I have the C5xe..and yes there are some discs that Ayre doesn't like. You are right Ayre stuff does sound fabulous. I hope you are using yours balanced...the sound is much better on all Ayre products that are balanced. Michael is a great guy...he told me that silver discs are even more sensitive to scratches on the back (painted side) than on the silver side.
Problem with Ayre C-7xe CD player?
Today i was settling down for some listening and on a few CDs that used to work with no issues, the CD player was rejecting the CD midway through a song and ejecting it - this happened many times loading and unloading the CD. It was having trouble searching for songs, etc. Should I be nervous? Should I call Ayre, the unit is only 6 months old.