my wife liked the Esoteric DV-60 over the Ayre C7 but not over the C5, and liked the EAR cd player over both of the Ayre's. She didn't know the prices.

It's weird with the Esoteric it was like someone left the high frequencies on all the time. The Ayre didn't have that issue. The first thing you notice is the smoothness of the Ayre but that is replaced with just how dynamic it is. For me the Ayre C5 was a lot more addicting than the Esoteric though the Esoteric had a richness of sound that was enticing too.

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Quad ESL-63 USA Monitors * Purist Audio Aqueous Anniversary Speaker Cable * MC275mkV * Purist Audio Aqueous Anniversary XLR * C220 * Magnan Vi RCA's * EAR 834P Deluxe * LP12/ Ittok VII & Lyra Skala *