Any information on the new Ayre C5xe player?

The C5x-e is Ayre's first SACD/DVD-A player which is somewhat of a suprise given some comments made by Charles Hansen in the past (although notice it is 2ch only). But the addition of SACD and DVD-A didn't come at much extra cost. The comparison above is Redbook only and is quite a statement for someone to make given the performance of the CX-7 and D1-x at their price points. I haven't heard it yet but I plan to in the next month or two when I do my audio upgrade. I mainly care about Redbook performance.

It is surprising that another SACD/DVD-A player is offered with the way these formats seem to be going. Ayre says it does sound better than the CX-7 but how, who knows at this point. $6000 is right pricey and approaches a lot of fast company. However, I do like Ayre's philosophy's on negative feedback, etc.
I guess we'll know something in the next month or so. I was going to buy a CX-7 w/ the Evolution upgrade but I think I'll hold for a bit. I was just at the point of going back to strictly CD playback.

I had the C5xe in my system Sunday and what has been reported is true, redbook playback is vastly superior to the CX-7 and better than CD playback on a D1-X. SACD playback is very good, and these comments are about a player that did not even have 100 hours on it yet. I am leaning very heavily in the direction of this one-box. Charlie Hansen and his team should be proud of their new baby. Frankly, $6K is a very reasonable price for the C5xe.

That is truly great news.

I auditioned this player in my system over the weekend too. It is stunning. I also had on hand an ARC CD3II and a Theta Miles. The Ayre was clearly superior to both on redbook and simply wiped the floor when an SACD was played. Ayre wasn't really on my radar before this, but I plan to find out more now......... definitely a killer player.