The Ayer is clearly better. The CX-5 even more so. The properties you mentioned are much of what Ayre CD players are known for. Keep in mind, the Transporter does blow away the music hall, but the Ayre does blow away the transporter. The transporter is good but limited to, pretty much, the DAC. (there are other issues, ie transport, cables, vibration control, etc.) but, basically, the DAC you heard in the Ayer is just plain better than the dac in the trasnporter. I heard both and went with the squeezebox 3 (and Esoteric X03SE for critical listening-I felt it bettered the Ayer in detail, dynamics and low level resolution) so that I can change dacs as I feel fit. I have the benchmark dac now (hooked to squeezebox) as it's just for casual listening. If I get a bit more into it, I will go with a much better dac (Berkshire or Esoteric, etc).
Transporter vs Ayre CX-7e
About a month ago, I bought a Logitech Transporter and it was a noticeable improvement over my Music Hall Maverick SACD player (for playing RBCD) so I gave it some thought and ultimately decided to dump all my physical disc players and move toward a media-server based solution with the Transporter as my final digital front-end.
However, I was in the showroom the other day at a local HiFi store and they had an Ayre CX-7e pumping through some decent, but not rediculous equipment. It was going through an Anthem TLP-1 Preamp, feeding an Anthem MCA-20 amp and pushing Paradigm Signature S6 v2 speakers.
I had heard just about all of this equipment before, but the Ayre was new to me and I was in awe over the tonal accuracy of instruments and voice. BUT, it was in a showroom, different equipment than I have, etc, etc, etc.
So my question is, does anyone here have any direct experience comparing a CX-7e with a Transporter? Was what I was hearing in the showroom a product of the showroom acoustics or is the Ayre clearly a better sounding device (when it comes to airiness and tonal accuracy).
I currently have a Marantz AV8003 preamp feeding an Outlaw 750 amp (although looking to replace the amp as mentioned in another recent post) pushing a pair of Focal/JMLabs Electra 1027be's. I'd like to think that my preamp/amp/speakers equal or exceed the quality of what I heard but I can't get the sound from that showroom out of my head.
Maybe I'm just rambling and I've already subconsciously made a decision here, but I figured I'd reach out to see what ye almighty Audiogonners thought.
Thanks in advance,
-Ben
However, I was in the showroom the other day at a local HiFi store and they had an Ayre CX-7e pumping through some decent, but not rediculous equipment. It was going through an Anthem TLP-1 Preamp, feeding an Anthem MCA-20 amp and pushing Paradigm Signature S6 v2 speakers.
I had heard just about all of this equipment before, but the Ayre was new to me and I was in awe over the tonal accuracy of instruments and voice. BUT, it was in a showroom, different equipment than I have, etc, etc, etc.
So my question is, does anyone here have any direct experience comparing a CX-7e with a Transporter? Was what I was hearing in the showroom a product of the showroom acoustics or is the Ayre clearly a better sounding device (when it comes to airiness and tonal accuracy).
I currently have a Marantz AV8003 preamp feeding an Outlaw 750 amp (although looking to replace the amp as mentioned in another recent post) pushing a pair of Focal/JMLabs Electra 1027be's. I'd like to think that my preamp/amp/speakers equal or exceed the quality of what I heard but I can't get the sound from that showroom out of my head.
Maybe I'm just rambling and I've already subconsciously made a decision here, but I figured I'd reach out to see what ye almighty Audiogonners thought.
Thanks in advance,
-Ben
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- 28 posts total
- 28 posts total