Ayon CD2 is AMAZING

I have the CD2 and thought about upgrading to the CD2s, but after hearing the EE DAC after install and cold, the CD2 doesn't come close. My soundstage is deeper, wider with images you can touch. My system is very resolving and I'm hearing things I've never heard and my unit is only 5 days old. Decay notes and the ambiance is unbelievable with pin point imaging even at the edge of the soundstage. The gain does appears to be a little low when ran into my CD2 with an XLR but you'll just have to turn your pre up another 1/4 turn to reach the same SPL. This is a bargain price for a DAC and the BDA-1 doesn't come close. The Minimax sounded better than the CD2 even with a 10 year old RCA cable

Ral, the CD5, as you probably know, has an adjustable gain setting. I've tried all three settings.....on every one, the CD5 shines. It tosses a bigger soundstage, produces better detail, is more authoritative with bass and imaging is superb. It's about impossible to discern the CD5 from the Clearaudio analog rig I just installed. I settled on "medium" gain for the CD5. High gain will blow the doors off, but you seem to lose a little detail with it. Low gain is very similar to medium gain setting, you just gotta crank the volume knob on the preamp a bit more.

After reading the Audio Blast by Doug Schroeder on Dagogo about the Eastern Electric MiniMax DAC, like sheep I went out and purchased the Minimax DAC and connected it exactly as Douglas describes to my Ayon CD5. $650 + tax later, I am sitting in my sweet spot, dumbfounded. The sound was completely 2 dimensional, thin and brittle.
I already own the W4S DAC 2 and the soundstage was little disappointing with the CD5, so I removed it. The CD5 is PERFECT by itself, just Like the musician is in the room!

Don’t waste your time and money - Anyone want to but a Minimax DAC ?

Mike

Sorry to hear the Dac is not living up to expectations in your system! You should notice an improvement with tube rolling and so far my 5814A are better than my $100 Tele smoothplates. My CD2 is bright in comparison to the EE, soundstage is richer, wider and deeper. So far I see it as the CD2 sounds digital and the EE sounds like analog. Also, give it time to break in

Just out of curiousity but why whould anyone put tubes in a CD player?

Mordante-below are some comments from the Modwright website that Dan makes about his top modded Sony 5400.

WHY TUBES? WHAT ABOUT MAINTENANCE? WHY THE 6SN7?

Vacuum tubes are best for amplifying VOLTAGE and SS devices are best for amplifying CURRENT. In a line-level circuit such as this -opposed to an amplifier, tubes require virtually no maintenance.

We chose the 6SN7 for its sound and general popularity among people who love tubes. It ended up being the tube of choice for our Transporter mod, of which we sold hundreds of units!

The tubes are purposely driven VERY conservatively to give 10,000-12,000 hours + of tube life. The circuit is fully auto-bias, therefore no maintenance required. We chose tube rectification simply BECAUSE IT SOUNDS BETTER!