Ayre C 5xe Universal vs. Cary 306 SACD

I have Cary 306 SACD for 2 month now with 800 hour on it.
I have not hear the Ayre.
I use it with Calypso(with mullard 10M 12ax7) and JC-1 power amp, harbeth HL-5, alpha core cable.
the Cary red book sound so good to the point I am so emotionally envolved that I normally sit there for 4 hour every night until my wife get mad at me. I used to have sony sacd xa-9000ES with $1500 mod from referenceaudiomod which they claimed it will make the sony beat any player on the shelf.
the thing is,Cary beat it by a wide margin. the mod did make sony sound better but not enough.
I also have a vpi scout with blackbird cartidge and a class A phono pre-amp. I have Holy cole "don't smoke in bed" CD and LP, I just love the CD on cary over the LP on vpi.

SACD sound much better provided that it use the lastest recording technique(like the Yo-Yo-Ma solo)

Well, it looks like this thread finally picked up some traction. Nice to see.

On a side note...does anybody know if you can program individual tracks into the Ayre C 5xe for just those tracks to be played back? I need this capability for recording down to a Marantz DR-17 recorder. I know the Cary 306 SACD will do this already.

I also second the motion to have those users who have had the direct comparison experience to report on the Ayre/Cary differences specifically on Red Book, HDCD, and SACD. I am way more interested in Red Book performance because that's what I own more of and will also likely have access to in the future.

So, what's up, guys? CD, HDCD, and SACD. Break it down for us, please, in relationship to these players.

just back from the LA 2006 HT show.
lots of Ayre C5xe get used by the exibitor, non Cary 306.
so I have them to play my favour track on the Ayre. it is very good sound. in fact, any other rooms without it always sound a little "not right" for me.
oh yep, they sound very good, but just feel it is not quite emotionaly involved like cary. I could be wrong since I can't compare them side by side with the same other equipments.
my JC-1, Calypso with Mullard 10m + harbeth super HL5 with Cary 306 sound just soooo good and it would be the best sound if it out there on the show

Any opinions from experience on the 306 used as a decoder for external digital feeds? And does this machine have a true balanced analog architecture to go with its XLR outputs?

Yes, it has true balanced analog architecture. There is a wonderful review of the 306 in this month's TAS. It is a great machine.