Advantages of a tube CD player over an SS player?

I am in agreement with the comments of Charles and Lowrider above, but Audiolabyrinth has also hit on something very important which is implicit in Charles' comment but should be stated explicitly. It certainly helps to know what you like and dislike in output tubes.

Personally, I have never heard a solid state CD player that presented music with proper sophistication in the upper harmonics. That doesn't mean they don't exist, but it may be easier and cheaper to get this with tube output designs. I've heard SS digital rigs in the 60K price range that could't compete with 4-6 K tube designs in this area. Some may view this upper harmonic sophistication as a euphonic, non-linear, distortion, based on what measurements reveal, but if so, then I am partial to euphonic non-linear live venues. Tubes done well get me that which I seek in live music. Personally, I find it difficult to connect with music on an emotional level without having tubes in play in the system.

I've said this before, but at some point one gets to the level where you can't improve a system by making educated guesses. Generally, you have to bring equipment in and A/B with a variety of music to make the best possible choice.

To Audiolab and Brownsfan, you both make excellent points. BF, what I prefer is as you state so well..... euphonic, or musical. This issue has been bandied about for years, and may have emerged with greater intensity when SS came to dominate the audio market in the late 60's and early 70's. SS was also cheaper to mass produce.

The issue of "euphonic" vs accurate( linear)casts a long shadow on every audio component made, especially speakers. Just because a component measures well, does not mean it should or has to sound good. At the same, what is enjoyable, musical(in the sense of holding the listener's attention) and informative about the music seems to be a reliable, no nonsense means of measuring the quality of the audio experience.

I know you have a hard time where you live an need to make the best choice you can. I may have another option for you. Cary has made some CD players that give you a lot of choices. They have tube CD players that let you select either the tube output section or solid state. Not only that, you can also select if you want to upsample or not; and pick different upsample rates. I think they even give you a volume control to drive a power amp directly. If you can find a good deal on something used, it may be worth looking into. That said, I never recommend things I haven't heard myself. I have listened to several Cary players and I was always impressed with them.

As far as the 2 players you mention, I haven't heard the Ayon, so I can't comment on it. It does look like a great CD player, and I would be surprised if I didn't like it. The Ayre I've heard many times and love it. If I was looking for something in that price range, I would buy it. Ayre is also extremely good about offering upgrades to their current products, as opposed to just coming out with new models. I do own some Ayre gear and its definitely my favorite brand for solid state.

Zd542,, Thank you again for you advice. It always has been helpful. I have considered the Cary CD players. I believe the series are: CD300-200; CD-300-300. I have also e-mailed them about these players, but all have been discontinued. I have read all the reviews on the above two models, and the feature of changing sampling rate seem a bit hokey to me. Though, "some" claim it did make a difference in the sound especially with a variety of CD formats. The upsampling selection can also be made from the remote. However, I will check them out again, but to be honest, I think I am sold on Ayre CX-7emp, but almost none have come up for sale in the last three months. Thanks again, Jim

Get the Ayre player or a real tube player, I also owned a cary upsampling cd player before, the cd 500 solid state player, was the worse sounding player to date that I have owned!, hope this helps, cheers.