Ayre CX-5 / CX-7


 A friend loaned me his Ayre CX-5 CDP to listen to in my system.  I am impressed, however, when attempting to research this player, I’ve come across different versions of this CDP.  What I find is the CX-5, the CX-5xe, and the CX-5xemp.  The back plate of my friend’s player simply identifies it as “CX-5” (no ex, or exmp).  The only information i have found so far, is that the mp is a version upgrade that supposedly takes this unit, and upgrades it to a much higher level.  My questions are:

#1  Do I have these model designations correct (CX-5, CX-5ex, CX-5exmp)?

#2. What is the difference between these three (CX-5, CX-5ex, CX-5exmp)?

#3.  I may be looking to purchase one of these, how do I identify which one is which?

#4. Also, is there sonically much difference between the CX-5 and the CX-7?

In advance, thanks for your input!

louisl

louisl

Good information as above. Keep me posted if you decide to buy the AYRE. 

These players are excellent and will bring you closer to the Music.

 

Happy Listening!

Is Ayre still around?  I thought that when Hansen passed away the company eventually folded a few years later 

They are still around although not a ton of new developments post Charlie Hansen. The only newish product I see listed is the KX-8 which appears to be a mashup of some of their existing 8 series products, though it does seem like a pretty nice multi-function all-in-one preamp/DAC/streamer.