Kurt_Tank,
I spent one afternoon today listening to the newly acquired Ayre K1-xe after leaving the unit on standby for 3 days. I did not however take the trouble of switching back to the First Sound since I know the First Sound very well. This is a quick summary.
Now first, pricing - The Ayre with phono and remote goes listed at about $10,550. The First Sound (with Philips SQ 7308) plus Pass XOno on Symposium rollerblocks, Kimber KS1030 and an extra Shunyata Taipan Helix Alpha add up to about $12,190. The rest of the setup remains unchanged.
Many consider the Ayre to be extremely quiet and yes, the Ayre is very detail and gives a very relaxed presentation. Images seem very organised, well-sized and composed and the soundstage moves back behind the speakers but still remains between the borders of my Thiel 2.4. Vocals appeared to be natural without any hint of mechanical tint. The flow of music is very smooth and at the same time very dynamic without any whisper of "solid state". Indeed, upon prolonged listening, I found myself enjoying the music and forgotten about accessing the sonic quality. Very very musical.
Now, if the Ayre is quiet, then the First Sound is dead-quiet. However, I thought the Ayre appears to dig out details better than the First Sound even with the latter creating a completely black background. The First Sound doesn't arrange images nicely like the Ayre but its soundstage is HUGE and even extends beyond the speakers. Images on the First Sound are razor sharp with dark spaces between music notes and vocals. The Ayre does projects a better presentation depth than the First Sound. So is the First Sound better? etc etc. Yes, with the First Sound, I often found myself taking up a music critic position, always ready to access the music and perhaps not enjoying it as much as I should. I will conclude that listening to the the First Sound is like a watching blu-ray and the Ayre is like watching standard DVD.
Moving on to the built-in phono, the Ayre again exhibits a slight hiss compared to the Pass XOno. I was initally worried that the Ayre phono will surrender using the Lyra Helikon SL. No I was wrong! The phono is really excellent and really sounds very much like the Pass. The only area which I thought the Pass performs better is in its bass which is more rounded and full. For a built-in phono, I was really surprised!
Do I prefer the First Sound/Pass Xono combo to the Ayre? Initially in the digital session, I really thought the First Sound outclasses the Ayre because the Ayre sound seems processed and sometimes too polite. But, the gap narrows so much upon moving to analogue. And that Ayre remote controls both the pre and my Ayre amp as well. I'm still undecided - It is a struggle between being a musiclover and an audiophile.
