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Ayre C 5xe Universal vs. Cary 306 SACD

Has anyone done a direct (as in same system), thorough comparison of these two players? If so, please let us know if you were able to compare their performance on both red book CD's and SACD’s and how it turned out. Some back ground about the setup, gear, music material, etc. would be helpful, too. Thanks.
kalan

Showing 2 responses by taoh2

taoh2
6 posts
 
I have Cary 306 SACD for 2 month now with 800 hour on it.
I have not hear the Ayre.
I use it with Calypso(with mullard 10M 12ax7) and JC-1 power amp, harbeth HL-5, alpha core cable.
the Cary red book sound so good to the point I am so emotionally envolved that I normally sit there for 4 hour every night until my wife get mad at me. I used to have sony sacd xa-9000ES with $1500 mod from referenceaudiomod which they claimed it will make the sony beat any player on the shelf.
the thing is,Cary beat it by a wide margin. the mod did make sony sound better but not enough.
I also have a vpi scout with blackbird cartidge and a class A phono pre-amp. I have Holy cole "don't smoke in bed" CD and LP, I just love the CD on cary over the LP on vpi.

SACD sound much better provided that it use the lastest recording technique(like the Yo-Yo-Ma solo)
taoh2
6 posts
 
just back from the LA 2006 HT show.
lots of Ayre C5xe get used by the exibitor, non Cary 306.
so I have them to play my favour track on the Ayre. it is very good sound. in fact, any other rooms without it always sound a little "not right" for me.
oh yep, they sound very good, but just feel it is not quite emotionaly involved like cary. I could be wrong since I can't compare them side by side with the same other equipments.
my JC-1, Calypso with Mullard 10m + harbeth super HL5 with Cary 306 sound just soooo good and it would be the best sound if it out there on the show
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