had ever experienced before. The songs I tested it on where all tracks I had been listening to for years, I could sing along to all of them I mean I listened to the whole dirt showdown soundtrack over again for maybe the 100,000th time and this time was by far the best.

I was enjoying music I had not even thought about in years, it made everything a absolute pleasure to listen to, every baseline had more depth, all the tracks felt more spacious, more defined, it was like you were there with the artist when they recorded the song.

If the drums where a inch off centre you will hear it, if there was subtle details you will hear them, you don’t miss anything while using the sound key.

Now for the kicker, all this was whilst using earbuds that came with my phone… yeah it’s that good.

Naturally i wanted to kick it up a step, so i connected the recently reviewed Elite pro 2 headset, and my mind was blown, nothing compares the only way to do this tiny device justice is for me to recommend you go try one.

Ok so now it’s time for the real test, does it do all of this for games, yep again it will make any game sound miles better, I have used some of the best e-sport headsets out there and the sound key has all of them on their knees, and the best bit is the better the headset the better the results.

You hear every footstep, every bullet flying, every cock of guns the sharp sound of a sword being pulled from its scabbard.

I found I was more responsive to sounds, depth perception was better and the directionality of the sound was so much more accurate, in turn this doesn’t just make the sound better it makes the game better, more enjoyable and i’d argue it made me better.

The only con and it’s not a con really is that i don’t have one for my xbox and phone, heck if i could plumb one in to my car I would. And besides that, and this is really picky, i found it strange the usb cable was white packed with the graphite sound key and black splitter, but when it performs this good who cares what colour the cable is you can always swap it out.

SUMMARY

The single most impressive piece of kit i have tested so far.

I highly recommend it, i personally can’t find a fault at all.