Ayre MX-R v Dag M400 v Ayre KX-R v Dag Pre

[Bar81]

I've owned the top of the line Ayre gear for quite some time. I had the KX-R first, then added the MX-R, then the KX-R Twenty and most recently the MX-R Twenty. The KX-R and the MX-R were very good, the KX-R Twenty transcendent and the MX-R Twenty excellent.

I recently purchased Focal Maestro Utopia speakers and it became clear that the MX-R Twenty monos were not getting everything I was looking for from the speakers versus their performance with my earlier Focal Scala Utopias. The Maestros are an admittedly very difficult load.

Having heard nothing but praise for the Momentum minos (plus, size wise they are close enough to my MX-R Twenties that no additional space will be needed), I figured I had a legitimate excuse to check them out, but expected to be underwhelmed as I almost always am when I hear touted gear. However, I'm pleased when proven wrong.

So, while on break I had the amazing opportunity to spend five hours or so over a couple of days to compare the top of the line efforts from Ayre and D'Agostino.

Ultimately it was a split decision: with the M400 clearly showing superiority over the MX-R (Twenty) in every aspect (although at twice the price and with questionable aesthetics - besides the love it or hate it steampunk, the metal finish is pretty lazy in contrast to the beautifully textured lenticular finish of the Ayres) while the KX-R Twenty stayed true - an elite preamp that shows that it isn't easy for even a great amp designer to design a pre that can hang with Charlie's masterpiece (which is amazingly compact and gorgeous to boot).