Albert's comments are spot on. Likewise to my ears the Shunyata cables sound more natural. I would up the ante and suggest their Antares interconnects if you can swing it. The Altair and Antares ICs may be one of the best kept secrets in the current crop of cables. They have that magic combination of speed and phase coherency while delivering a deep tonal palette across the frequency spectrum. The Nordost I've heard have excellent quickness and clarity though they tend to be a bit harmonically thin - this may work better in some systems than others. Imo, the story remains the same with the speaker cables.
Good luck with your cable choices.
Tim
PS - try a set of Stillpoints under that Ayre CD player.