Ayre Monoblocks vs. Linn Klimax Solo 500s

I have heard them both just not at the same time to do a fair AB comparison. However I can say that the Ayre caught me with much more impact than I ever remember getting out of the Linn. The local dealer sells both and it would be interesting to do AB comp. But I really feel safe in saying the Ayre would be better in every dimension. I just think the Ayre has a better grip on sound definition. I did sell and Ikemi to get a C5XE and have never looked back. Charles Hansen has a great knack for extracting the best and most natural accurate sound. Again just my opinion.

Ayre -- no debate as far as I'm concerned.

They are both good in their own regards, it just depends on what you're looking for. The one thing I hate about the Linn's is the fact that they are using Class D digital switching power supplys. If you start rocking out for an hour or so at a pretty good volume level you will notice the fans in the amps start humming. They are loud and annoying. Otherwise very good. Now the new MX-R's I haven't had a whole lot of time to listen to. However, they took me by surprise. I too personally own Sophia's but I didn't care for the LInn Klimax's in my system. I opted to get the Classe' Delta Cam400's. Those amps drive the Sophia's considerable better than the Linn's and with much more authority I might add.

Hi Matt, I didn't know the Linn's have dedicated fans for the switching power supply. I've always thought this kind of power supply is not generating much heat. The Classé's you've mentioned are far less powerful than the Linn's, but you think they have more authority. Could this be due to the fact that the Classé's have more dynamic limitation than the Linn + the fact that the Linn is much "faster" sounding? It is somewhat contradictory, but psycho-acoustically a less dynamic (and slower) amp can sound more "authoritative" than the less dynamically restricted and faster amp.

Chris

While it is somewhat outside of the scope of this thread, that's a good aural observation Dazzdax. Many people mistake apparent volume for SPL. In many cases, the apparent volume is actually a byproduct of distortion and the listening levels are not nearly as loud as they think. Systems that have extremely wide dynamic range without compression ( BOTH amps AND speakers ) can play VERY loudly without sounding strained. On such systems, one can very easily be listening at levels WAY beyond what they think to be "normal" with very little to no ear fatigue involved. Sean
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