Want to buy Ayre C-5xeMP but...

I stated I didn't want to let it go because I was happy with the G08 but while the other CDP's I tried were better in some respects there was something about them always telling me to stay with the Meridian. I initially felt that way about the Ayre but after leaving it going for 24hours and listening all day I started hearing what I loved about the G08 but better. The Ayre ended up having more extended highs, the mids are fuller with a more natural tone and bass is tighter. The pace and timing has improved.

I am giving the C5 back today and will listen to the G08 again to make sure I was hearing what I come to believe I am with the Ayre.

Thanks for the responses and there is still time if someone has any other opinions on the subject.

I was excited about the Ayre DAC but it only has a USB input and I have read that USB has a limited bandwidth and that is what has me scared about that piece.

I have heard the 505 at my dealer with a 707 and cast connections and I liked the Wadia 871 he had better. Even know I am using Nordost cast from processor to mono's like he is his speakers, PC's and room are different. The 871 is probably an unfair comparison but I would not say it was worth over 2X the Ayre.

That's what I read was that firewire or HDMI is the way to go instead of USB. I am wondering why Ayre only gave you one choice of digital input.

This is becoming harder than I had thought.

I brought the loaner back and got to talking with the dealer about the C5 or a DAC. He said that he has this conversation every day and feels that in the end you can achieve better sound with a hard drive and a DAC. He feels that CD's are not truly digital and have to be read so there is more time for error correction on a hard drive. I will do some reading on AA and the dealer is trying to get something together for me to audition.

I was reading the post with Charles Hanson comparing the C5 to the QB9 and he writes that they are comparable and each outshine the other in somethings. He did not go into specifics on what those things were. He was asked if he used a beefed up computer and he replied he used a mac mini for the comparison but they were plugged into a filter for clean power. Clean power I have so I am not worried about that.

I will ask the dealer about the electrical noise from switching power supplies. When he was telling me about his error correction theory I mentioned that the G08 has a cd-rom and spins faster than a normal cd player to make those corrections and he still felt that the hard drive solution was better.

It still comes down to can I get a server to sound as good as the C-5xeMP in my system. My hearing will be shot in 10 years so the cd dying argument is most likely a moot point.
I want sonic bliss now while I can still enjoy it.

My processor only has a pair of balanced inputs that just go to the volume control then to the amps so I have to chose one or the other for the best sound, I wont be able to get the best out of both of them in my system together.

The dealer has a few people that wanted to demo the Ayre DAC and I had decided to go with the CDP so I let him give it to the others, but after more thought and research I am going to go with the server. The dealer said that the DAC and the CDP are very close but he is biased towards the server so I will get a chance to hear it soon and make my own decision.

From what I have read about the 808.2 I have to believe it is a incredible sounding player. But it puts you in a whole different category price wise with lots of great players to choose from, Wadia 781i, Esoteric X01/D2, Puccini to name a few.

I thought about the SA-50 with the USB input but I had an Esoteric X05 in my system and at first I liked it a lot, very lively and great bass but after listening for a few days I decided to stay with the Meridian.

So far the Ayre is the only one that makes me want to upgrade my player. I have been thinking about this and it is truly difficult to decide on which way to go. If the DAC/computer combo does sound as good as the player, now I have to figure out where to put everything. I will need a small computer, small display, external hard drive, keyboard and mouse. These things are steering me towards just getting the player. I have to see what the dealer can come up with for me(he is getting the loaner DAC in a few days). In the end with all things considered the price will be about the same.

I am still weary about the USB input. Wouldn't there have to be an extra conversion to send the data to the DAC that would not happen in the CDP?

I have read this...."A traditional transport device must convert the stream to a different format to accommodate Toslink, SPDif, or USB, and then the DAC converts it back to I2S to send to the DAC chip".

Does this conversion happen in the CD Player anyway?

After a lot of thought I am really considering the Ayre DAC because of the Ayre sound and the asynchronous USB.

But, I am concerned about what I have been reading about how different USB cables affect the sound. Now I will have to play the cable game again.

How big of an effect can USB cables make on the sound?