Digital Drive Upsamplers, DACs, jitter, shakes and analogue withdrawals, this is it.

---

[ Follow Ups ] Thread: [ Display  All  Email ] [ Digital Drive ]

---

[ Alert Moderator ] [ Edit ] [ Delete ]

---

Re: Is the Ayre C5xe better than the Cx7e for Redbook playback only?

160.79.139.10

Posted by ts on February 15, 2007 at 14:49:05

In Reply to: Is the Ayre C5xe better than the Cx7e for Redbook playback only? posted by jbcortes on February 15, 2007 at 07:11:16:

I've owned both the CX-7 (non-"e") and C5-xe. Neither one did much for me, quite frankly. Sure, they are machines that excel in all of the typical audiophile ways - soundstaging, dynamics, etc. - but quite honestly they just didn't draw me into the music. To more specifically answer your question, initially I thought the C5-xe did do a "better" job handling Redbook, however in retrospect, it would have been more correct to say they handled Redbook differently rather than saying one was better than the other. As others have suggested, system "synergy" often determines which combination of components sound the best, and for those who find the Ayre to be their cup of tea in their particular system, all credit to them.

Your current CD player is quite good, and some would argue that it is in the same general league as both Ayres in terms of Redbook playback. Auditory memory is fickle and your ears can be easily fooled by your brain -- so you may "think" the Ayre sounds better than your current player in the store, but that may not really be the case. Also you have to deal with the particular set-up the store has -- it would be unlikely that the store's equipment is identical to your own (including room acoustics, cables, etc.). One possible way around this might be to convince the dealer to allow you to bring your Audio Aero to the store for comparison to the Ayre machines -- of course, it may not be in the store's best interest to let you do this!

My bottom line is this -- going from the Audio Aero to the Ayre CX-7e is most likely going to be a "lateral" move - there will be differences but the basic overall quality of Redbook playback will be similar, and regarding the C5-xe -- for someone who has little or no interest in SACD or other hi-rez formats, I personally don't think it's worth spending $3K more for perhaps very little, if any "improvement" in Redbook playback.

This post is made possible by the generous support of people like you and our sponsors:

Kimber Kable

---

[ Top of Page ] [ Contact Us ] [ Support/Wish List ] [ Copyright © 2025, Audio Asylum, all rights reserved ]

---

[ General ] [ Speakers ] [ Tubes ] [ Vinyl ] [ Digital ] [ Hi-Rez ] [ Video Asylum ] [ Cables ] [ Tweaks/DIY ] [ Music ] [ Films ]

---