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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.
Follow Ups:
So, what digital player(s) have you settled on at this point? What differences did they have to the Ayre or AA? Thanks.
please respond to my question. Thank you.
I guess Charles Hansen already answered this, but yes the only 2 CD players I currently own now are the Creek CD43MkII which I use as a transport and my 1994 Sony Discman, both used in strictly headphone-listening set-ups. I won't try to justify or explain exactly why I "downsized" and gave up loadspeaker listening. I find just as much if not more musical enjoyment from my current headphone systems - I now find that I'm no longer worrying about the equipment but rather just enjoying the music. I doubt that I will ever go the "high-end" route again -- just not worth it for me.
For a while he was using an older Discman and a Headroom amp with some headphones:http://db.audioasylum.com/cgi/m.mpl?forum=digital&n=119494
Apparently now he is using an older Creek player as transport with an external Headroom DAC:
http://db.audioasylum.com/cgi/m.mpl?forum=digital&n=126626
I'm happy with my CX-7e, but again I know it's still only CD. I wouldn't spend more on a CD player, not even SACD. I'm more of an LP guy, anyway.But I also have to snicker a little bit because the comments I read are so similar to the "boring SME turntable" comments that have been said about those. If you think the SME 30 is boring, well, that's fine, too. But it's not a convincing argument to me. It's about as honest a turntable as it gets, and one that plays just what's in the grooves. Not enough? Well, try a boom-sizzle mid-fi system to get that boogie going. :-)
Really, it does take effort to make a system work. And if you get it, there are a lot of lateral moves that might be taken, energy spent, and nothing gained overall.
Kurt
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