Ayon CD2 is AMAZING

Taking an Ayon CDP and using an alternate DAC, well that is just nuts. Akin to buying a pair Dali speakers and then start changing out tweeters to make it better. Many folks have over many years trained their ears to simply, bad soundstage so they can not appreciate the unique sound of the Ayon CDP's. It is only after time that they realize what they have been missing.

Wig
Would you be kind enough to share with us how the two compared? I am sure the Ayon is a fine player on it's own.How did the addition of the berkley improve on it?

Jim, don't forget Wig only has the CD-2 (not CD-2s or 5s), and the Berkeley Alpha dac is a very good value high end dac. Robert Harley who is not known for his bs really liked the dac, and it supports formats the Ayon does not (eg: HDCD). Wig, if you like the sound (and i'm not surprised you do); keep enjoying your Berkeley.

My Ayon CD2 is a good player but can sound bright and forward on occasion and this is with tube and biopolar equipment. I tried the EE Dac with silver star fuses, power cords and Vintage Mullards but it shrunk the soundstage and I thought the CD2 was better in my system.

The Berkeley blows the CD2 out of the water, you would think the Berkeley was a tube unit if you had to listen blindly. Better soundstage, imaging and cues easily heard.
I thought about the CD5s but decided to go with a better sound, a Berkeley Alpha Dac.

Hi Wig, that's interesting. I'm not surprised you found such a wide difference with the Berkeley dac. Re: the CD-5s, there is a wide performance gap between the CD-2 & 5s. The CD-5s is built around a full Skylla 2 dac and features higher grade caps, an extra power supply with full "bridge" tube rectification and is a higher end proposition overall. Besides, there are ways to improve the player significantly without dropping another $5k on a dac ;) Consider that the CD-5/5s uses 4 x NOS OPA627AP op amps. These were the best op amps 20 years ago, but are only midrange op amps today...and the signal is passing through those things. Also, better output tubes can be sourced. I'll leave the rest to your imagination.