Linn Unidisk or Musical Fidelity kW SACD or ???

Biggest problem with Ayre is that they upgrade their website less frequently than their product line! I can't find any info on the Cx5e on their website. I will watch for the Stereophile article. I have another addition to my watch list -- Cary 306 SACD. Thoughts, anyone...?

Bsal,

Walked over to my pile of mail and found the July Stereophile issue with the Ayre Cx5e review. Thanks for telling me about this. If you read the sidebar about the measurements first, your expectations are lowered. But when you read WP's review, you start thinking, "I need to audition this player!" Which I will. I will call my local Ayre dealer tomorrow and see when I can get this unit home for a listen. I am intrigued...

As far as a wide and solid soundstage I would rate the Classe and Linn 1st, Music Fidelity and Esoteric ($13,000) 2nd, Wdia last. The most remarkable quality of the Classe is the immediacy, you become totally involved in the music as if the musicians were in your livingroom. CDs sound so good that you'll never care if there is a new format. SACD is even better. Before you fork out the big bucks definitly check this one out.

Ok, here is where I am. Today I brought home the Ayre C5xe and the Linn 2.1. After listening for 3 hours, I give a slight edge to the Linn on CD, and to the Ayre on SACD. I tried DVD-A in both, but the Linn choked on all 3 DVD-A discs, so I skipped that round. Overall, the Ayre seemed more solid on the bass. The Linn seemed to throw a wider soundstage, which was great on some recordings, but not so great on others. For example, on recordings where the Ayre seemed to compress the stage a bit, at least it was able to keep the vocalist in the center. The Linn, on the other hand, seemed to take these same vocalists and s-t-r-e-t-c-h them to the point where they were coming out of both the left and right speakers in an artificial way. Having said that, I must admit that on an SACD recording of Vivaldi's Four Season, the wide soundstage presented by the Linn player was really great. So in this respect, I have to agree with Steve's comment about the Linn and its ability to create a wide soundstage.

At this point, I am mostly just confused. I look back at my notes, and I see that my biggest critism of the Ayre (its somewhat narrow soundstage) is a mirror-image of my biggest complaint of the Linn (its too-wide soundstage on acoustic and vocal recordings). If I had to choose tonight, I would probably give the edge to the Ayre unit, mostly because of its general balance and the fact that it beats the Linn on price. My local Ayre dealer is also a dealer for Esoteric, so I think I will ask him for a demo of the X-01....Let's see if the big price difference also brings a noticeable performance difference. Unfortunately, he does not carry Classe, so I may have to find another source for a SACD-2 demo unit.

Despite my angst, I have to admit that I am having a lot of fun!

Thanks for the comparison. BTW, are you running the Ayre balanaced through a fully balanced system? That would make a difference. Ayre gear performs best balanced.

Also, it occurs to me that at this price level you may want to consider the EMM gear, which is superb.