I just purchased the Ayon Stealth XS and the CD-T II together. I received them one week ago and I have not been able to stop listening since. I am thrilled with my purchase. I took a big chance buying this setup sight unseen. Sure, I could return them had I not been satisfied but at considerable expense. I listened to different DACs in Atlanta, including the DCS Bartok. Any of these expensive DACs were undoubtedly fine pieces. After using an ARC CD player for the last 15 years I wanted to have the ability to still spin discs but also have a DAC that would allow me to step into the world of Hi Res Audio and streaming audio. My focus had been on my vinyl rig. I would play CDs when I wanted to hear newer music or just didn't want to bother with setting up a record. Typically, I could listen to one maybe two CDs and then I was done. After one week I have put 65 hours on the Ayon combo. I can't say enough about how impressed I am with this CD player and DAC. I'll compare it to vinyl since that I know. This Ayon system creates a sound stage as big and wide as my vinyl rig. The imaging is sharply focused and places voices and instruments front to back perhaps slightly better than my vinyl rig. Turn out the lights and the room disappears. I hear detail on my CDs that I have not ever heard before. Low level detail and sweet highs that shatter all of my beliefs about digital going back to the 80s. I find this Ayon setup quite remarkable.
I struggled to find much information about this equipment so I will share what I know now that I have these pieces in my listening room. First, the CD-T II transport has multiple output connections. This transport has 2 ECC84 vacuum tubes in the output. They are rated for 8000 hrs but the manual recommends changing them at 6000 hrs. As far as I can tell the tube output is only for the single BNC, RCA Coax, and AES outputs. The transport has duplicates of these connectors for transistor output as well plus Optical. Now, the transport also features an I2S output using a RJ45 ethernet cable and a 3 BNC configuration for DSD output. As far as I can tell, these outputs are solid state. I have not yet gotten a clear answer on that. I2S output is PCM, 88.1kHz. DSD output through three BNC cables (DSDL, DSDR, WCLK) is 128kHz. The manual says this player is 256k capable but not yet activated, whatever that means. The transport feels like a solid block of aluminum. Fit and finish are top notch. All connectors on the back are solid and well laid out.
The Stealth XS is also a solid aluminum chassis. It's inputs mirror the CD-T II outputs but with one additional input- USB B. The Stealth uses 4 6Z4 tubes for rectification and 4 6N6P tubes in the analog output. The tubes are rated for 4000 hrs. Neither unit gets very hot although I cannot keep my hand over the vents for the tubes for very long.
The Stealth also has two RCA analog Line inputs and one RCA Line output. It has a volume control so that this DAC can also be used as a preamp. The volume control can be bypassed. I am using my ARC Ref 5SE preamp. I hooked up the Stealth direct to my Amplifier once. Sound didn't seem any different to me including sound stage and imaging. I did hear some quiet clicks through the speakers when switching inputs from USB to DSD that I do not hear when going through the preamp. Probably because the gain is much lower when feeding into my preamp. The Stealth has switches to select low and high gain and direct or preamp.
The only other user selectable option is Filter 1 and Filter 2. These are very subtle. I am not even sure that I hear a difference between the two. The Stealth shows PCM 88.2kHz when using the I2S input from the CD-T II. DSD 128 when using the 3 BNC connections and PCM 44.1 kH when using the single BNC connection. To me, the DSD is the best sounding with the I2S a close second. (I bought 3 Nordost Silver Shadow BNC cables and an AQ RJ45 cable). The single BNC on the tube output was better than my old CD player but not near as good as the first two options.
Now a bit on the streaming performance. I loaded a trial subscription of ROON onto my MacBook Pro just to test streaming. My intent is to build a server using an NUC PC. I bought an AQ USB C to USB B cable. First, I played a CD that had been ripped into my iTunes music files. That is no good. I downloaded a CD Ripper that creates a FLAC file from a CD. I also set up ROON to output in DSD format. The USB showed up as DSD on the Stealth display. The FLAC file sounded good but not quite as good as spinning the disc on the CD-T II. Without the CD-T II I would have probably been satisfied with FLAC.
Next, I downloaded some sample Hi Res audio files. These sound good. I haven't found enough music yet to definitely call it better than CD but so far it is sounding good.
I must say here too that the remote controls for these units are like aluminum billets. They are solid and heavy.
Anything else that I think of I will add. Now, back to the music.
I struggled to find much information about this equipment so I will share what I know now that I have these pieces in my listening room. First, the CD-T II transport has multiple output connections. This transport has 2 ECC84 vacuum tubes in the output. They are rated for 8000 hrs but the manual recommends changing them at 6000 hrs. As far as I can tell the tube output is only for the single BNC, RCA Coax, and AES outputs. The transport has duplicates of these connectors for transistor output as well plus Optical. Now, the transport also features an I2S output using a RJ45 ethernet cable and a 3 BNC configuration for DSD output. As far as I can tell, these outputs are solid state. I have not yet gotten a clear answer on that. I2S output is PCM, 88.1kHz. DSD output through three BNC cables (DSDL, DSDR, WCLK) is 128kHz. The manual says this player is 256k capable but not yet activated, whatever that means. The transport feels like a solid block of aluminum. Fit and finish are top notch. All connectors on the back are solid and well laid out.
The Stealth XS is also a solid aluminum chassis. It's inputs mirror the CD-T II outputs but with one additional input- USB B. The Stealth uses 4 6Z4 tubes for rectification and 4 6N6P tubes in the analog output. The tubes are rated for 4000 hrs. Neither unit gets very hot although I cannot keep my hand over the vents for the tubes for very long.
The Stealth also has two RCA analog Line inputs and one RCA Line output. It has a volume control so that this DAC can also be used as a preamp. The volume control can be bypassed. I am using my ARC Ref 5SE preamp. I hooked up the Stealth direct to my Amplifier once. Sound didn't seem any different to me including sound stage and imaging. I did hear some quiet clicks through the speakers when switching inputs from USB to DSD that I do not hear when going through the preamp. Probably because the gain is much lower when feeding into my preamp. The Stealth has switches to select low and high gain and direct or preamp.
The only other user selectable option is Filter 1 and Filter 2. These are very subtle. I am not even sure that I hear a difference between the two. The Stealth shows PCM 88.2kHz when using the I2S input from the CD-T II. DSD 128 when using the 3 BNC connections and PCM 44.1 kH when using the single BNC connection. To me, the DSD is the best sounding with the I2S a close second. (I bought 3 Nordost Silver Shadow BNC cables and an AQ RJ45 cable). The single BNC on the tube output was better than my old CD player but not near as good as the first two options.
Now a bit on the streaming performance. I loaded a trial subscription of ROON onto my MacBook Pro just to test streaming. My intent is to build a server using an NUC PC. I bought an AQ USB C to USB B cable. First, I played a CD that had been ripped into my iTunes music files. That is no good. I downloaded a CD Ripper that creates a FLAC file from a CD. I also set up ROON to output in DSD format. The USB showed up as DSD on the Stealth display. The FLAC file sounded good but not quite as good as spinning the disc on the CD-T II. Without the CD-T II I would have probably been satisfied with FLAC.
Next, I downloaded some sample Hi Res audio files. These sound good. I haven't found enough music yet to definitely call it better than CD but so far it is sounding good.
I must say here too that the remote controls for these units are like aluminum billets. They are solid and heavy.
Anything else that I think of I will add. Now, back to the music.