I'll assume that response was meant for me. Don't get me wrong.... I'm not saying there aren't players out there that sound better than Ayre's own when used with other Ayre components. I just haven't had the pleasure of listening to one yet. I didn't go out and blindly buy all Ayre gear because I believe in system synergy. I've demoed quite a mix of things over the years, including bryston, in single manufacture systems and mixed. I still go hang out at dealers and listen to different systems just because. It's fun.
All the times I've heard Ayre systems though I always come back to the Ayre players as the ones that sound best to me. Thus my comment. And thus I have an all Ayre system.
And yes I've listened to the Bryston, both in a Bryston system and with other mixed gear. I've listened to a lot of Bryston components over the years.
I bought what sounded best to me... although that was before the C5x came out :)
