The review of the 5xe-MP was a follow-up to the 5xe review by Wes Phillips. He had been using the 5xe as his reference player for some time now. I am not sure if everyone heard this but Ayre will upgrade your 5xe to MP for $200 if you take it to a dealer to have it sent in. It does not matter if you are the original owner or not. What a bargain.
Bottom line, although the improvements were not "night and day" they were easy for him to hear. The MP was a noticeable improvement, sounding more focused and a lot more relaxed. He could hear deeper into the soundstage and separate acoustic notes better.
"Hat's of to Charlie Hansen and the Ayre design team. They've designed a better gizmo that benefits every digital format I've heard it process..."
In the Boulder 1021 review John Atkinson compared it with the 5xeMP. They were very close (the Boulder lists for about $24k) he liked the Ayre a little better in some instances.. He will compare the 5xeMP with the Meridian 808V2 in a follow up. You need to read the detailed review to understand what he said about the 2 products.
It helped a lot on CD's but for him it really helped on hi-rez recordings.
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