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Re: Ayre player

Posted by Charles Hansen (M) on July 7, 2006 at 10:52:54

In Reply to: Re: Ayre player posted by ts on July 6, 2006 at 14:10:08:

<< Something seems to be wrong with this picture! >>

Yes, I would agree with that statement.

Undoubtedly there is something odd with your setup. Let me give an example.

Over ten years ago we were choosing switching devices to use with the stepped attenuator in what became the K-1xe preamplifier. The choices were relays, rotary switches, and FET switches. We made a very elaborate test to see which switching device was the most transparent. The setup was as follows:

1) Modified Magnavox CD player as a transport.

2) Analog Research DAC (a one-man company run by Pat DiGiacomo, and probably the best DAC at that time).

3) Custom fixed attenuators (no adjustable volume control).

4) Ayre V-3 power amp.

5) Avalon Eclipse loudspeakers.

6) All Cardas cabling.

We made a test fixture that consisted of two rhodium-plated RCA connectors back-to-back (a male and a female). The grounds were soldered directly to each other, and the hots were connected with two small (2" each) pieces of Cardas hook-up wire.

The device under test (DUT) was then inserted in between the two pieces of Cardas wire. The "bypass" reference was configured by soldering the two pieces of hook-up wire together. In this way we could keep everything absolutely constant (including the number of solder joints) and isolate the sonic effect of the switching device.

The solid-silver contact rotary switch was essentially transparent (no change from the "bypass" condition). But we were dumbfounded to find that the gold-plated (Aromat) relay sounded *better* than the bypass!

This made no sense whatsoever. Any change from the "bypass" reference had (by definition) to be a degradation. And yet it sounded clearly better.

I was scratching my head when Gary Mulder (tweaker supreme) said, "Let's tweak the system a bit, as I don't think we're getting everything out of it that we should be." So he put everything on cones, corrected the polarity on the AC cords, floated the grounds, and a few things like that. It took about 20 minutes for him to go through the system and get it dialed-in.

After this, the system clearly had more resolution and inner detail. (Of course this improved the soundstaging and other aspects as well.) The sonic presentation was more coherent and natural, and the system was more enjoyable to listen to.

When we repeated the test of the relay versus the "bypass", it was now a different story. Previously the relay had made the music sound more vivid, present and immediate. Now, with the improved resolution of the system, we could hear that the relay was adding a "halo" around each of the images that was artificially boosting the contrast of each instrument. There was kind of a "golden glow" to things that previously seemed pleasing, but could now be heard to be a saccharine effect that was cloying.

The bottom line is that there is something in your current setup that is benefiting from some coloration of the old Discman. If you spend a bit of time tweaking things to improve the sound, I can guarantee that an Ayre C-5xe will outperform an old Discman.

Give me a call at 303-442-7300 x232 and I will be glad to give you a few tips.

This post is made possible by the generous support of people like you and our sponsors:

The Cable Cooker

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