I went through about ten different "audiophile" cd players and settled on the Ayre, more natural and balanced, airy and wide soundstage, with deep tuneful bass, harsh only when the recording is so. Generous amounts of detail without being "in your face" so to speak. Rarely does a component stay very long in my system before I upgrade or move on. The Ayre has been here for a few years now and is staying.

Maybe the symbols for the control buttons.

I actually own the CX-7's big brother, the Ayre C-5xeMP (hey, how about adding that here so I can post a review?).

But I've also heard the CX-7 in good systems. Suffice to say that it is a fine player in its own right, and that the two reviews below by "uriah50" and "Dave" (obviously the same person deliberately trying to drag down this player's score by unethically posting twice under two screen names) are complete and utter garbage, and should be removed as they are false and misleading.

The bottom line is this player does not "cause distortion" and is not "turned up louder" than other players, and you can purchase it with confidence that it will faithfully and accurately render your CDs.

I bought this ayre CD player from a ayre dealer. When I first got it home it would not work at all. No lights came on and no buttons worked. It was sent back for another one. The second one just did not like playing certain CD's and caused very loud distortion noises in my speakers. The player's sound is just turned up louder than most other player's so one doesn't have to turn your volume up so high this in effect causes people to think it sounds better when it really doesn't. I then put the player up for sale. I know this player is just a piece of junk and I would recommend consumers look else where at other brands and save yourself a lot of money.

I bought this ayre CD player from a ayre dealer. When I first got it home it would not work at all. No lights came on and no buttons worked. It was sent back for another one. The second one just did not like playing certain CD's and caused very loud distortion noises in my speakers. The player's sound is just turned up louder than most other player's so one doesn't have to turn your volume up so high this in effect causes people to think it sounds better when it really doesn't. I then put the player up for sale. I know this player is just a piece of junk and I would recommend consumers look else where at other brands and save yourself a lot of money.

I totally agree with the first reviewer, so I won't repeat.
I want to review the MP (Minimum Phase) upgrade.
In my 3 year long search for a cdp I owned Creek audio(both Classic and Destiny), Cambridge Audio Azur 840c, and the Bryston BCD-1. Of these the Creek classic was my favorite, but I hoped that there was something better out there in my price range.
The above mentioned cdp's were in the $1200- $2000 range, so it was a step up to the Ayre CX-7e at $3200, but for all the reasons that z4nupe mentioned I felt I had finally found a cdp that satisfied me.
After happily listening to the Ayre CX7-e for ayear I discovered that Charles Hanson had upgraded the model with a new MP filter. The MP upgrade had gotten great reviews in Stereophile so I checked with my dealer about the upgrade and he arranged with Ayre to have my unit sent in for the MP upgrade at a cost of $250 in a few months, since there was a backlog of people waiting for the MP upgrade.
Once Ayre had my unit it took about a week for them to do the upgrade. Since I live about 20 miles from the Ayre facility in Boulder, Co I was fortunate enough to be able to go in person and pick up my upgraded unit. Thanks to Michael at Ayre I was given a tour of their facility while my unit was going through its final checks. A great added benefit- Thanks Mike!
Once back home I hooked the unit back up to my system and sat down to listen and evaluate what, if any, difference the new filter had made. For $250 I wasn't expecting too much, but was hoping for a noticaible improvement.
Wow! It far exceeded my expectations. Sound stage was improved. Clarity was improved. The digital harshness that seemed inherent in CD's was vastly lessened. Before the upgrade the Ayre was by far the most 'easy on the ears' non-fatiguing cdp I had owned. The MP upgrade made it even more easy on the ears.
Over the last few months I have auditioned many cd's that I had listened to over the last year with the non-upgraded model. They all sounded better. Both well recorded and not so well recorded cd's.
I can not give a higher recommendation for the MP upgrade.

Balance and Unbalanced options Listen and Measure Mode Bass Extension Separation of instruments Treble Extension Midrange (Smooth, natural sounding vocals) Fit & Fininsh Soundstage is Great!

I have used a couple cd players with DACs such as the Cambridge Audio D500 player with the MSB Link III and Musical Fidelity A324 DAC with the Arcam CD72T player. Both of these above examples worked well and sounded great! When I heard the Ayre CX7e as stand alone player without a DAC, I was amazed of how neutral the machine sounded. The midrange and treble frequencies are very smooth! The bass is deep and not boomy. I was also impressed with the inner detail the machine is capable of producing as well as giving me the "I am there experience"! The stand alone CX7e sounds a bit more refined than my Musical Fidelity A324 and Arcam CD72T combination. Where the CX7E excelled was with the deeper bass and treble extensions. The midrange was a bit smoother too! According to the manufacturer, this machine requires 500 to 1000 hours to burnin . Out of the box, this machine sounded fantastic!!! I can not imagine what it will sound like in 2 to 3 weeks. I will provide a follow-up review in three months or sooner for a final review, but I am very impressed with this player that will provide me with years of listening pleasure!!!!!

Similar Products Used:

Adcom 750 Cd Player as a stand alone CD 72T with Musical Fidelity A324 DAC Cambridge Audio D500 with MSB Link III DAC