Sear Sound's clientele runs the gamut, from…
search
The first thing you notice about Walter Sear's legendary Manhattan studio is that it feels so darn comfortable. Sear Sound doesn't have a wall of gold records, gleaming million-dollar consoles, or the latest high-resolution digital workstations, but a quick stroll around the three studios reveals a treasure trove of tube and analog professional gear: a pair of Sgt. Pepper–era Studer recorders plucked from EMI's Abbey Road studios; an early Modular Moog synthesizer Sear built with Bob Moog; and a collection of 250 new and classic microphones.
Guttenberg: Why did the musicians go along with this?
Sear: Starting around 1980, it started slipping away; we forgot what it's all about. The engineers had all of these new knobs and toys, so they were distracted. Either through ignorance or necessity, recording has become a separate art, no longer related to music. We further lost it when CDs came in 20 years ago and the audience stopped listening.
Guttenberg: Tell it, Brother Sear!
Sear: There's a big commercial juggernaut plowing through the industry—and killing it. The traditions should be passed down through the…
You'd think I'd be used to Charlie Hansen by now. After all, I've been speaking to Ayre Acoustics' renaissance man for a decade, having first encountered him when I was trying to arrange the review of Ayre's 100Wpc V-3 power amplifier that was published in the August 1996 Stereophile (Vol.19 No.8). I thought the V-3 was impressive.
Then I met Hansen. In person, Hansen resembles nothing so much as Mr. Mxyztplk, the mischievous imp from the fifth dimension in the Superman comics—and, like that little pixie, Hansen tends to chortle maniacally as he throws out his barbed…
Ayre's Steve Silberman insisted I employ some of Ayre's Myrtle Wood Blocks as component supports (they made a surprising difference—to my chagrin, having decided "intellectually" that they couldn't). He also insisted that I "treat" my system with Ayre's Irrational, But Efficacious! glide-tone disc—another tweak that I was convinced would make no difference whatsoever, but that removed several layers of grunge whether I believed in it or not. I then discovered that the MOVs in the Shunyata Hydra Model-8 I was using added a layer of "white" grunge to the V-5xe power amp, although the Hydra…
Wow! How had I missed this disc's meaty sound, rock-solid bass, and loose, bluesy textures? I knew I'd given it a chance, but before hearing it through the Ayre, it hadn't knocked my socks off. And what a great song "Pixeleen" is—easily equal to the band's best work from the 1970s. If all DVD-As sound like this, what have I been missing?
Some good stuff, obviously, such as Immersion (DVD-A, Starkland 2010), a collection of short avant-garde works that includes compositions by Meredith Monk and Pauline Oliveros. The Monk piece consists of layered voices that float in their acoustic with…
Sidebar 1: Specifications
Description: Universal digital disc player with remote control and two user-selectable digital filter settings. Analog outputs: 1 pair unbalanced (RCA), 1 pair balanced (XLR). Digital outputs: 1 AES/EBU (XLR). Maximum output level: 4.1V RMS at 1kHz (balanced), 2.05V RMS (unbalanced), CD/DVD; 2V at 1kHz (balanced), 1V RMS (unbalanced), SACD. Frequency ranges: DC–20kHz at 44.1kHz sample rate, 0–22kHz at 48kHz, DC–40kHz at 88.2kHz, 0–44kHz at 96kHz, 0–80kHz at 176kHz, DC–88kHz at 192kHz, DC–100kHz at 2.8224MHz. Power consumption: 60W.
Dimensions: 17.25" (440mm…
Sidebar 2: Associated Equipment
Digital Source: Linn Unidisk SC universal player.
Preamplifiers: Ayre K-5xe, Conrad-Johnson ACT2.
Power Amplifiers: Ayre V-5xe, Coda S5.
Loudspeakers: Canton Vento 802 DC, Dynaudio Special 25, Thiel CS1.6.
Cables: Interconnect: Cardas Audio Golden Reference, Shunyata Research Aries. Speaker: Cardas Audio Golden Reference, Shunyata Research Lyra. AC: Cardas Audio Golden Reference, Shunyata Research Anaconda.
Accessories: Shunyata Research Hydra AC power-distribution system; Solid-Tech Rack of Silence equipment stand, Feet of Silence &…
Sidebar 3: Measurements
The Ayre C-5xe's maximum output level at 1kHz was the same for both CD and DVD-Audio LPCM data—4.16V from the balanced XLR jacks, 2.103V from the unbalanced RCA jacks—but just under half that figure for SACD playback: 1.95V and 970mV, respectively, measured using Sony's "provisional" Test SACD. Unless compensated for, this difference in level will obscure any differences heard in comparisons of the different media. Both sets of outputs preserved absolute polarity—ie, were noninverting—with all three media, and the XLRs are wired with pin 2 positive, the AES…
Wes Phillips wrote about the Ayre C-5xe in February 2009 (Vol.32 No.2):
When I read Robert Deutsch's Follow-Up on Ayre Acoustics' CX-7e CD player in the January 2008 Stereophile, I was startled to read that "at least two of [my Stereophile colleagues] said that, for CD playback, they preferred the CX-7e [$2950] to Ayre's twice-as-expensive universal player, the C-5xe [$5950]."
That was a bit of audiophile buzz I hadn't heard. But, like most 'Murricans, I do love a story in which the plucky underdog bests the champion. Besides, I'm the very happy owner of a C-5xe; if what RD said…
John Atkinson wrote about the Ayre C-5xe in April 2009 (Vol.32 No.4):
The Ayre Acoustics C-5xe universal player ($5950) has been my primary reference for CD playback since I purchased it three years ago, I used it for my primary comparisons with the Meridian 808i.2, with the players' levels matched at 1kHz to within 0.1dB. As the Ayre's sole digital output is AES/EBU on an XLR jack and the Meridian has only coaxial and optical S/PDIF data inputs, I fed the Ayre's digital data to a dCS 972 digital format converter, set to do nothing other than pass the incoming data to its outputs. I…