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Impressions: sony xa5400 vs Ayre cx-5e mp vs Mcintosh mcd-1100

Posted by classicalmusiclover (A) on February 16, 2012 at 20:47:32

Been a while since posting on the asylum but after a long hiatus I thought I would write about my recent experience on some popular players that i have spent some time with this week...

I have been happy with my Sony xa5400 for over a year now but always felt there was room for improvement somewhere in the chain and in my system, the source is the low point in terms of price so I ventured out to a local hifi shop to see what was out there...

After some listening at the shop, I decided to take home the Ayre cx-5 e mp universal player as it sounded quite nice at the shop. After bringing it home however, comparing it with the sony, I was somewhat dissappointed that the improvement was not bigger. In fact, the Sony was better in some ways; the Ayre being a bit more refined, cleaner and able to handle dynamic peaks in a more sophisticated way (smoother without any sign of strain). But, and this is a big but, it was kind of boring...

The Ayre sounded dryer, flatter, lacking real dimension. It did everything right but it wasnt right; it just didnt sound real, even though it was cleaner, quieter and had more resolution than the Sony. So, I took it back and brought home the Mcintosh.

Now I have to tell you that the Sony is $1400, the Ayre is $6000 and the Mac is $10,000 so The improvement in sound between the players sonics should be obvious, but between the Sony and Ayre this wasnt really the case. It was however very much so with the Mcintosh...

When I plugged the Mac in I wasnt prepared for the kind of visceral power, the image density and the amount of resolution I was missing with the others. The Mcintosh player is not even on the same plane with the other two; it is like I opened floodgates of sound that were previously closed off or squelched by clogged pipes. So different is it that my mind is going crazy with trying to figure out how i could possibly come up with the funds to pay for this thing!

The Mcintosh is simply the finest sound that i have heard from digital, ever. I have heard mega-buck machines before this but was never blown away in this order of magnitude, simply fantastic...

I guess the moral is that sometimes you get what you pay for (mcd-1100) sometimes you dont (ayre cx-5 e mp) and sometimes you get a great deal (xa-5400)! In this case I'm going to do everying I can to get what I pay for...

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Analog Engineering Associates

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