Ayre CX7e: Is the final mp upgrade worth the money


I finally landed an Ayre CX7e CD player, and it sounds great. I have read a review in Stereophile that the "mp" upgrade is not only worth it, but brings the sound closer to analog and to another level of performance.

Would like to hear from a few Ayre owners who own or owned a CX-7e player, and had the final "mp" upgrade done. Was there a noticeable or marked improvement in the sound quality to warrant the expense?? Thank you!!!
sunnyjim
Yes, and while you have it back at the factory have them check out the transport mechanism. They have changed to a new one that fixes the "will not play everything" problem that the original transport begins developing with age.
I agree with Ptmconsulting above. Absolutely, the MP upgrade is worth it. Great suggestion above on also having the factory install a new transport that includes a complete checkout of the CD player.

Pt consulting, do you know if they are using the same Pioneer transport on the CX7e as they used on the C5xe?
Another positive vote for the"MP" update/upgrade. Go for it! Sounds wonderful and is worth having Ayre check your transport to boot. Keep me posted & Happy Listening!= JA
I know the new transport is different from the original - different manufacturers. The original develops an intermittent problem with age where it just won't read some disks.
Thanks to all who have responded so far. PtC, thanks for the heads up about the transport.

After talking to MiKe at Ayre, I anticipated the cost to be about $250 plus shipping to Boulder Co. I am a little concerned about the install of a newer transport. However, I am not doing streaming, downloading, or ripping CD, just old fashion CD playback in the hope that it will sound excellent despite the half-ass recording of and re-mastering of many CD's