Albert
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I am considering upgrading from my Stax Quattro II cdp player to the more modern Ayon CD-5. The Stax is 27 years old whereas the Ayon is a mere 5 years old. The Ayon is much better built, has newer parts, is 24 bit 192 khz vs 18 bit 44.1 khz (with 8x oversampling), has digital inputs whereas the Stax doesn't. It looks like no contest.
The Stax uses Burr Brown PCM1702 DACS whereas the Ayon uses Burr Brown PCM1704 DACS. The Stax has a separate enclosure for the power supply, DAC and Analog sections with separate transformers for each. It even has separate power cords. The Ayon has one very well made enclosure with three separate transformers. It appears both are well designed but the Ayon is much better made.
So I listened to my old player some more and it is just so musical sounding compared to my Oppo BDP-95. It is fuller sounding with better bass and yet is still detailed with good extension in the highs. Soundstage has more depth with good imaging, even beyond my speakers. I haven't heard the Ayon yet, perhaps music sounds even more natural with it than the Stax.
So why am I upgrading? The Ayon has a tube power supply but I have tube mono block amps for the added warmth. I can use the Oppo for streaming audio and SACD. Upsampling would be a nice feature, though.
Reliability is another issue. I am not sure that the Phillips Pro2 transport is still available for the Ayon if it dies as well as the laser. I wouldn't want to buy a $5K boat anchor (I don't even have a boat unless you count my '78 Caddy). I actually have a second Stax Quattro II as a backup (both together cost me $1K) so reliability is a non issue.
The only real way to compare them is if I could borrow the Ayon and play it in my system to compare to the Stax. Wouldn't it be something if an almost 30 year old player that costs $500 (if you can find one) plays nearly as well as the 5 year old player that costs 10x as much. Is newer always better?
The Stax uses Burr Brown PCM1702 DACS whereas the Ayon uses Burr Brown PCM1704 DACS. The Stax has a separate enclosure for the power supply, DAC and Analog sections with separate transformers for each. It even has separate power cords. The Ayon has one very well made enclosure with three separate transformers. It appears both are well designed but the Ayon is much better made.
So I listened to my old player some more and it is just so musical sounding compared to my Oppo BDP-95. It is fuller sounding with better bass and yet is still detailed with good extension in the highs. Soundstage has more depth with good imaging, even beyond my speakers. I haven't heard the Ayon yet, perhaps music sounds even more natural with it than the Stax.
So why am I upgrading? The Ayon has a tube power supply but I have tube mono block amps for the added warmth. I can use the Oppo for streaming audio and SACD. Upsampling would be a nice feature, though.
Reliability is another issue. I am not sure that the Phillips Pro2 transport is still available for the Ayon if it dies as well as the laser. I wouldn't want to buy a $5K boat anchor (I don't even have a boat unless you count my '78 Caddy). I actually have a second Stax Quattro II as a backup (both together cost me $1K) so reliability is a non issue.
The only real way to compare them is if I could borrow the Ayon and play it in my system to compare to the Stax. Wouldn't it be something if an almost 30 year old player that costs $500 (if you can find one) plays nearly as well as the 5 year old player that costs 10x as much. Is newer always better?
