Quote:

Quote:
hollowman wrote: Does this mean the Ayre CX-7 passes digital data from the transport to the decoder/receiver using SPDIF format?

John Atkinson wrote: That is what I decided at that time, but I haven't looked inside a CX-7 since.

From the Specs of the Ayre CX-7 review, the unit does not feature Digital Input (a good thing). So, AFAIK and IMO, a SPDIF signal should not enter the decoder. But if the unit uses AKM AK4112B receiver (and not a dedicated decoder), then SPDIF-based data transmission within CX-7 is indeed correct. Wonder why Ayre chose this topology -- and do they still do it this way in their latest CX-7 updates?
SPDIF, IME, is a big compromise.

Quote:

Quote:

Quote:
- Which AKM receiver chip is used by that Ayre?

I am pretty sure i have a photo of the circuit boards in my lab work book, so I will check this when I am back in the office Monday.

It's an AKM AK4112B.

Thx for digging up this info, JA
One more question for you if you have that photo lying around:
What is the clock freq.(i.e., the freq. of the osc./crystal)? This unit may even have two main clocks: one for CD/SACD and one for DVD-based formats.
Reason I ask: the audiophile universal players tend to sound significantly better than mainstream universal (even higher end mainstream players, like Pioneer Elite or top Denons) . I'd like to establish some scientific correlation to what I perceive. The mainstream units' oscillators tend to be 27MHz, which is freq. optimized for video, not audio. E.g., 24.576MHz oscillators may be used in the audiophile uni's for DVD-based audio; SACD, on the other hand, works at a multiple sample frequency of CD (2.822Mhz).
Thanks again!

Quote:
The CX-7 is NOT a universal player, it only plays CD's. The C-5 is the universal player.

You're right -- my bad!
But I'm still curious about the clock so I'll create a new thread. Thx!