Ayon Vs. Audio Research Preamps

The Orbis is a little better % ? perhaps 5%
This pre has an even bigger power supply and the AC regererator built in gives it a clear sonic edge at $13k
it should be better But in the same respect the preamp in the Skylla 2 , or cd5s the dac is world class without any exceptions, the preamp will compete with any $10K
units out there with certaintly. I have freinds in Europe that have throw the book at this gear and the Ayon Never falters.A solid value without any reservation.
My setup BTW Is the Skylla2 using a external Harddrive
to Brystons excellent digital player which has several advantages ,for one it has no moving parts ,all flac files sound better through this player ,also the 3 Big Rcore transformers are not being shared by the player which does give a bit more headroom , and seperation only a few
% points thoughin absolute terms.They are both excellent
I did have the hassle of spending 100 hours over a month to put 500 cds on the External usb drive.I can say though the new HD downloads really add to proof that this is the wave of the future and with a Ipad or Droid you have all album art and your collection at the touch of a button
as well as files with all your favorites done in amoments notice I did have to spend $1500 for a Wreworld Platinum USB, and Digital xlr cable to make the system shine.
The cd5s is a superb machine and is excellent .I was just
making a statement if you are willing to restructure your whole music setup this is an option.

Thanks for your feedback Audioman. Gerhard assured me the Orbis is an excellent design, much different and a superior circuit design from the CD-5s. Have you compared the CD-5s & Orbis side by side? From Gerhard's comments, I would have expected the Orbis to provide a bigger improvement than that. Btw I haven't found a better tube pre under $20k than the Orbis & plan to upgrade to an Orbis later this year. As for HDD based music, yes I see the convenience and agree it's the future of digital audio, but I think if you compared a CD-5s running pre-amp out to an Ayon Orbis vs a server or HDD-based system, there would be no clear advantage to the latter (other than convenience).

Hifimaniac,

I am way late in offering some commentary - my apologies.
At this point, there's about 100 hours on it. The 1st 50 hours were quite low on the wow factor (quoting Darell Sheets...). Had me wondering what I just spent all this dough on. Safe to say shortly thereafter a noticeable front-to-back depth started to reveal itself. What really came out was (is) this extreme attention to the minutia, the little stuff that had me going to the front door to see who was knocking kinda stuff. When the source material hits all the marks - e.g. The Blind Boys of Alabama "Spirit of the Century", the CD5s brings out the kind of emotion that raises the proverbial hair on the back of one's neck. For a 100% tube compliment, bass is certainly not in any short supply. This report must also state that the speaker cables and and interconnects are a large part and parallel the performance attributes of the CD-5s. They are the 10th Anniversary Series Nebula cables from Dynamic Design. Unbelievable. But that's another report. The only and I mean only thing sonically that I'd have me ntion is that the reproduction of those sharp, 90 degree/square-edged reproduction of base drum or more specifically electronic bass beats. I'd describe them as being akin to a 1/2 inch radius. I've been a life-long solid state user and this is my first, real foray into the tube lide. Good examples are found on the first two Moby CD's. It is safe to say this will never leave my possession. It's that good.
Physical Cons:
The remote runs eats batteries once every 3 months. Wayyyy too many buttons for a devoted two-channel prodigy. It also has to re-calibrate almost every time I use it. The remote has to be "read" by the main unit. A little more rare is when taking out a CD that had 4 tracks, for example, when putting a new one in with 8-10 tracks, it still reads only 4 tracks. I am going to write Jerry at Ayon and find out what the Pilot is doing wrong that's likely corrupting the read. One other item is that there's a "Fixed" volume button on the remote. If you're not careful and hit it - volume is set at 0dB. Shocks the hell out of you. Thankfully, my system is robust enough to handle it.
Hope that helps.
Scott

Thanks for your post Scott. Fyi, the CD-5s needs a full 250hrs+ to fully open up and bloom, but I would say at 150hrs the players is 80% played in. Re: the remote, once you read the instruction manual & understand all the functions of the remote, you learn to recognize only the buttons you use every day. I haven't had the same problems with misreads of cd's as you have, so it might be a fault in your player? I also haven't had the same issues with batteries dying, but then again i'm using premium long life alkalines. As for the issue of inadvertently hitting the "Fixed" volume control, I don't have that problem as i'm also using my CD-5s as preamp, so I have the rear toggle set to "Direct amp" which automatically disables the "fixed" output button to protect your amp & speakers. Selecting "Direct amp" also automatically drops the volume to -40 on every power up for safety.

Scott, congratulation on a great player. After noise issues with esoteric k-03 I sold it and bought Ayon cd-5s. All I can say that finally I have my dream machine and pre-amp in this player is excellent. I sold my arc ref-3 several days after. Also thank you to advise form Melbguy1, I upgraded 6h30 tubes to nos 6h30p-dr 1986 reflector plant form parts connections (about $80-90 for a tube). Paul from Ayon USA also strongly recommends upgrading to Russian NOS tubes, and he is selling nos 1980 that according to him are the best, but they are very pricey. Please don’t hesitate to do this upgrade. As for remote, this is strange, I have had mine for 5 months and never had any issues.