Ayre Acoustics DX-5 SACD CD Universal Player DAC

Beautiful Silver Ayre DX-5 CD/ SACD Universal Player. Like new condition with original box and remote. It has a USB DAC built in as well as superior Blu-ray performance and DVD-A. Sounds fantastic with CD and SACD. See review below.

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From Sound and Vision:

Price: $9,950 At A Glance: Breathtaking picture and sound with all 5-inch silver discs • State-of-the-art audio performance with USB audio 

The Last Great Silver Disc Player?

The era of 5-inch silver disc players began in the 1980s, and it isn’t over yet. But even quality-driven, Blu-ray- and CD-playing dinosaurs like me are compelled to admit that there are fewer days ahead for the disc player than there are behind it. The Ayre Acoustics DX-5 Universal A/V Engine ($9,950) builds a bridge between yesterday and tomorrow. The DX-5 is a universal disc player. It plays CD, SACD, DVD-Video/Audio, and Blu-ray Discs. But it’s also a cutting-edge digital-to-analog converter for digital audio files from a variety of sources, up to 24-bit/192-kilohertz. Its supertrick analog audio outputs are stereo only, so the only people who need apply are extreme videophiles and two-channel audiophiles who want a reference-quality universal Blu-ray player and state-of-the-art playback of digital audio files. The DX-5 is loaded with crucial and daring proprietary technology, and it’s the best-sounding, most versatile digital source component I’ve had in my system. The price tag? Who cares. Don’t you want to know more?

The Jedi of Audio
Based in Boulder, Colorado, Ayre Acoustics is a refreshingly unique high-end audio company that builds some of the world’s finest components in the most principled of ways. The company’s president and chief designer, Charles Hansen, has philosophies and design principles that are immutable at Ayre. Ayre designs and builds fully balanced solidstate components that don’t use negative feedback. Indeed, if there’s a devil in Charlie’s dreams, it’s feedback. The company has a history of being absurdly expert and inventive with both analog and digital components. For years, my reference system has used Ayre’s MX-R monoblock power amplifiers and P-5xe phono stage. I’ve also owned and used a number of Ayre’s disc players, all of them superlative. The D-1 CD/DVD player was groundbreaking; it’s still the best CD player I’ve heard and the best DVD player I’ve seen. Considering its provenance, something like the DX-5 seems inevitable.

The DX-5 Inside and Out
The DX-5 is based on the disc drive mechanism and video decoding board from the OPPO BDP-83. Everything else is designed and/or implemented by Ayre, including the power supplies, DACs, digital filters, and analog audio output sections. While an OPPO BDP-83 weighs 11 pounds, the DX-5 tips the scales at a fighting weight of 23 pounds—with only a bit of that in the aluminum chassis. Take a look at the pictures of the OPPO and Ayre innards below. Not a lot in common, is there? Along with providing universal disc playback, the OPPO drive and video board make for a swift, responsive experience and save Ayre from the rat race of Blu-ray firmware updates. OPPO is as swift as they come at delivering timely updates, and it manages this process for Ayre. The only obvious downside of the DX-5’s OPPO roots is that the disc tray is flimsy and a letdown in the context of the DX-5’s otherwise superlative fit and finish. But that doesn’t affect its performance one teensy bit. The video board also houses Anchor Bay’s video processing and deinterlacing solution, which is unquestionably one of the best out there, as our Video Test Bench results indicate. One thing this solution doesn’t do is 3D, which Ayre doesn’t consider critical to its market. When

I asked Hansen about 3D, he replied that those who care could buy an inexpensive mass-market 3D player and “use that when they want to watch Avatar.” I’d agree that those who can afford this player could afford that second cheapie for 3D.

The DX-5’s backside has an HDMI audio/video output, as well as a second audio-only HDMI output. Ayre recommends that you make a direct video connection to the display and use this dedicated HDMI audio connection to your A/V receiver or surround processor. That’s how I hooked it up. The only analog audio outputs are a stereo pair of balanced XLRs and a pair of single-ended RCAs. There’s also an Ethernet connection for BD-Live and firmware updates, an AES/EBU digital audio output, and a USB audio input.

The USB audio input is perhaps this player’s single most compelling audio feature. While SACD and DVD-Audio are mostly consumer electronics cautionary tales, computer audio is now a global phenomenon, as evidenced by the hundreds of millions of people worldwide with iTunes libraries on their computers. The DX-5’s asynchronous USB transfer mode can turn your computer into a high-end digital audio source that uses iTunes for library management. More on that in a bit.

In the analog domain, the DX-5 is totally Ayre-ified. The analog output section is designed with the same zero-feedback, fully balanced discrete circuitry that Ayre uses in its reference KX-R preamp and MX-R monoblock power amps. They refer to this circuit as Equilock. Ayre uses its own discrete, non-switching power supplies for the audio and video circuits and takes additional steps to isolate the video and audio sections, including the digital and analog circuit paths, as much as possible. Each dedicated power transformer also uses proprietary Ayre Conditioner RFI filters.

In the digital domain, Ayre has remarkable ingenuity up its sleeve with its exclusive Minimum Phase digital filtering. This would take an article unto itself to completely unravel. But the short of it is that all digitalto-analog conversions require digital filtering, and nearly all digital filters exhibit substantial time-domain artifacts, known as ringing. Think of striking a bell, hearing the strike as the transient, and the sound that continues for seconds after as ringing. That’s a reasonable if half-ass analogy. One of digital audio’s peculiarities is that most digital filters, regardless of price or other measured performance, not only ring after a transient occurs, but before. This means you essentially hear the artifact before you’ve even heard the transient. The Minimum Phase filtering that Ayre employs in its digital source components when the Listen mode is engaged completely eliminates pre-ringing. It also limits postringing to a single cycle. (The DX-5’s Measure mode includes a sharper rolloff of the ultrasonic frequencies, with more cycles of post-ringing. It didn’t sound as natural and inviting to my ears.) As you’ll read, the result is the most natural, analog-like, and addictive digital sound I’ve heard. In case you’re a skeptic, I not only encourage you to read the white paper on Minimum Phase filtering on Ayre’s Website, but I point you to the objective measurements performed by John Atkinson at our sister publication Stereophile (link). It’s real.

Getting USB Right, and the Computer Audio Paradigm
By their nature, computers aren’t high-quality digital audio sources. One critical aspect of the DX-5’s technology isn’t homegrown at Ayre; instead, Ayre licenses it from Wavelength Audio and its founder (and former computer engineer) Gordon Rankin. Rankin developed the code for the asynchronous USB data transmission mode used in the DX-5 (and in Ayre’s QB-9 standalone USB DAC). According to Hansen and Rankin, typical methods for USB transmission of audio data result in disastrously high jitter, or timing errors. The asynchronous mode doesn’t slave the connected DAC to any clock in the computer. Instead, the clock is in the DX-5, right at the DAC. The result is radically decreased jitter and improved sound.

You all know I’m big into front-projection-based home theater. But if I’ve kept a secret from you in my years at this magazine, it’s that I’m a fanatical two-channel audiophile as well, and I’ve gone big into Mac-based computer audio in the last couple of years. The Computer Audio Setup page on Ayre’s Website has clear and easy instructions (with screen captures) for optimizing Mac and PC computers for computer audio use with its USB DACs. I have a Mac mini in my main A/V system with a FireWire-connected 1-terabyte (soon to grow to 2-TB) hard drive to store my iTunes library’s music. iTunes is intuitive and easy to use, even though it’s not without its foibles. I also run iTunes with the Pure Music skin from Channel D ($129, channld.com) for improved sound quality.

The Apple/iTunes ecosystem for computer audio offers considerable power and flexibility. Throw in a $100 AirPort Express anywhere in the house, and you’ve got instant access to your iTunes library. Plus, the Mac mini doesn’t need a monitor; you can control it from any Mac on your home network over Wi-Fi using Apple’s built-in screen-sharing connectivity. Throw in an iPad with Apple’s free Remote app, and now you’ve got a chunky, gorgeous touchscreen remote to manage your iTunes library. Is this a mini Sooloos system for pennies on the dollar? Not quite. Sooloos manages the entire ripping, storage, and backup process, and its software is much more intelligent in terms of playback options and functionality. But the money I saved will buy me a really solid USB DAC, and my digital music library is still more enjoyable and easier to access than ever before, which means I listen more. And so does my wife. Want to get the Mrs. involved in your hi-fi fix? Hand her an iPad and let her pick her own tunes.

This was a really quick and dirty treatise on a broad topic, but I hope I’ve told you enough so you’ll know why I think computer audio is the bee’s knees—and why a truly high-end component that takes this ecosystem’s perormance to another level like the DX-5 does is a big deal.

USB Unbound: Audio Files for Audiophiles
I’ve been living with Ayre’s $2,500 QB-9 USB DAC for months. While the QB-9 employs Ayre’s Minimum Phase digital filtering, it has no disc drive. More significantly, it doesn’t share the DX-5’s advanced power-supply regulators for the analog circuitry. But I’ve found the QB-9 to be supremely unfussy and among the better digital components I’ve heard. This is why I was fairly taken aback when the DX-5 cleaned its clock (so to speak). As great sounding as the QB-9 is, the DX-5 is on another level entirely. On the DX-5, the QB-9’s superbly transparent sound gave way to additional layers of clarity and textural detail that shocked me. Instead of merely great sound, the musicians seemed to be in the room, imaged convincingly in strikingly realized three-dimensional space. Aimee Mann’s “This Is How It Goes” from Lost in Space (Mobile Fidelity, 16-bit/44-kHz) astounded, with vocal presence, a very liquid-sounding acoustic guitar, and incredible ambience. I’ve been using Lyle Lovett’s “North Dakota” from Joshua Judges Ruth (also 16-bit/44-kHz) for years, and I’ve honestly never heard its sonic images gel into such a convincing sonic portrait. Perhaps the most important attribute I could describe is the DX-5’s pure, liquid, analog-like digital sound. I listen to a lot of vinyl. This isn’t vinyl, but it’s as close to that analog ease as I’ve ever heard from digital. The DX-5 is not just an incredible-sounding digital component; this is legend territory.

Silver Audio Discs
The DX-5 is as superlative a disc player as I expected. I heard the same natural, richly detailed, and dynamic sound from all silver discs I played—especially my remaining SACDs and the few DVD-Video and DVD-Audio discs I have with high-resolution digital tracks. Let me be blunt: No other Blu-ray-based player I’ve heard, including Denon’s DVD-A1UDCI (HT, October 2009), approaches this level of sonic quality. This is a different animal altogether. Neil Young’s Live at Massey Hall presented some interesting comparisons. I own the limited CD edition, which ships with a DVD-Video disc with a 24-bit/176-kHz stereo track. This let me compare the 24-bit/176-kHz high-resolution DVD to the 16-bit/44-kHz CD. I also compared the 16-bit/44-kHz CD played from the DX-5’s disc tray to the same 16-bit/44-kHz track ripped to iTunes and played back over USB.

The high-resolution track was sensational. It was as relaxed and organic sounding as I’ve ever heard from digital. And yet it was strikingly dynamic, with extraordinary textural details that simply aren’t present on the 16-bit/44-kHz tracks. Someday, when downloads at this resolution become common, the world will be a better place for it, and players like the DX-5 will shine even brighter. I compared the Massey Hall CD to the same CD ripped to iTunes and then played back over USB. No question, I preferred the ripped version over USB to the direct CD playback. The direct CD playback was tremendous enough that I’d have taken no issue with it if not for the direct comparison. But I thought the USB was a smidge smoother and more resolved in micro detail, with a bit denser (better) imaging.

Silver Video Discs
For use as a USB DAC, the DX-5 requires virtually no setup. But it’s a little unusual to use as a BD player if you use the dedicated HDMI audio out (and you should). Through that output, the player converts Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio to multichannel PCM. You can output a Dolby TrueHD or DTSHD Master Audio bitstream directly from the player, but only through its HDMI A/V output. The DX-5 ships from the factory with the correct default settings for Audio Format Setup and Audio Processing, and these settings are repeated in the user manual should you need to enter them manually.

This isn’t the first high-end-priced player I’ve seen—or the first I’ve used directly connected over HDMI to a front projector in my system (in this case, the JVC DLA-X7 reviewed in HT’s May 2011 issue). It’s just the first one I’ve seen that actually looks better in comparison to other players I’ve seen over HDMI. In addition to the superb deintleracing and scaling I mentioned earlier, our battery of standard test patterns revealed sharp, essentially perfect response at the frequency extremes with luma and chroma. The DX-5 fully revealed the highest frequencies in these patterns, and the vertical lines looked crisper than they did with the OPPO BDP-95 I used for comparison (also a direct feed to the JVC DLA-X7). Yet there was no implication that the frequencies were peaked or overemphasized. There was just an almost indescribable sensation that there was a little more of something (or everything) there.

This feeling persisted as I started watching program material on Blu-ray. I consistently found my eyes lingering on certain details that hadn’t seemed as palpable on previous viewings with other players. A little extra shadow detail here, some more fabric texture there, a finer rendering of film grain, etc. There was always something. And this surprised me. With episodes of HBO’s Deadwood, I was especially attuned to the disparity between the softer, noisier interior shots and the crisp photography in the outdoor sequences. With Welcome to the Rileys and especially David Fincher’s The Social Network, I was really impressed by the low-level and shadow detail in the darker scenes (which is just about all of The Social Network) and the staggering dimensionality in the images. The DX-5’s revealing nature wasn’t always to a given movie’s benefit. It also showed a lot of the seams in recent-vintage but not minty-fresh CGI-laden constructs. I rewatched the first three Pirates of the Caribbean movies on Blu-ray, and I’d never seen the complex motion and tight patterns of film grain displayed more smoothly and finely. But I’d also never seen the CGI stand out as conspicuously as it often did with the DX-5.

Essentially, whatever the cinematic intentions were with any given piece of program material, I felt that the DX-5 delivered those intentions with a bit more observable expression. Photography—both film and digital—always looked a little more evocative in terms of texture, gradation, and depth.

But again, these are details. The overall impact was that movies looked and felt more like movies on the DX-5. There was also an easy-on-the-eyes quality to the picture that I haven’t encountered before. I know my comments on the HDMI video output looking better than other players will be met with skepticism. I get it. That’s how I felt before I saw the DX-5. But after I spent time with it and went back and forth between it and the other players I had on hand, I unequivocally looked forward to watching movies on the DX-5 more than with any other Blu-ray player I’ve ever used. I know a lot of us like to think that it’s all just 1s and 0s and that digital is digital. And often, that can be true in good and bad ways. But this is something different. Be brave and experience it before you pooh-pooh it (and me for writing this).

I’d also be remiss if I didn’t mention that the dedicated HDMI audio output also yielded superlative results with movie playback (even compared with the DX-5’s own HDMI A/V output). I particularly noticed an enhanced sense of dynamic punch and resolution with the dedicated output when I compared it to the A/V output. Pixar’s The Incredibles was one of the first Blu-rays I watched on the DX-5, and it was a mind-blower. The action sequences and surround presence were immersive.

I also loved the sweet but detailed treatment of the score, which thematically melds James Bond with a variety of superhero scores to great effect. These supers have never sounded quite this super.

Bridge Building
With the Ayre Acoustics DX-5, the disc player might very well have saved its best for last. The DX-5 not only bridges our disc-based past with our discless future; it also goes substantially further in bridging the still golden sound and tonality of analog with digital audio than any other component I’ve yet encountered. In my opinion, the Ayre Acoustics DX-5 is destined to become a classic, and I recommend it to any videophile, audiophile, or computer audiophile who can afford it. This might well be the last great disc player we ever see and hear, so treat yourself.