Ayre ex-8 2.0 vs Bel Canto e1x

I finally abandoned the Bel Canto e1x... impossible to demo where I live (France) and not yet ready to take the 'class D' turn.

I will demo an Ayre EX-8 this week-end alongside an Electrocompaniet ECI 6 DX MKII... in the meanwhile I have a nice bargain for an Ayre AX-7e (still under warranty). With the huge price gap with the EX-8, I can afford a nice DAC/Streamer as the one embedded in the EX-8 might be a little it limited.

Anyone compared the EX-8 vs the AX-7e when it comes to the analog part?

Thanks

I used the AX-7e with an Ayre Codex DAC to drive a pair of Harbeth SHL5+ for many years, When the EX-8 came out my dealer loaned it to me for 3 weeks. The EX-8 with built-in DAC was a dramatic improvement over ther AX-7e.  I compared the amp and DAC separately and each was better than the AX7e/Codex, individually and together. The DAC in the EX8 is much better than the Codex which is really good to begin with.

Eventually I went with the Aesthetix Mimas but the EX-8 was a very close second. The AX-7e is still a great sounding amp for a lot less money than the other 2 but if you are looking for better sound and the budget works for you the EZX-8 is a winner

I managed to listen to the EX-8 2.0 at my local hifi store, side by side with the Electrompaniet ECI 6DX MKII. I wanted to compare their streaming capabilities, but my dealer had a network issue and we could not access to Qobuz. We ended up listening to a Naim CD player connected to the unbalanced entries, with only 2 CDs available: Eric Clapton (Unplugged) and Roger Waters (Amused to death). The amps were feeding a pair of Magico A1 (amazing sound for their small size)

I don't master all audiophile terminology, but in short:

- The Electrompaniet sounded "muddy". Clapton's guitar sounded dull, upper frequencies were all but refined and mids/bass were somehow intermingled into a lifeless soup. Soundstage was narrow like stuck between the speakers and we switched to the Ayre after less than 10 minutes.

- With the Ayre, sound stage incredibly opened up and music filled the entire room. Clapton's guitar sounded like a real guitar, and we felt him sitting and playing in front of us. Water's intro in What God Wants was dramatic and the creaking door during the first minutes gave us shivers. This amp sounds really good. The only mixed feeling was about its bass that were IMHO lacking a bit of power and speed at least in my listening set up... and I could not listen to its internal streamer/dac but only to its analog part.