Reviews of Ayre 5xe-MP & Boulder 1021

[Still-One]

July's Stereophile I just received has reviews of the Ayre 5xe-MP and the Boulder 1021 Disc Player. I will post a couple of notes a bit later.
Jim

[jdandy]

Jim.......My copy of Stereophile hasn't arrived yet, but I will be very interested in the Ayre 5xe-MP review. Thanks for the heads up.

[PHC1]

Originally Posted by jdandy

Jim.......My copy of Stereophile hasn't arrived yet, but I will be very interested in the Ayre 5xe-MP review. Thanks for the heads up.

It will be stellar. I trust my ears...

[jdandy]

Lyle has the Ayre 5xe-MP, too. He has nothing but praise to say about it. He replaced his MCD500 with it.

[Still-One]

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.

[PHC1]

Originally Posted by Stillone

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.

Thanks Jim. It's what I've been saying about the C5-xeMP. Naturally smooth and extended. The reason why they probably want to compare to 808 is because they use similar minimal phase filters except the Ayre goes a step further by eliminating pre echo as well as post ringing.

[Still-One]

Originally Posted by PHC1

Thanks Jim. It's what I've been saying about the C5-xeMP. Naturally smooth and extended. The reason why they probably want to compare to 808 is because they use similar minimal phase filters except the Ayre goes a step further by eliminating pre echo as well as post ringing.

It will be interesting to see what Atkinson says. He had said that the Meridian was the best player he had heard and the C5xe (now upgraded) had been his reference.