hi sally:
i heard one of these players at ces, in the ayon room. i was not impressed. doesn't sound like there is a tube in it, yet there is.
the presentation sounded more like solid state than tubes. |
This pains me but I agree with tennis.
Not impressive at all factoring in the price. |
Hi,
My friend owns the CD-1 and brought it over.This players sounds wonderful has detail with prat and a very nice midrange.
I have heard and had players that cost more and in my system they were not close to this player.As is the norm you would need to try in your system but I doubt you would be disappointed.
All systems are different and I believe this player has a trial period.
Best of Luck,Bob |
Here is a copy of what audiogon member -mrtennis- posted back on 4-10-06 about CD Players!
i like a dull, veiled, laid,back, boring sound capable of putting me to sleep. i hate treble and i don't like detail. i like subtractive coloration to such an extent that all recordings sound the same. you can talk about detail, neutrality all day long.
if you don't tap your foot, it doesn't matter.
i want to relax, not bothered by detail or dynamics. veil the sound and cut off the highs. darkness and dullsville is my motto, by choice. thick caramel syrup makes me happy.
Mrtennis (Threads | Answers)
04-10-06
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03-20-2008 - Wow... Tone Deaf Perhaps.
Here is a link to the CD-1 Review -
http://dagogo.com/AyonCD-1Spirit.html
No wonder he cannot appreciate the beautiful music the Ayon CD Player extracts from a CD. I own the CD-1 and I have owned the Oracle, Bluenote Stibbert, Lector 7, Cary and the Ayon CD-1 is indeed by far more dynamic, visceral, fluid and sweet. Yes, it does sound better than the models I listed above. This is the best CD Player I have ever heard and owned and recommend this product if you are searching for the best soundstage.
MLK |
Allow me to humbly submit that I have just had my review of the Ayon CD-1 and Ayon Spirit integrated published on Dagogo.com
Here's the link:
http://www.dagogo.com/AyonCD-1Spirit.html
The CD-1 is an extremely fine sounding player. Part of the beauty of it is that for being a tube player it has a crispness similar to SS sound but without he edginess. It's quite refined. |
Plain and simply the finest sounding Player I have encountered under 6k |
preference and perception are two different phenomena.
what i like and what i hear are independent of each other.
what i heard was based upon an audition at ces. i then discussed what i heard with a representative of the company displaying the ayon products. he agreed with me that the player was not warm or tube like.
if you like the sound of solid state you may appreciate this player.
one may criticize my taste, but no one has evidence that i am misperceiving what i hear. |
If this unit sounds "solid state" it has just sent a benchmark for how to buld a player that is true to the music and presents it in an analog manner.
Far too many tube players out there are rolled off,veiled,have tubey bottom ends to them and lack retrieval of information capabilities.
The 6H30's do add that "clear sound" vs "frosted sound"
to the Ayon.
But there is no way this player does not have the natural harmonic timbre we associate to tubes.
I myself switched out the stock 6H30's for some NOS DR 6H30
tubes and also replaced the stock 6922's with some Telefunken E188CC's so there are definately tubes in there.
The unit does sound fantastic stock,but tube rollers and tube cd player lovers fear not you can tweak the Ayon to sound a bit different if you wish.
And I guess if you are a solid state CD player guy you can buy this one forget it has tubes in it and have the best solid state player you find(but there are tubes in there)
So in a nutshell this player fits the needs of both the solid state and tube player enthusiast
Better yet it fits the needs of great cd playback in an analytical and gray digital world. |
I heard the Ayon CD-1 in a dealer showroom, and compared with the Ayre CX-7e. The Ayre is very nice and has better base extension, tighter imaging, and a fuller plate of tonal colors, but to my ears the Ayon is the better sounding of the two with more involving PRAT akin to single ended amplification, liquid midrange, and overall a sweeter overtone.
Subtle details and gradual degradation of musical notes are better portraited through the Ayon, which coupled with its more 3 dimensional imaging makes music more lively. It may not be the typical tubey sounding breed, but nevertheless a very find performer. |
Greeni,
Did you get a chance to compare the CD-1 to the CD-3?
What dealer did you do your listening at?
Thanks.Sally |
Hi Sally
No I did not get a chance to hear the CD-3
The dealer is Jadis Electronics in HK, where I am staying until April. Jadis is the authorised dealer in the area for both Ayon and Ayre. |
Greeni,
Which player did you end up buying?
Thanks.Sally |
Sally, my new Ayon CD-1 arrives tomorrow. I'll let you know how it compares to my Consonance 2.2 once I've had a chance to listen. The distributor has a money back offer, so if it doesn't live up to expectations, you can send it back. |
Sally
I have been enjoying my Resolution Audio Opus 21 CDP(using DIN output). The Opus is one of the most muscial and analogue sounding player for the price. You will find lots of discussion on this player by doing a search on 'Gon.
If I don't already own the Opus most probably I would have brought myself the Ayon. |
Hchilcoat-please don't be too quick to judge the Ayon for the sake of this thread.
The unit does take a bit of time to break-in
The owners manual will advise just how to burn it in.
This is not one of those "turn it on and let it repeat for 50 hours scenarios"
The best way to break the Ayon in is to initially let it play for 5-8 hours and shut it down overnight.
Let the unit play for another 8 hours and shut it down.
Repeat this procedure until about the 50 hour mark and the unit is about 90% broken in.
I believe Ayon prefers this break-in procedure because it allows the caps affilliated with the 6H30 circuit to go
thru the "charge and dis-charge" process which actually breaks the caps in much better than continuous play. |
Hchilcoat, Congrats on your new CD-1. I've heard it should break-in 200 hrs. The things I've read and heard about the CD-1 and CD-3 ahev been great.
Where did you end up buying yours at?
Please let me know what you think as I am considering one also.
Sally
Greeni, Did you get a chance to listen to the Ayon CD-1 or CD-3? If so, where? Thanks. Sally |
Sally
Go back to my earlier reply in case you missed it.
I heard the Ayon CD-1 and Ayre CX-7e in Jadis Electronics in HK. Jadis carries both brands. Here is the link http://www.21hifi.com/jadis/
I did not get a chance to listen to the CD-3. According to Jadis the CD-3 has been sold out in HK and is currently on back order. |
Sally and Darealjaydee,
The unit I purchased was the review unit from the recent Dagogo review, so Doug Schroeder did the hard work of breaking it in. I bought the unit from USA Tube Audio. I have enjoyed working with them and previously bought my amp there too. They are really responsive and great to deal with.
I listened to the Ayon for several hours after I received it Tuesday. I'll only send preliminary impressions now, since one day is hardly enough to make a judgement! It took a while to warm up because it had not been used for a while during shipping. Impressions on first listening are very positive. I have been thinking of getting new speakers and mentioned this to Charlie at USA Tube Audio. He said to try the Ayon, you might not need new speakers. I was skeptical about that as a sales pitch, but I have to admit that I am less interested in new speakers after I added the Ayon CD-1. Clearer sound, deeper bass, less "honk" on vocals. More 3-d soundstage and more detail. I am quite pleased so far, but as I said too early to say much more. Can't wait to spend more time listening, although the demands of daily living might be getting in the way of extended listeing for a while.
I'm planning on taking the Ayon over to a friend's house tomorrow night. He has a very nice system with Wilson Puppy 7 speakers and Pass Amp/preamp, so we'll see what he thinks compared to his vinyl set up.
That's it for now.
Howard |
Howard.
Keep me posted on your findings. The Ayon specs alone are very impressive. It's much cheaper to get a good CD player than new speakers. Ha.
I like it that Ayon has a money back guarantee.
Sally |
Sally,
I purchased the CD-3 unit from USA Tube Audio about 2 months ago and just started to do critical listening about 2 weeks ago now that I purchased a Pass Labs preamp. Overall, Id have to say that the CD-3 is quite impressive. The sound quality in terms of musicality and detail are what I like best about the unit. I had a Musical Fidelity before and the high end tended to be a bit grainy and thin as opposed to the CD-3 which is much more realistic and with much more detail. Low end is better as well -- it is not mushy but rather has tight punch. The unit is built quite impressively solid and simple. The anti-vibration features built into the feet are pretty cool and the remote is almost absurdly solid. One factor that made me ok with a sizeable purchase like this is the level of support from USA Tube Audio which included everything you could ask for: service with very quick response times and courtesy.
John |
The CD-1 looks similar to the Raysonic 128 and certain other parts are also the same (Sony 213Q transport). Is the "Made in Austria" component extra circuitry or tweaking done after initial manufacture (in PRC?). |
Hi sboez23,
The Ayon Audio CD-1 and the Ayon CD-3 were in manufacture for sometime before Raysonic presented their, Copy.... of the Ayon's. Many manufacturers will use Sony, Phillips or other transports, since just a handful of electronics firms make them. Actually the cases look similarm but they are really quite different and without a doubt, other than the transports used, the circuit design, internal boards, tubes, components which most are from Germany, parts used in the Ayons; the two brands are in no way the same, but dramatically different. How do I know this, I previously owned a Raysonic and when I purchased the Ayon, I opened them up and compared them. Different as night and day. By the way, the factory and the distributor also confirmed this for me. Hope that helps.
MLK |
the tube output stages also function quite differently
than the Raysonic and Shanling.
The Raysonic uses 2 tubes for the S/E output(middle two tube #2 and #3) and 2 tubes for the XLR output (outer tubes
tube #1 and #4)
The Ayon CD-1 incorporates all 4 tubes in it's output stage
which consist of 2 6H30 tubes and the oversized caps associated with them along with 2 6922.
The CD-3 uses 4 6H30 tubes.
The shape of the Raysonic,Shanling and Ayon look similar,however,the size of the Ayon's chassis is different than that of the Raysonic and Shanling.
The Shanling and Raysonic are essentilly the same chassis with both compainies products chinese made.
Raysonic has a base in Canada,however,it is a Chinese company along with Shanling.
Don't get me wrong there are some fantastic Chinese based compainies out there now including Cayin along with Raysonic and Shanling.
The Ayon is Made in Austria where the Euro is much higher than the US dollar making the Ayon a great value for what
it's being offerred at here in the US.
That same being said for the Raysonic and Shanling where production and labor cost are still very low in China allowing them to also offer a great value product. |
Hello.
Why is the upsampling not as high as the 'Super Nova' by Simaudio or some of the other $6000 up players?
Thanks.Sally |
Sally
6moons just posted the review on Ayon CD-1 and granted it a reward. The review also covers a brief comparison with the Raysonic. |
Sorry, 6 moons granted the Ayon CD-1 an award (not reward). Typo. |
I've had a bit of time to listen to my Ayon CD-1 and I have been delighted. Just to add that I took the CD-1 to a friends last week and compared it to his heavily modded Sony SACD. He has a nice set up with Wilson Watt Puppy 7's and Pass amp/preamp. On his system, I really enjoyed the CD-1 and prefered it to the SOny. Of course, I was not unbiased, but given the return option for the Ayon I was listening quite critically. I found the Ayon more engaging: Highs were crystal clear without being bright, bass tight and deep, very musical throughout the range (blah, blah, blah -- the reviews say it better, but I was happy to be keeping the Ayon). My friend liked the Ayon, but was not won over in the session. He thought the Sony had more weight, but was impressed with the detail of the detail and musicality of the CD-1. He enjoyed the Ayon, but did not feel moved to give up the Sony for the Ayon.
Anyway, I'm a happy customer. |
Has anyone in the threads above compared the Ayon to other similar tube-based CDP's in the same general price range? Such as -- Opera Audio Droplet, a used Audio Aero Capitole MKIIse?
Also, based on the dramatic extremely positive effect I have had with having tubes cryogenically treated, I would HIGHLY recommend this as a cost effective 'tweak'for the tubes in the Ayon (or ANY other tube CDP).
Cheers! |
I thought Raysonic made the players for Ayon.And have stopped becuase Ayon was not suppose to sell in the US. |
Hi talk2me,
Raysonic positivley does not manufacture the Ayon Audio products from Austria. In fact if you compare them side by side, they are indeed different and when you open them and compare them, they are completely different. Listen to a Raysonic and then listen to an Ayon, a Tone Deaf person can hear the differance. There is no substitute. Take a minute and read the 6moons review on the Ayon CD-1, it's all there in black & white and some color too! The Ayon is really hard to beat..... |
The latest issue of Hi-Fi+ confirms that the Ayon CD player is manufactured in China. |
This China connection, what nonsense. I read on a UK hifi blog, that the UK Ayon distributor declined a request to freebie the unit to the reviewer. Hence the reviewer prints incorrect data? Is it an error or other? Now they will be posting a correction, and an apology.
MLK |
>>I read on a UK hifi blog.......<<
Always a good source of reliable information those blogs. |
Dear Audiogoners
.
I would like to clarify the incorrect information written by Hi Fi + magazine out of the UK. The UK Ayon Audio distributor, Metropolis, has already brought it to the attention of HiFi + magazine, to also include Ayon Audio Austria that they have misinformed their readers.
Ayon Audio products are not engineered in Europe and then manufactured in China as the reviewer wrote in error.
The Ayon Audio product line-up consists of hi-end audio products which are 100% engineered and built at the facility in Gratkorn, Austria. Ayon Audio also manufactures the more value oriented hi-end audio products, based on cutting edge designs, of which parts are sourced from around the globe. Global parts sourced, consist of about 20%, & 80% Austrian.
For more information, please feel free to contact Ayon Audio USA, Charles Harrison directly.
If you are up to it, or you find yourself in Austria, your visit to the Ayon Audio facility is most welcomed, it is very impressive!
Ayon Audio USA
Ayon Audio Austria
www.ayonaudio.com
www.ayonaudiousa.com
Charles Harrison
1-888-593-8477 |
Got a Cd1-s like a month ago.
Simply outstanding. No more no less. |
