Sunnyjim asked a valid question about comparing Ayre to Esoteric and I believe we should answer his question. It makes no difference to me how many questions he asks as long as it helps him get closer to making a decision. His equipment choices are limited since he lives in Honolulu and he has a limited number of retailers to select from. Many people are asking questions on Audiogon to help them get closer to the right decision for them.
I own the Ayre CX-7e MP CD player and like it very much. I experimented once with the Ayre QB-9 USB DAC. At first, I was impressed with the way it sounded. I used the MAC Book Pro computer with 4 GB RAM and the 120GB solid state drive. I used the Seaport Free Agent Go Pro 500GB external hard drive to store my music files.
After many months of listening, I decided I did not like it the way it sounded in my system. In addition, there were too many boxes and too many wires in my living room. I sold everything and returned to my Ayre CX-7e MP CD player. I never looked back and like my CX-7e MP CD player very much.
For me, I liked the sound coming from the Ayre CX-7e MP better than the sound coming from the MAC computer and the Ayre QB-9 DAC. It felt more natural and clearer than the computer and DAC did. I do not know how the Ayre sounds compared to the Esoteric but I like my Ayre very much. My Ayre CX-7eMP is running balanced into my integrated amplifier. I hope this helps.
