In my listening to Ayre vs. Lux, McIntosh, Naim, and Bryston, Ayre comes out on top for transparency, clarity, imaging, and control. Naim feels more dynamic or punchy, but Ayre out points in all other areas. This is based on their lower tier separates using their CD player.
Integrateds: Luxman vs. Ayre?
This shootout is between the Luxman 507x and Ayre EX-8 2.0
Currently I own a Luxman 507x. Rather happy with it... but...
I use a separate streamer (Pi/Roon) and DAC (Mytek Brooklyn) for music and an external Anthem processor to feed it HT 2 channel.
My thinking is, the EX-8 would let me eliminate the DAC/streamer AND it has a separate sub out.
The issue is I've not heard the Ayre integrated, only the separates and I really like them, though they do seem to have a distinct sound to them.
Thoughts?