Transporter vs Ayre CX-7e

The Ayer is clearly better. The CX-5 even more so. The properties you mentioned are much of what Ayre CD players are known for. Keep in mind, the Transporter does blow away the music hall, but the Ayre does blow away the transporter. The transporter is good but limited to, pretty much, the DAC. (there are other issues, ie transport, cables, vibration control, etc.) but, basically, the DAC you heard in the Ayer is just plain better than the dac in the trasnporter. I heard both and went with the squeezebox 3 (and Esoteric X03SE for critical listening-I felt it bettered the Ayer in detail, dynamics and low level resolution) so that I can change dacs as I feel fit. I have the benchmark dac now (hooked to squeezebox) as it's just for casual listening. If I get a bit more into it, I will go with a much better dac (Berkshire or Esoteric, etc).

I also enjoy the convenience of having music on a hard drive to play hour long playlists on my squeezebox, though, as I have said, not up to par (to me) for critical listening. (I did come up with an excellent work-around, though-I have an Alesis Masterlink CD burner and put nice compilations together on MoFi Gold CDR's and play them on my Esoteric. 70 minutes or so of pure bliss - close, but not totally the squeezebox convenience, albeit much better sound).

As for the difference(s) between the Ayre Ax-5e & Ax-7e, I thought they were close at first, but after a few hours of listening, on redbook, I found the 7 to be a bit leaner overall, a bit more forward sounding than the 5, not as much punch or dynamic and the soundstage was petty much as wide, but no where near as deep. On SACD, the difference was even more dramatic. The 5 had much, much more overall resoultion. The 7 played SACD's like very well recorded Redbooks but the 5 delivered more music, more of the experience. Cymbals had more air around them and the decay was very realistic on the 5; on the 7, it didn't have as much space, and was a bit abrupt. Vocals on the 5 were smooth and lifelike, while on the 7, there was a hint of symbilence (please excuse spelling) and I didn't feel the presence of the singer as I did with the 5. The 7 did mask inferior recordings better than the 5, but that's a trait I find in less revealing gear, and, to me, I need to hear everything that was recorded-good, or bad.

The Esoteric (X03-SE) was even better than the 5, with greater dynamics, deeper soundstage greater air and presence and the retrieval of low level detail blew my mind. On Jacintha's SACD, Goes To Hollywood, on Que Sera Sera, on the opening acordian, you can hear the acordinaists fingers on the keys, and the sound the keys make when they are released. On the 7, you can barely recognize what it is; on the 5, you hear it distinctively but on the Esoteric, it becomes part of the performance. It actually adds to the experience and makes the little hairs stand up on my neck. The resolution is absolutely amazing.

My error. The 7 is cd only, and, yes, I was comparing the sacd to the redbook layer (didn't know until now). My apologies (also on the models - I am referring to the 5 series and the 7 series of the Ayre CD players). I did listen to the transport and the Ayre 7 directly, in the same system. Have a buddy who has both (he agreed with the opinion that the 7 blew the transport away. I listened to the 5 and the 7 and the esoteric DV60 and X03SE for what seemed like a zillion hours so excuse me for that fatal error. (at least, now I know why I couldn't hear the accordian keys with the 7)

I had not listened to hi res files on the transport.

The system I listened to the Ayer 5/7 and Esoterics in was yre preamp (not expensive, about $3,000); Ayre MXR amps (awesome amps) and speakers were the Dynaudio Saphire's. The system I head the Ayre 7 and transporter in was Classe amp & preamp and B&W 802's.

That's the first I have heard of the esoteric sounding soft. It does need considerabe break in time (over 1000 hours, believe it or not). Did you give it that much time?

Trust me. It was 1,200 hours. I kid you not. All posted here on audiogon. I wish it wasn't true. And a thousand hours is 41 days, not a year.

Listening to it (X03-SE) after the 1,200 hours, I gotta say, it was worth it. Best digital I (me, my ears) have heard.

Mtdking, did you have the esoteric hooked up with balanced IC's? What power cord and interconnects were you using?

Mtdking, Below is ypur post from March, 08. What happened to change your mind?

Boy if you can stretch to around $6000 yo can get a Esoteric X-01 used. I think that is one of the very best players made. We know it has the best transport.

Thanks. I'm not asking you to believe me on the break in, I was just sharing my experience. I do understand break in time can be system dependent. The Esoteric works really well in my system and I am eying the Ayre MXR amps. I have auditioned them a few times and if it wasn't that I would need to upgrade my preamp and speakers at the same time, I would have gone for them already. I am happy with what I have currently but am drooling over your gear. That is some awesome equipment you have. Happy listening and thanks for the feedback.