Charles often participates over at the 'asylum, and I'm sure he'd personnally weigh in on this.
Has anyone tried modifying a CX-7e?
The Ayre CX-7e has been universally reviewed to be at least a "very good" redbook player, and some rate it even better, such as a couple of Stereophile writers who think it sounds better on Redbook than the C-5xe. Charles Hansen recently posted:
"The overall topology of the two players is quite similar -- ultra-low jitter custom designed master clock located within an inch of the DAC chip, Burr-Brown current output DAC chips allow us to use our own zero-feedback current-to-voltage conversion, fully-balanced zero-feedback audio circuitry, zero-feedback discrete regulators for both the audio and critical digital sections, et cetera, et cetera."
"The main difference is that the C-5xe is implemented with higher quality (ie, more expensive) parts. The PCB material is a high-speed material that costs roughly 7x as much as the normal audio grade fiberglass used in the CX-7e, the critical bypass capacitors are polystyrene and tin foil instead of aluminum metallized polypropylene, the audio circuitry is fully discrete instead of using monolithic parts, the resistors are custom developed audio grade parts that cost about 10x the Roedersteins used in the CX-7e, the critical power supplies are doubly regulated (eg, a regulator feeds another regulator), the DAC chip is a newer part with improved performance, et cetera, et cetera."
Based on Charles' comments, it seems there is at least some opportunity to modify or upgrade the CX-7e by at least upgrading the bypass capacitors (and possibly the resistors and regulators), to achieve even a higher quality sound on redbook. Have any of you heard a CX-7e modified with higher quality parts, or know of any reasons why that would be a bad idea (other than the usual "it voids the warranty")?
"The overall topology of the two players is quite similar -- ultra-low jitter custom designed master clock located within an inch of the DAC chip, Burr-Brown current output DAC chips allow us to use our own zero-feedback current-to-voltage conversion, fully-balanced zero-feedback audio circuitry, zero-feedback discrete regulators for both the audio and critical digital sections, et cetera, et cetera."
"The main difference is that the C-5xe is implemented with higher quality (ie, more expensive) parts. The PCB material is a high-speed material that costs roughly 7x as much as the normal audio grade fiberglass used in the CX-7e, the critical bypass capacitors are polystyrene and tin foil instead of aluminum metallized polypropylene, the audio circuitry is fully discrete instead of using monolithic parts, the resistors are custom developed audio grade parts that cost about 10x the Roedersteins used in the CX-7e, the critical power supplies are doubly regulated (eg, a regulator feeds another regulator), the DAC chip is a newer part with improved performance, et cetera, et cetera."
Based on Charles' comments, it seems there is at least some opportunity to modify or upgrade the CX-7e by at least upgrading the bypass capacitors (and possibly the resistors and regulators), to achieve even a higher quality sound on redbook. Have any of you heard a CX-7e modified with higher quality parts, or know of any reasons why that would be a bad idea (other than the usual "it voids the warranty")?
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