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Want to buy Ayre C-5xeMP but...

I have had the Ayre in my system for 4 days and at first I found it to be better than my CDP but after extended listening I am to the point where I don't want to let it go.

My only concern is should I go with a DAC and a server instead?

I do not want to hear a hard drive or the fan of a computer and my display is a DLP and has an annoying fan also, so I never have them on while critical listening. Even the faint noise coming out of the DVR is too much.

I know that music servers are the future of audio but I don't mind changing the CD's. If I want convenience I just burn discs with the songs that I am listening to most of the time and when my mood changes I can throw that one out and burn a new one.

I have thousands of songs on my computer and shuffling through them is great but in my system I am all about sound not convenience.

Are CD's dead and upgrading my CDP a waist of money?

2 channel part of the system consists of..

Krell Evo 707
Krell Evo 400 mono's
B&W 800D's
Meridian G08
Ps Audio PPP
Shunyata Python CX pc's
relentless
cerrot's avatar
cerrot
1,700 posts
 
The ayer is a great unit. I preferred my Esoterix X03SE but that may be my syestem and room. I felt less digital, better resolution and timber, detail and greater soundstage depth-but that could be my system-solid state, electrostatics and a small room. I didn't care for the Meridian (802+) as it didn't play sacd's and wasn't as musical on redbook. My music server system kicks butt (benchmark dac+squeezebox/CI power supply and stupid cables/isolation/line conditioning-but can't hold a candle to the Esoteric. I may go for the Berkely dac for the squeezebox but I am convinced, the server is only as good as the dac, so may need to go with an Esoteric D3 to match the CD player-wich just may not be worth it, but should/would sound as good.
sarcher30
596 posts
 
If you have a Linn dealer near by, check out an Akurate DS. It's about the same price as the Arye. I have had one for a few months and love it. I have network storage in another room so theres no noise. You can also control it from an Apple itouch or iphone which makes absolutley no noise. You just need a wireless router so the itouch can access the network storage.
relentless OP
36 posts
 
I am still weary about the USB input. Wouldn't there have to be an extra conversion to send the data to the DAC that would not happen in the CDP?
sarcher30
596 posts
 
The beauty of the Linn DS is there are no extra conversions at all. It takes the data straight off a ethernet cable coming from your storage device. It does not use a USB conection. The DAC is internal. This is technically the best method available. Also they can play up to 24 bit 192 khz files unlike most other solutions.
herman
2,216 posts
 
Depends on what you mean by "extra conversion." I don't see where taking the data and turning it into a serial stream that is compatible with ethernet devices is fundamentally different than taking the same data and turning it into a stream compatible with USB devices. Both have to convert the data. In either case the data arrives intact so I don't see the concern.

Firewire will do 24/192 and USB 2.0 is capable of doing 24/192 although I'm pretty sure you need special drivers to do the latter. Too lazy to look that up and confirm the "pretty sure" at the moment.
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