Ayre C-5xe-mp v Sony XA5400ES

Who does that? Read Art Dudley's column in the latest Stereophile. He berates those audio companies that put $1,000.00 worth of audio components in a #2,000.00 box. Art appears to one of the clearest thinking, most honorable audio reviewers. I say that even though I am poles apart from Dudley's socialist belliefs. But, of course, your expertise far surpasses that of those who rewiew for Stereophile.

Tarp38,

The mechanicals may be Pioneer, but the electronics that get superb analog out the door are from Charles Hanson et al., and I suspect the cost is in that design genius and the selection of components. Yesterday, someone whose audio judgment I trust, wrote to tell me he had heard the Ayre C-5XEmp in John Atkinson's house, and that the sound was "very, very good." That's good enough for me. I'm on the look out for an Ayre C-5XEmp for no more than $3K.

db

"But, of course, your expertise far surpasses that of those who rewiew for Stereophile."

Exactly why I don't read Stereophile. Getting back to my question, I really don't care where you get your information from, I just wanted to know who does that? Why take offence? People make statements like that all the time, but they never list any specifics. The tone of your answer tells me that Stereophile probably didn't list any actual companies, which means you can't either.

Correct Zd542, he doesn't a single manufacturer, but he does name (indict) several retailers selling mass produced gear from overseas that was designed to be replaced "only a few years down the road."

Magazines have to fill pages and Dudley filled four of them comparing the demise of the Victorian age and the inception of the Arts and Crafts movement with the modern state of hi fi, and implying the consumers have finally become smarter and fed up with marketable, mass produced, but poorly made gear so they are about to revolt against buying such gaudy but cheaply made products, causing the offending companies to fall like dead leaves from a tree and to be replaced by artisan craftsman hand building heirlooms. He does name gear from several companies deemed to be worthy.

I find the rant interesting coming from a magazine who for years has shunned many of the very artisan manufacturers Dudley is promoting, by refusing to review their gear - because they don't have a "dealer network." The other thing I find interesting is that I have no trouble finding hi fi gear crafted by exceptional artisans. As for the offending, mass-produced gear, as long as people buy stuff, people will sell stuff. I think it is more a matter of "different strokes for different folks" - thankfully we have a variety of manufacturers and gear to choose from.

In looking at photos taken at the Newport Beach show on the Asylum web, especially those of turntable and speakers, I wondered if there is a market for that stuff or are they vanity products much like books written to satisfy the authors' ego. Artisan or vanity, I wonder.

My original post was about the Ayre C-5xeMP, a product that seems to have been produced in sufficient quantities to have a track record on the used market, and that the editor of Stereophile still uses in his system. Is John Atkinson duped by a fancy case, Tarp38, or does the Ayre really sound as good as the reviews suggest?