Also revealed were two disc player upgrades from Ayre. Both the C-5xe universal player and the CX-7 CD player now have ^MP (Minimum Phase) appended to their names reflecting a new filtering option that the company says has no pre-echo and only one cycle of post-ringing. On the back of the players is a switch to select between the previous generation "apodizing" filter and the new MP filter.

Ayre's Steve Silberman and engineer Ariel Brown ran a demo where we listened to the same track twice while they switched between the MP and apodizing filters. The difference was not subtle, with the MP setting adding more dimension and depth to the vocal image. Once again, CES demos are not the most reliable, but this one left no doubt that the company is on to something.

The upgraded C-5xe^MP universal stereo player retails for $5,950 and the CX-7e^MP CD player comes in at $3,500. The upgrade pricing for existing customers will be announced soon.