I appreciate all the comments regarding the transport and such.
One of the nice things about the S7i is that the digital out can be set to be from the transport independent of the digital input, such that when using it as a transport, you can connect the cable back to itself and hear how it sounds as a transport and DAC as compared to an integral CD player.
I used this method to put the two DACs on an "even playing field" when comparing the Wadia and QX-5 Twenty as DACs. I did the majority of auditioning with an AudioQuest Cinnamon Toslink, but I also compared using an AudioQuest Cinnamon coaxial and a borrowed DH Labs D-110 Silversonic AES/EBU just to make sure the results I heard weren't appreciably different when using different cabling, and they weren't. (The actual sound was slightly different with each, but the inherent sound of the Wadia as composed to the Ayre was not.)
Could it be that the Ayre was simply revealing the S7i's failing as as a transport? Quite possibly.
I can't do much more experimentation as the QX-5 Twenty had to go back to the dealer, but he's a great guy and I'm sure would be happy to allow me to run more experiments in the future.
Of note, however, is GreenMtnGringo's observation that using the S7i as a transport over Toslink may not best reveal the Ayre's strengths, and I agree. However, the vast majority of my listening is from Red Book CD played via optical disc and if the Ayre was the best streaming DAC on the planet I'd likely never know as I would rarely if ever use it that way, so my testing methodology was concentrated on how it would work for me.
Perhaps I'm too old school; when I listen to music I put a physical medium onto/into a device and play, whether that be vinyl, CD, SACD or DVD-A. Though I have all my CDs ripped into ALAC via iTunes, I use that mostly for listening to iTunes via an AudioQuest Dragonfly Red USB DAC or on my phone while traveling or on the road. I don't own Roon, and my biggest issue with Tidal is you have no idea of the source of their library, whether it was HD to begin with, or which version of a CD it may be sourced from (e.g. was it the original CD or the horrifically compressed remaster done in 2007? From my experience, it's far too often the latter.)
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