Ayre C-5xe-mp v Sony XA5400ES

"06-04-14: Dbphd
IIRC, I read that the mechanicals are Pioneer, and that Ayre has stocked backup units for meeting future service needs."

That's true. They do that with all their players. Also, just to note, there are no transports that are made outside of Asia. Every CD/DVD play, regardless of brand or country of origin, has a transport made in Asia. There was only 1 exception that I know of. Linn used to make a Redbook only transport that went in their high end units. I don't know if its still in production.

Not unusual for a company with high end pretensions to rebadge a more plebeian component. Either Stereophile or TAS ran a column about a Lexicon SACD player about which Lexicon claimed that its innards consisted of a highly modified and inproved sounding Oppo. Upon removal of the top, the author discoved a totally unmodified, stock Oppo. The Lexicon was listed at about 2 1/2 times the price of the Oppo. But, of course, pretty boxes always sound better. May be why some high end audio companies put 40% or so of the cost of manufacturing into the faceplate.

"May be why some high end audio companies put 40% or so of the cost of manufacturing into the faceplate."

Who does that?

I owned both the Ayre C-5xeMP and Muse Erato II, but have not
heard the Sony XA5400E. The Ayre was very nice sounding and I
would fully recommend it as a top notch disc player. I
thought the Muse was even better sounding on red book and
since it also played my DVD-A discs, I sold the Ayre and kept
the Muse.

The Ayre C-5xeMPis is not related to the Oppo. Ayre's short-
lived DX-5 A/V Engine used the Oppo as a platform. Not sure
why the DX-5 was discontinued but, in my case, I get the best
sound from my music server playing files through Pure Music.
Maybe Ayre is focusing on their digital offerings that do not
play discs. The only disc player still sold by Ayre is their
CX-7eMP, which I also owned and found to be good but not as
good as the C-5xeMP or the Muse Erato II.

Who does that? Read Art Dudley's column in the latest Stereophile. He berates those audio companies that put $1,000.00 worth of audio components in a #2,000.00 box. Art appears to one of the clearest thinking, most honorable audio reviewers. I say that even though I am poles apart from Dudley's socialist belliefs. But, of course, your expertise far surpasses that of those who rewiew for Stereophile.