Simaudio I5 to separates?

I'm very interested to know how you fare in this particular 'quest'. I also have an I5, which I love, but mated to JA RM7si Sig. For my listenning levels, this is sufficient power; however, I've been thinking about a tube pre, preferably with a good phono stage.
Not having ever heard the Hawk/I5 combo, I can't comment on the 'slight bloat in the upper bass/lower midrange area' you speak of. I have not noticed this in my setup.

You may want to consider an Ayre AX-7e / P-5xe / L-5xe along with your Ayre CX-7e (and then have your CX-7e upgraded to "mp" status). Then, run your P-5xe and CX-7e(mp) to the AX-7e using balanced interconnects.

Charles Hansen has said (over on AudioAsylum) that he'd prefer to listen to an AX-7e w/ an L-5xe than the 5-series without the L-5xe. The L-5xe is the next component on my list. If there's one person I trust in this hobby, it's Charles Hansen.

"Separates" doesn't always mean "better sound". Sometimes, it just means "more expensive" plus "another set of interconnects".

Whether you get the magic sound you are after by spending more money is always a difficult question as there are many variables including room set-up (ie, a great sound heard in one environment may not be so convincing in yours). Tweaking what you've got with cables, pc's and room conditioning may be a better path in the short term (although your profile indicates you may have done some of this already). Just to throw a curve ball, I just spent months auditioning high quality amps for my JM Labs 1027be's. Heard various Pass, Ayre, Cary, Krell, MF, Spectron and Simaudio integrated and separates. All with various things I liked and didnt like about them in my room. The greatest improvement though came from an Audio Logic DAC added to my system which I listened to only because the dealer had one with him when he picked up the Spectron. For me the solution was not what I was expecting and proved the value of experimenting widely in my own listenng environment. Good luck with the journey.

Thanks for the input, keep it coming. Am particularly interested in any comments from those who have had an I5 in the past and moved on to something that they like better.

To address a few of the comments made so far...

At the moment I'm looking mostly at used gear, and as such don't want to borrow any gear from a retailer - if I borrow a piece of gear, it has to at least be under consideration for purchase from that retailer. The way I see it, if I expect my preferred dealers to treat me fairly, I have to do the same to them.

I have done a fair bit of experimenting with cables, power conditioning etc., but the one area where I could look before going "big" is speaker cables - although based on the Kimbers' reputation, what I am hearing doesn't come from them.

I agree that separates doesn't always equal better sound - I previously had a passive preamp and Bryston power amp, and that setup was easily bettered by the I5, and the upgrade didn't wind up costing any money. But, I worry that an AX-7e would be more of a sideways step from an I5 and wouldn't be a worthwhile change, as it would be more of a change (some improvements, some drawbacks) than an upgrade.

In general, if I'm gonna upgrade, I'd like to make sure that it will be a real upgrade, not an incremental upgrade. The I5 really is very good, so that makes it harder to be sure.

The first step would be to buy a power amp and use the pre-outs from the I5, and then step 2 would be to replace the I5 with a preamp...of course, all of this would entail the purchase of 3 balanced interconnects as well, so it's not a minor project!!!

Tough call...depends on how bad you really want that magic sound.

My system sounds the best with separates.