MF A308 v.s. MF A5.5

I can't speak for the A308 but I have the A5.5 with Totem Model 1 monitors. It does some very good things, for one thing is bass. It has authority and it's very tight like no other. The highs are smooth and liquid. I just A/B with a Ayre AX-7e and the bass difference is substantial and the Ayre sounds very bright in comparison however the A5.5 had a limited sound stage, information, depth, lack of pace/speed, decay and separation compared to the Ayre but the A5.5 was very musical, very smooth and whenever I was in adjoining rooms/off axis I was always noticing how beautiful the sounds was, much better than the Ayre..

The A5.5 has been very satisfying (akin to a nice flowing creek & wind blowing through the trees) whenever I was doing casual listening during chores, writing emails but during critical listening the Ayre was very exciting to listen to (akin to fireworks) however it would get fatiguing. The differences were not small.

I wish I could put the two together.

Last note on the A5.5, at times I did have a physical buzzing problem with it that also has been reported by others but found it was caused by a phone charger in the other side of the room and is now fine once the charger was removed. Only the A5.5 had this problem in my room and it's audible from listening position The Ayre did have a very quiet background.

One more thing. The built-in USB DAC on the A5.5 is average. I compared it to a USB Devilsound DAC and the Devilsound was a big improvement in my opinion. I wouldn't consider it a selling point for the A5.5 .

thank you very much for your response Crad!

Anyone else have something to offer?

Crad - Isn't the only difference between the A5 & A5.5 the USB DAC? If so, it's not really necessary to exclude A5 in favor of the A5.5, correct?