Quote:
Hi,

Have anyone compare the Naim CD5u and the Ayre CXy. I am in the process of deciding between these 2 CDP. Any inputs are welcome.

To be honest, the best way to decide is to audition both players yourself, sound quality can be so subjective. I haven't auditioned any Naim sources in a while, but from my recollections, Naim makes very musical players but they are too laid back for my taste, so Naim is not my cup of tea. Ayre makes some good stuff, I really think the real battle is between Audio Research's CD3 MKII and the Ayre C-5xe.

In my humble opinion, at this moment in time, these two players are quite possibly the benchmarks for 'affordable' CD playback. The Ayre has the advantage of being a multi-format player, sound wise I think the ARC is a better player. Again, this might have more to do with my listening taste than actual objective perfornmance.

I suspect if I had a large amount of SACD's I would go for the Ayre, but I dont'. So, the ARC is on my shopping x-mas list.

The C5 is a universal player, the CX7 is CD only. But as an added bonus the C5 DOES sound better playing regular CD's than the CX-7. I look at it's ablility to play SACD and two channel DVD-A as a bonus.