I have the ModWright 5400es. It is the best digital front end I have heard, besting my audition of the Ayre CD player and QB9 DAC and ARC cd players.
Ayre CX-7eMP vs Sony SCD-XA5400ES vs Oppo BDP 95
I own an Ayre CX-7eMP and have been very satisfied with its sound on Redbook CDs. I recently bought an Epson 8700UB projector (awesome) and started considering buying the new Oppo BDP-95 to replace my current Denon BluRay transport for improved picture quality and streaming from Netflix.
Since the BDP-95 is differentially balanced through its XLR connections and has "State of the Art" DACs and a Rotel toroidal transformer, I was hoping that it might replace the Ayre for Redbook CD playback ( as well as playing SACD) in addition to serving as a top-notch BluRay player/streamer.
Unfortunately, several posts on the BDP-95 on AVSForum indicate that the BDP-95 does not equal the sound quality of hi-end dedicated CDPs like the Ayre, so this may change my plans.
I then noticed that there is a good deal of positive buzz about the Sony SCD-XA5400ES as a dedicated CD/SACD player. One poster on Stereophile.com even stated that the XA5400ES was much better sounding than his CX-5eMP.
I could buy the XA5400ES for 2 channel playback AND the Oppo BDP-93 (non-audiophile version of the BDP-95) for BluRay for roughly what I could sell my Ayre CX-7eMP for. I would appreciate feedback from anyone who has directly compared sound of the CX-7eMP or CX-5eMP to the XA5400ES and/or the Oppo DMP-95.
Thanks as always for your help.
Dave
Since the BDP-95 is differentially balanced through its XLR connections and has "State of the Art" DACs and a Rotel toroidal transformer, I was hoping that it might replace the Ayre for Redbook CD playback ( as well as playing SACD) in addition to serving as a top-notch BluRay player/streamer.
Unfortunately, several posts on the BDP-95 on AVSForum indicate that the BDP-95 does not equal the sound quality of hi-end dedicated CDPs like the Ayre, so this may change my plans.
I then noticed that there is a good deal of positive buzz about the Sony SCD-XA5400ES as a dedicated CD/SACD player. One poster on Stereophile.com even stated that the XA5400ES was much better sounding than his CX-5eMP.
I could buy the XA5400ES for 2 channel playback AND the Oppo BDP-93 (non-audiophile version of the BDP-95) for BluRay for roughly what I could sell my Ayre CX-7eMP for. I would appreciate feedback from anyone who has directly compared sound of the CX-7eMP or CX-5eMP to the XA5400ES and/or the Oppo DMP-95.
Thanks as always for your help.
Dave