Ayre C5xe or APL 3910 ?

I've auditioned the Ayre and its little brother the cx-7e. Both are wonderful. I have to admit I've become addicted to Ayre's house sound. (I own the K1xe preamp) My current CD player, the Sony XA777ES, is good but the Ayres are way more musical. (I hate it when audiophiles use the word musical. It reminds me of euphonic ie pleasing to the ear but not really accurate. The Ayres are dead on accurate but they are very musical in that there dynamics (macro and micro and inner detail bring out the true nature of music more then any other electronics I've ever heard.) I've auditioned the big Boulder and the big BAT and Krell CD players and none of them come close to the Ayre. The Boulder is analytical, the BAT gives a bigger, but less accurate sound with less extention on both ends, and the Krell is a bit bright. I am also going to purchase the Ayre C5xe is the next few months unless this threat points me to something I'm not now considering. If you are into accoustic instruments (classical, jazz) you will find the Ayre does wonders with the harmonic structure of guitar and piano stings.

I do have one odd concern about the C5xe (other then the price) and that's the dynamics. I'm faced with a delema that should please many audiophiles. The dynamics of the C5xe are much closer to live music then anything I've every heard. But I'm finding I don't necessarily want the full dynamics of live music for a lot of my listening. Even though I've invested thousands in audio to get to this happy dilema (Revel Ultra Studios, Krell FPB300cx amp) I'm having to consider the consequences. So for background music its actually not recommended.

I've heard both side by side, but it was very briefly so I am not comfortable being conclusive in my remarks here. I will say that the Ayre sounded very, very good, but not necessarily better (or even as good) as the APL. Since that audition, the APL has undergone a change to a new brand of DAC (moving from Crystal to AKM), which owners say transports it [good pun, eh?] to another level. (But people always say stuff like that.) The APL Denon has a tube in it, by the way, while the Ayre is solid state all the way.

The Ayre definitely wins on looks and ergonomics. He's dropped those silly, cryptic icons that are on the CX7 and gone to a more conventional presentation. I probably would buy an Ayre if it offered a digital input so I could use my computer as a source. APL offers a digital input option for the 3910.

Orjazzm,
Where do you live? You might post on the APL forum and see if there is an APL 3910 owner in your area. I too have not heard the Ayre, so I cannot comment thayre. But after 6 months of owning the APL 3910, I cannot hear a flaw in the reproduction.

Do let us know where you live.
Howard

Thanks for the response guys. Seems like 2 out of 3 audiogoners prefer the APL. Tvad, my systems consists of:

Gershman Acoustics Avantgardes
Passlabs X150.5
Denon DCM 260
Jolida JD100a with level 1 Parts Connexion mods.
JPS cables all around

System goal is to increase detail and resolution without becoming harsh and bringing out the natural sweetness of music. One thing I noticed about the APL is that it has volume control which is very appealing to me since I've sold my pre and have been using my old Denon multichanger that has a some attenuation. I've tried calling APL but no one answers, not even an answering machine, are they still in business?

Hi Howard, I'm located in NY, around the Long Island area.