ESOTERIC X-03 VS. AYRE C5XE

I have owned both the Ayre C5XE and the Esoteric X-03.

I originally sold my Esoteric and bought the Ayre. I couldn't wait to get back to Esoteric. I kept the Ayre machine for a couple of months and missed the huge panoramic soundstage, the awesome dynamics, and the finely defined image placement of the Esoteric. I also missed the build quality of the Esoteric and the player's VRDS-NEO transport mechanism - that just works better and just seems to be of much higher quality than the Pioneer mechanism in the Ayre. In fact, the Ayre refused to play some of my discs - a problem I've never had with an Esoteric.

To my mind and to my ears, the Ayre sounded like an extremely good CD/SACD player. The Esoteric just sounded better. A step closer to the sound of real live music.

I sold the Ayre and bought another Esoteric X-03. Love It!

I have now had the X-03 modified by Reference Audio Mods (their second level mod) and it now sounds incredible. Certainly the best I've ever heard.

I now have the modified Esoteric in my main system and a Cary 306 SACD in a second. To me, both sound superior to the Ayre C-5Xe.

I spoke to Brooks Bardan, a dealer here in So. California. He is willing to loan me a C5xe (with a small deposit of course) to audition in my home. I will post my observations as soon as I have a more definitive opinion on this matter.

(I wonder if the used market on 'gon is any indication of an equipments performance. Case in point, there's quite a few Esoteric's being sold in the used market and almost none of the C5xe or Ayre equipment for that matter. The assumption I have about this observation is that C5xe owners are happier and are keeping their equipment compared to Esoteric owners who are selling their equipment who might have had failed expectations or feel they can do better with another equipment.) Maybe Esoteric just sales allot more players?. Plus Teac is not as picky on there dealers as ayre sow there is a lot more Esoteric dealers. just a thought. Golfish. :) The ESOTERIC X-03 would be my choice.

Golfish, I had the wonderful opportunity of auditioning the C5xe and the X-03 side by side with Brooks Berdan himself when he was considering which, if either line he would carry. The C5xe was chosen independently by us both so I bought one and he chose to carry it over the Esoteric. Not because the X-03 was inferior but because the C5xe had the more analog sound. I think that is because the Ayre rarely "upsamples" the signal so it is less processed. But you could hardly go wrong with either player. It is (surprise surprise) a matter of taste.

I own the C5 and think it is outstanding. The real surprise of this unit is its ability to make Redbooks sound so good. I have many Redbooks that sound better than SACD or AudioDVD. I've compared the sound of my VPI Sig with Benz Ebony and often the CD is even better sounding. One caveat... the Ayre is very picky about scratched CD's - simply won't play them properly (skips, etc). I burn a fresh copy from the "bad" one which works well again.