Ayon CD2 is AMAZING

I had the CD2 for about three months before getting the CD5. The CD5 smokes the CD2. Better resolution, better bass slam, tighter....just an all around much better performer, as it should be for nearly double the price.

Jazzy, if you don't own any old vinyl that you're seriously jonesing to hear, I'd stick with the CD2 for now. Getting a TT to match the sound of that player requires some bucks- and you don't have any vinyl to use with it. Would better spend that money getting the CD5.

Afc,
Appreciate the advice.Your experience with the Ayon products, and recent purchase of a nice TT setup, is almost perfect information for me to make a decision.The fact that on your system thread and this thread your posts are all reasoned and logical pretty much seals the deal for me, I can save up for the CD5 or find something else to obsess about. I am on a room tuning jag right now!!

The Eastern Electric Minimax DAC plus the CD2 blows the CD5 out of the water. Get one while you can before the demand goes through the roof!

Gentlemen,
I read a review on the Eastern Electric Minimax DAC and I went and purchased it for $650. There is no way conclusively - positively for sure that this DAC is an improvement, over the Ayon CD-2. I was hoping it would work but it doesn’t. The sound stage is flat and non involving and sharp. I now own the CD-5 and the CD5 is by far superior, than any Minimax combo with an Ayon CDP. With the CD5, the musician is in my room. The Minimax DAC when connected to any Ayon product, in any method, does nothing special. It actually makes the sound closed in.

I think it is more an amplifier anomaly folks are hearing. My friend used it with his Cambridge amp and a CD2 and it made the soundstage really even even worse, but it may have made the soundstage a bit faster, different, but really an ugly combo.

Folks are always looking for the cheap way to outfit a system, but it is a waste of time. I have been there and done that and learned my lesson - you get what you pay for!

Jim

Just out of curiousity but why whould anyone put tubes in a CD player? No matter the prices I think tubed CD player are bit of a gimmick. There are many people that like tube amps so I get the feeling that some companies add tubes to a CD player just so it will sell better. But my hunch is that adding tubes to a CD player makes it more expensive and not neccecarely better. Sorry for my rant.