I found a used Ayre cx7e on this site and ordered it to compare to the cambridge. I am new at this and not a reviewer but here are my thoughts:
Non - sound related: Not as important and easier to sum up. The Cambridge has a higher quality remote from a "percieved build quality" standpoint. Metal vs plastic. I use an old harmony remote but would consider keeping the Cambridge out to use. Not the ayre.
The cambridge reads disks faster. Cambridge display is LCD. To me, it looks like a high quality, mass produced item. The ayre looks more industrial but less common.
In my room, I sit about 12ft from the speakers and equipment. At that distance, the ayre screen can be read but I couldnt make out the cambridge display.
Sound - I ended up keeping the ayre and sending the cambridge back. Even though the cambridge would have been cheaper and allowed me to sell my DAC1.
In my room, the cambridge seemed too refined to me when compared to the ayre. The Cambridge smoothed out rought edges that in my room are better left rough.
In a smaller room, in closer proximity to the speakers I might have preferred the cambridge.
I changed my mind a couple of times during the month long demo of the cambridge. At one point, I decided that I preferred the ayre but that I ouwld rather have the extra money for something else. In the end, I decided that if I sold off the ayre and the dac1, it would bug me.
The esoteric was a very "different" sounding player (I could see someone calling it brittle but I liked it) and if I ever saw that model used I might pick it up but I cant bring myself to pay retail for it.
I will be putting together a small system in a study later in the year and want to try the cary and might even come back to the cambridge.
By the way, I had no problem at all returning the cambridge to audio advisors.
Non - sound related: Not as important and easier to sum up. The Cambridge has a higher quality remote from a "percieved build quality" standpoint. Metal vs plastic. I use an old harmony remote but would consider keeping the Cambridge out to use. Not the ayre.
The cambridge reads disks faster. Cambridge display is LCD. To me, it looks like a high quality, mass produced item. The ayre looks more industrial but less common.
In my room, I sit about 12ft from the speakers and equipment. At that distance, the ayre screen can be read but I couldnt make out the cambridge display.
Sound - I ended up keeping the ayre and sending the cambridge back. Even though the cambridge would have been cheaper and allowed me to sell my DAC1.
In my room, the cambridge seemed too refined to me when compared to the ayre. The Cambridge smoothed out rought edges that in my room are better left rough.
In a smaller room, in closer proximity to the speakers I might have preferred the cambridge.
I changed my mind a couple of times during the month long demo of the cambridge. At one point, I decided that I preferred the ayre but that I ouwld rather have the extra money for something else. In the end, I decided that if I sold off the ayre and the dac1, it would bug me.
The esoteric was a very "different" sounding player (I could see someone calling it brittle but I liked it) and if I ever saw that model used I might pick it up but I cant bring myself to pay retail for it.
I will be putting together a small system in a study later in the year and want to try the cary and might even come back to the cambridge.
By the way, I had no problem at all returning the cambridge to audio advisors.