And another vote for neutral. I just bought a KX-5 Twenty Pre-amp and it is breaking in nicely. I will add to the neutral that it does offer a warmth not usually associated with solid state. I have had a C5xe-mp CD player for years and I found it to be very analog and still enjoy it.
I must add that I traded a Audio Research Ref5se in on the Ayre and was hesitant but knew this was the direction I wanted to take my system and I am not looking back. One other thing I have noticed is the Sound stage is much deeper than I would have expected. A few issues that I didn’t see coming was the lack of a trigger due to the AyreLink and although not Ayre’s doing, the darned remote codes are the same as my Marantz AV8505 PreAmp processor, which has created some inconvenience.
I must add that I traded a Audio Research Ref5se in on the Ayre and was hesitant but knew this was the direction I wanted to take my system and I am not looking back. One other thing I have noticed is the Sound stage is much deeper than I would have expected. A few issues that I didn’t see coming was the lack of a trigger due to the AyreLink and although not Ayre’s doing, the darned remote codes are the same as my Marantz AV8505 PreAmp processor, which has created some inconvenience.