Ayon CD Players: CD-1 and CD-3

Allow me to humbly submit that I have just had my review of the Ayon CD-1 and Ayon Spirit integrated published on Dagogo.com

Here's the link:

http://www.dagogo.com/AyonCD-1Spirit.html

The CD-1 is an extremely fine sounding player. Part of the beauty of it is that for being a tube player it has a crispness similar to SS sound but without he edginess. It's quite refined.

Plain and simply the finest sounding Player I have encountered under 6k

preference and perception are two different phenomena.
what i like and what i hear are independent of each other.

what i heard was based upon an audition at ces. i then discussed what i heard with a representative of the company displaying the ayon products. he agreed with me that the player was not warm or tube like.

if you like the sound of solid state you may appreciate this player.

one may criticize my taste, but no one has evidence that i am misperceiving what i hear.

If this unit sounds "solid state" it has just sent a benchmark for how to buld a player that is true to the music and presents it in an analog manner.

Far too many tube players out there are rolled off,veiled,have tubey bottom ends to them and lack retrieval of information capabilities.

The 6H30's do add that "clear sound" vs "frosted sound"
to the Ayon.
But there is no way this player does not have the natural harmonic timbre we associate to tubes.

I myself switched out the stock 6H30's for some NOS DR 6H30
tubes and also replaced the stock 6922's with some Telefunken E188CC's so there are definately tubes in there.
The unit does sound fantastic stock,but tube rollers and tube cd player lovers fear not you can tweak the Ayon to sound a bit different if you wish.

And I guess if you are a solid state CD player guy you can buy this one forget it has tubes in it and have the best solid state player you find(but there are tubes in there)

So in a nutshell this player fits the needs of both the solid state and tube player enthusiast

Better yet it fits the needs of great cd playback in an analytical and gray digital world.

I heard the Ayon CD-1 in a dealer showroom, and compared with the Ayre CX-7e. The Ayre is very nice and has better base extension, tighter imaging, and a fuller plate of tonal colors, but to my ears the Ayon is the better sounding of the two with more involving PRAT akin to single ended amplification, liquid midrange, and overall a sweeter overtone.

Subtle details and gradual degradation of musical notes are better portraited through the Ayon, which coupled with its more 3 dimensional imaging makes music more lively. It may not be the typical tubey sounding breed, but nevertheless a very find performer.