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Ayre vs Bel Canto?

I've currently an Ayre V5Xe that is in for repair and the dealer let me borrow a Bel Canto S300. Now, in a lot of ways it doesn't come close to matching the Ayre, but in many ways it also injects a lot of good things into my system that it seemed to be lacking. Not sure if this is because my amp was dying or just something the Bel Canto does better. Despite some of it's shortcomings I'm enjoying it quite a bit.. and this has me thinking about Bel Canto's better amps, specifically the REF500Ms or the REF1000M mkIIs

Has anyone ever compared these with the Ayre??? Used them in concert with Ayre equipment (I have a CX7e-MP and K5Xe-MP)? Or do you own them and can give me a mini review? other amps you compared them too etc?

Speakers are modded maggie 1.6s, cables are Synergistic Research.

Thanks
adwiegert

Showing 1 response by guidocorona

guidocorona
4,298 posts
 
I have no direct experience with AYRE amps, but have reviewed Bel Canto REF1000 Mk2, and more recently Ref500M on Positive Feedback. The Ref500M article is a comparative review discussing audible differences with Ref1000 Mk.2 (also called Ref1000M). The article can be found at:
http://positive-feedback.com/Issue50/bel_canto500.htm

G.
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