Question on the Ayre sound
 

For the first time I heard an all Ayre system today with Sonus Farber Amatis at a local dealer. The reason I went in was to hear the Ayre QB-9 USB DAC. I did but it was not broken in yet so they substituted in the C-5xe mp universal disc player. I heard a somewhat forward, solid, and detailed sound. The upper mid range/lower high frequency area was slightly high-lighted and it had a forward sound stage. To those of you who know the Ayre sound, is this an accurate description, or was I mostly hearing the sound of the room?

I had an in-house audiotion of that very same player (I believe it was the same model - can't keep all those letters and numbers straight, it was a couple of years ago so it might have been an older model). Anyway, my impression of the sound was very similar to yours - especially the forward/detailed and some emphasis in the upper ranges. Not my cup of tea, but I could see how some people would really like that sonic signature.

Alberto

David.......There are so many variables when auditioning equipment, particularly in a dealer's show room. When auditioning a player of that caliber, the best you could hope for would be a weekend home demo with your gear, speakers and cables. There wasn't a single thing you were familiar with in the system auditioned. Were you listening to familiar music? Without listening to music you are intimately familiar with it becomes an even more difficult task to determine how gear and speakers sound.

If that is the house sound of Ayre, it is not my cup of tea either. It did have a level of ease and solidity that I liked. The reason I posted is because I suspect that under the right conditions it would sound much better/ or closer to something I would like. I basically like warm but clear and neutral, kinda like Carnegie Hall. I like the Mac sound, but would like to experiment with a touch more definition.

I agree. Unfortunately it is not so easy to get a loaner for a home audition in my neighborhood. I went in to hear the Ayre Dac, but it was not broken in yet. It sounded harsh. They then substituted in the CD player to give me an idea of how the dac would sound. I did play a CD I am very familiar with. The room was odd in that the speakers were probably 30 feet from the back wall. This may have adversely effected the sound. Back to the original question, how would you describe the Ayre house sound.

David, I am quite familiar with the Ayre C-5xeMP unit. Let me just say that a "forward soundstage" is much of a function of the speakers and their positioning in the room. The only way to actually determine if a CDP has a tendency of a forward soundstage is to listen to a few CDPs in the same system and compare.

In terms of the Ayre sounding forward overall or emphasizing the upper mids/lower highs, I don't agree. The Ayre sounds very balanced and coherent top to bottom. It is not a laid back or an overly analytical unit by comparison to others I've had in my system. I've compared it to the MCD/MDA combo and a few Krell CDPs. It is not as analytical and extraverted like the Krell 505 for example but it is a little more detailed and airy compared to the MDA.

The new MP filter goes a long way to eliminate the digital artifacts that exist with the D to A process such as to eliminate the pre-echo and post-ringing which does not occur with analog or real life musical waveform.

What you can expect from Ayre is that it sounds open, detailed, airy and very smooth. Now, the "smooth" part is the real difference here between the Ayre with MP filter and many other CDPs out there. It sounds "naturally smooth", when you spend some time listening to it, you will start to appreciate the fact that you can listen to a broad range of recordings and start to pick up on the fact that intentional guitar distortion for example sounds like distortion that is part of the musical content and what the musicians intended for you to hear while the dynamic range compression and clipped musical peaks sounds non-musical. With many other CDPs, the guitar distortion is often irritating as much as the dynamic range compressed musical content in the recording.

I found the Ayre to be a better overall CDP than even the mighty MDA1000/MCD1000 combo for my taste, it offered me a more realistic musical reproduction with a better defined and articulated, realistic bottom end, and an airy, silky smooth top end that is "naturally smooth" and extended.

Keep in mind that I am using a pair of Wilson speakers that are very revealing of upstream components and I have never experience any fatigue with the Ayre CDP unless the recordings were really terrible.

Trust me, the Ayre comes very close to that "perfect" digital reproduction, or as good as modern technology allows it to be. It doesn't over or under emphasize anything and sounds more natural than many, many CDPs out there. There is a reason why it is so popular with the reviewers. Like I said, I sold my MCD/MDA combo and I really liked that combo for sheer musicality. :yes:

Having heard an all Ayre system driving a new pair of Wilson Sasha, I really couldn't ask for much more from a system for a medium sized room and typical playback level and I am not easily impressed. :D Just to clarify, my taste in optimal sound includes a strong preference for rich harmonic content, smooth response without loosing detail and resolution and sound that has "meat on it's bones" and not harmonically or tonally threadbare. The Ayre delivers everything for my taste, especially in combination of other Ayre components such as KX-R and MXR in the same system. It is a sound that I can live with for a very long time. :music:

I'd suggest you borrow a unit to audition in your system, that is always the best approach. That's what I always try to do and had a chance to audition the C-5xeMP for a while in my own system before committing to it.

Great post. Very informative!

Hello Serge:

I appreciate your thoughts. What you describe is certainly something I would like to hear. (I am a fan of Wilson too.)
I suppose what I am looking for, in part anyway, is a touch more analog like ease and weight to digital sound. Yes, a little more air and definition too. Ideally, I would love a DAC that sounded like my Grado Reference cartridge, which gives female voices a certain weight and palpability. Is air and weight a contradiction?

Could you send me a message on who your dealer is. Perhaps they have or will have at some point a well broken in demo DAC. I am not that far away.

Well, the Ayre guys tried to achieve that "analog" ease, smoothness and proper weight with the MP filter. By the way, there are two settings on the back of the Ayre CDP, "Listen" and "Measure". One engages the new MP filter with both pre-echo and post-ringing elimination and the other is a little more conventional sounding. "Weight" and "air" is not a contradiction and the combination was present when I heard the new Wilson Sasha being driven by all Ayre and I get that in my own system from the Ayre C-5, KX-R and Lamm monoblocks driving the Sophia 2's.

I did see the USB DAC on the shelf by the way but I did not audition it. Stop by the Hi-Fi House in Jenkintown Pa and give it a listen.

I am planning on auditoning a C-5 next week. I have been waiting the past few weeks for the C-5 to be broken-in. I am going to listen to CD's as well as some hi-rez music I have burned to DVDs. Based on Serge's comments, I am looking forward to this.