EMC 1 MK II vs Ayre CX-7 Cd player????????

Pass X2.5 preamp, I am in the same boat and that's the one I will get for my X150. From research I have done, it seems matching the pass x series amps to an x series preamp is magical.

I agree re matching Pass pres to amps. It makes sense to simply link Nelson's first gain stage to the subsequent two, eh? I have an EMC-1 MkII in use with an all-Aleph chain, and am quite happy with it, yet see the closed thread (HELP Electro....) for details. I too am curious about this CX-7, as the DVD one is NOT tempting. Cheers.

I had a CX-7 for about a month and was not terribly thriled with it. Others would disagree, however.

Forgot your other query:
I'm really happy that I didn't screw around with other pres and simply got an AlephP to drive my Aleph 2 monos. The EMC-1 loves balanced operation. With your X150 I'd think you'd want to consider a used Aleph P or X-1, regardless of CDP used.