Dartzeel 108 vs Ayre Mr-X

Just to add a note of balance here, I'm sure that everyone is accurately describing their listening experiences. However, please be aware that the Ayre MX-R's have a very expensive ultra-high speed, ultra-low loss PCB material. It cost over 20x what the standard audio grade fiberglass PCB material costs.

The only problem with it is that it takes about 2 or 3 weeks of continuous play to fully break in.

So if you have listened to them at a dealer that has had them on constant display for many weeks or months, you will probably think they sound pretty good. Same story if you buy them and live with them for a while.

But if the dealer has just gotten them, or switches them in and out of the system constantly, they won't be at their best and you will probably leave the showroom scratching your head wondering what all the fuss is about.

The bottom line is that an in-home demo with well broken-in equipment is always the best route with any brand. Then you can hear it with your equipment, in your room, with your music. Even then you won't be hearing the equipment at its best. You'll want to tweak it, playing with "footers", power cords, et cetera. Most of this can only happen after you've made the purchase. So things can only get better from what you hear at the in-home demo. Hope this helps.

MJF,

Thank you for confirming that there is a substantial break-in time on the Ayre "R" series components. I wish that this weren't so, as it would greatly simplify the purchase decision making process. Unfortunately, this is one of the drawbacks to using that particular PCB material.

As a manufacturer, there is always the choice either to build products that make a great impression in the short- term or to make products that provide great satisfaction in the long term. We at Ayre have always chosen the latter.

Best regards,
Charles Hansen

Mike,

You make a good point. I don't think that anybody can get the full measure of any component unless they live with it for several months. First it needs to break in fully. Then you need to try different racks/shelves, footers, power cords, interconnects, et cetera to make sure you're getting the most out of it.

Obviously this is impossible for most people before they make a purchasing decision. So you have to do the best you can, visiting dealers, reading reviews, et cetera. But no matter what you still have to make a leap of faith at some point and choose. It's kind of like getting married. You can't date all the women in the world, let alone live with them for a year or two. So at some point you just have to make that leap of faith and make a commitment.

Luckily, some of the other important factors can be found out more quickly than the sound quality. Like the looks. It doesn't take a four month in-home trial to figure out if you like the way it looks. Or features. If you need 8 inputs on a preamp, you can rule out a lot of products right away.

Some stuff takes a bit more work, but still less than an exhaustive in-home audition. For example, you can search the on-line forums and get a pretty good idea about customer support or resale value or reliability, or the ability to drive difficult loads.

There's no "right" or "wrong" choices in this hobby. If you come home from work, put some music on and it sounds good to you, then you're ahead of the game. If you find yourself listening to more music (and more kinds of music) than you used to, then you're pretty much done.

Charles Hansen
Ayre Acoustics, Inc.