I had just received the Ayre CD from Music Direct last week and just played it yesterday. I have difficulty with subtle improvements if I am not doing a side by side comparison but I will say my system sounded great and for $20 I will continue to play the CD on a regular basis.
What I can say is that I added Cardas Audio Multi Blocks last month to get all of my cables off the floor and segregated and with that I can say my system opened up with a noticeable improvement.
It is another inexpensive adjustment and I am a believer in the sum of all parts.