Okay, here was my final buy:
The contenders were Ayre CX-5, Esoteric UX-01, Sony ns999 in home theatre and the EMM labs combo.
The DCC-2 combo was most realistic, most holographic of them all, the Esoteric X-01 was very "metallic", not a great sound stager, I think there is some high frequency wierdness. The sony did not get much inner detail, it is not balanced (which the rest of my system is) and was not so lifelike. I like to evaluate with the sound of saxophones, trumpets and strings... the airiness of the sax, the "blatt" as they say of the trumpet, and the rich harmonics of the strings are things I am most attuned to.
The Ayre got better on warmup... but the combo of the Ayre with an Audio Research Ref 2 was not near as"lifelike" as the emm combo. I removed the ARC and a set of cables when using the EMM Labs... as I still have the Ayre, my next step is trying it as a transport. I also had a Wadia 861 in the system, very smooth, great inner detail, musical, but ultimately not as involving as the UX-01 or EMM Labs.
I started upgrading my system a year ago, and with the addition of the EMM Labs piece, I feel no need for upgrade (at least this month) A good byproduct for me is that some CDs that I found unlistenable with any of the other contenders are very listenable now. Which from a strict audiophile point of view may be bad, but from my point of view, being able to listen to my entire collection so far is a wonderful, wonderful thing.
The only thing I wish is that I had a chance for the new DCS piece to go head to head with the EMM Labs.
As part of this I compared Synergistic Designer Reference to harmonix magic woofer cables, absolutely no comparison. The Synergistic trounced them in every way but a slight loss in gain.. much more refined and extended in the top end.
