Ayon Audio CD-5 versus CD-5s

Hi Melbguy,

A quick word of advice would eb appreciated, I have had a CD1s for 18 months or so alongside an Origin Live TT which I think is fab. I recently upgraded my pre/power to the excellent Lamm L2/M1.2 reference, as a result my vinyl replay sounds even better but the 'gap' with the CD has got bigger. I am therefore considering a 'final' (haha) upgrade to my CD and thinking of the CD5s, however I am paying for the in built pre amp which will be redundant and do you feel it will give me the substantial upgrade I am looking for. I am a long way from an Ayon dealer so a demo is not possible, any advice greatfully received including if I should look at any other CD's in this range but use my Lamm pre eg. AR CD08
Thanks Mike

Hi denon

I think the prices you quoted from parts connections are 4 years old. The current price is about $210 a pair.

Melb

Did you ever had success with the ayon/kwa150 combo?

Thanks

Melb, I bought those tubes a 2 month ago with 20% discount. It cost me about $360 (extra charge for matched quad) with shipping from Canada. I sudjest you contact them and see what they can do.

Hi Denon.

You will find a lot of your questions if you email Ayon and ask for an updated instruction book. They have added a section warning about some high powered amps and xlr cables. The updated instruction book only became available last month.

$360 for a quad pair of tubes seems about right. But you mentioned $89-90 for a matched pair in your post.

Also did you upgrade the 6z4 tubes? On the old cd5 I think they were 6x4 tubes. Can someone confirm?

Below is sn email i recieved from AYON

Dear Sir,

You have a gryphon preamp, just connect the CD-5s to your preamp and your
preamp to the KW150.

If you wish to drive the KW150 directly, use RCA, you will get out the best
result thru RCA.  

Below is a note from the CD-5s owner's manual when you connect the CD-5s
directly via XLR to a solid state amp.

Exceptions for the „direct“ connection of the CD-Player with solid-state
power amplifiers or active loudspeakers:
   
There are some solid-state power amplifiers or active loudspeakers, with
which you rather should not use the symmetrical connection, or where, as the
case may be, a loud hum modulation, high-frequency interference signals or a
so-called “oscillation” can occur.

The Ayon 6H30-tube output stage is designed extremely puristical and
“short”; i.e. absolutely no negative feedback, no correcting or compensating
devices and no filter in the circuit. (See also the note about the special
properties of the 6H30 tube).
But “pure tube” design also means a big and difficult challenge in
realization for our engineers; and also e.g. we would respect some
non-important measuring data to a much lesser extent. All these puristical
sound-techniques require that the electrical interface parameters of the
subsequent power amplifiers should match the ones of the CD-Player in
accordance with the standards.

Typically the input impedance of power amplifiers is 47k or above. However,
there are solid-state power amplifiers with a lower value (down to only
1.8k). I.e., there is a significant matching problem between the CD-Player
and the solid-state power amplifier (impedance, capacity, phase rotation
etc.; in special cases there may also be a problem of a difference in the
grounding-potential of the connection). Furthermore some solid-state power
amplifiers possess not too big an input override rigidity (but paradoxically
in addition a high input sensitivity); therefore additionally they quickly
are overcharged by the “strong puristic” symmetrical output stage of the
CD-Player.

Therefore, in case of symmetrical input values below 47k we strongly
recommend to use the asymmetric RCA/cinch connection or a classic separate
preamplifier.

Note: in case you really wish to use the symmetric “direct” connection, we
can adapt the CD-Player to the special electric properties (power amplifier
or active speaker) to a large extent at your costs. Please note that then
the CD-Player can only be operated at optimal conditions with this
particular solid-state power amplifier or another with very similar
electrical input parameters.

Best regards,
Michael