Ayon CD2 is AMAZING

Jim,
Thanks for the info on the Ayon/MiniMax combo. May have saved me 700.
Drat's no cheap fix to audio perfection*^&%$#@@
Looks like I will need to save up and upgrade the dac chip thru Ayon at some point.
Does anyone have any info on upgrading to the CD2s chip?

Question for Afc: Is it possible that some of the improvement you hear in the CD5 over the CD2, such as resolution and bass slam, have to do merely with its increased output signal (0-4V for CD5 versus 0-2.5V for CD2)? Such a difference can sometimes make a source component sound more vivid and powerful. Did you compensate for this output difference when comparing the two?

I have the CD2 and thought about upgrading to the CD2s, but after hearing the EE DAC after install and cold, the CD2 doesn't come close. My soundstage is deeper, wider with images you can touch. My system is very resolving and I'm hearing things I've never heard and my unit is only 5 days old. Decay notes and the ambiance is unbelievable with pin point imaging even at the edge of the soundstage. The gain does appears to be a little low when ran into my CD2 with an XLR but you'll just have to turn your pre up another 1/4 turn to reach the same SPL. This is a bargain price for a DAC and the BDA-1 doesn't come close. The Minimax sounded better than the CD2 even with a 10 year old RCA cable

Ral, the CD5, as you probably know, has an adjustable gain setting. I've tried all three settings.....on every one, the CD5 shines. It tosses a bigger soundstage, produces better detail, is more authoritative with bass and imaging is superb. It's about impossible to discern the CD5 from the Clearaudio analog rig I just installed. I settled on "medium" gain for the CD5. High gain will blow the doors off, but you seem to lose a little detail with it. Low gain is very similar to medium gain setting, you just gotta crank the volume knob on the preamp a bit more.

After reading the Audio Blast by Doug Schroeder on Dagogo about the Eastern Electric MiniMax DAC, like sheep I went out and purchased the Minimax DAC and connected it exactly as Douglas describes to my Ayon CD5. $650 + tax later, I am sitting in my sweet spot, dumbfounded. The sound was completely 2 dimensional, thin and brittle.
I already own the W4S DAC 2 and the soundstage was little disappointing with the CD5, so I removed it. The CD5 is PERFECT by itself, just Like the musician is in the room!

Don’t waste your time and money - Anyone want to but a Minimax DAC ?

Mike