Beautiful piece, Guido. Congrats on the new CD player, and tube based at that. I built a tube buffer I had put after my DAC at first, but it ended up sounding better before the transport. Using an optical cable to connect the transport and DAC made a big difference, especially real glass too. The tube buffer added such a great “warmth” (for lack of better words). That Ayon has so many great options. It’s so wonderful when a piece of gear actually connects with you on an emotional level. Congrats again, Guido! Enjoy the tunes, man. 🔊🥳🎶
I own the now very old ayon cd2-s. I had upgraded several times. With burson discrete opamps, jupiter wax and paper caps, solen teflon caps. I use now as dac and I can tell is a bit better than the t+a dac 8 and my other dac the ps audio directstream. I love it.
she look's simply beautiful. am so psyched to hear verification that if we search we will find that elusive higher level. congrats and enjoy Guido...and am waiting for the scoop on your mystery dac!
I checked the local pricing for this CDP here in Oz and thought it seemed reasonable compared to the likes of Esoteric and dCS. Then I saw the price of the HF Edition and suddenly we weren't in Kansas anymore. When the blurb contains the word 'magical', I can only assume that the gear does more than play music ;)
I purchased the original EAR Acute tube CD player in 2006 and used it until 2019. I bought it because it was so analog like sounding, gorgeous mids. It lacks in resolution and deep bass though although I did not change the fuse (I should have before selling it). Ayon CD35 is a definite cut above that unit.
Woah Audionote, now there you really need a mortgage just for the medium models! I discussed about them in my CD transport video. They are surely among the best out there.
@ANA[DIA]LOG Yes Guido I guess they can get up to eye watering prices, I heard their level 3 CD player, the 5.1x, I understand they have CD players that sit at level 5/6 which is mind blowing as I cannot believe how stunningly great the level 3 cd player sounded so it's mind bending to think what a level 5 CD Audionote player would sound like or even if I ever will get to hear one. Incidentally Peter Qvortrup maintains that they still have much work to do until he is truly satisfied with digital. I'm spoiled now because I know I won't be satisfied until I can get one. The Ayon has always caught my eye for build quality and design aesthetic but I wouldn't need the preamp section so would look at other models. I agree too that AAD red book CD's can sound unbelievably good. I wish you happy experiences on your journey with the Ayon. P.S. I'm a predominantly Analogue guy but I wouldn't cut myself off from great digital, both have their place but and its a big but! Great digital is very hard to get as most of it sounds pretty poor in my view. Thank you for your work and I look forward to your future output.
I used to own an Ayon CD-5s with upgraded Burson Single HD discrete op-amps, matched 6H30DR super tubes and matched 6C4P rectifiers. I found that player had good synergy placed on an Acoustic Revive RST-38H under board. I now own a Vitus SCD-025 Mk2 which is a very well thought out and analogue-sounding spinner.
Che bella macchina! Guido, you outdid yourself, congratulations! I hope you enjoy it for a very long time...........that unit looks like it's "future-proof". 👍💿📀💿📀💿🔈🎶🎧✌
@ 26:25 I was totally confused and basically lost with everything you explained afterwards! You were talking about the big „bump“ that you experienced after connecting the Ayon to the Holo May and attributed the silk sound „probably“ to the tubes. Sorry, but I think the tubes are out of the equation the minute you use the digital out of the Ayon connecting it to an external DAC. Or did I miss something?
Yes, I apologize I got mixed up. Do to a recent test on another transport which had tubes on the digital buffers section I mixed them up. In any case I can confirm that the Ayon DAC and related tube output stage are very good but the results with the Holo are just better. I will do another test in the future after even more use and see if things have changed.
It's a beautiful unit. How is it at error correction? Some discs have errors at pressing you can't see. I buy a lot of used CD's. Some more used than others. True story: Many years ago I made a calibrated error CD with a sharpie and played it (attempted) on various players at the Hi-Fi shop. An expensive Nakamichi could not play what a player 1/4 it's price could.
I am not sure that is a positive aspect. Interpolation cab be harsh and even if you are reading used coasters that doesn't mean the sound will be faithful but actually more artificial
@@anadialog Thank you for responding. Small errors can be 100% corrected. Larger ones get interpolation, and even larger ones will receive the silent treatment with very quick fades before and after. Beyond that the player merrily skips along! Quality issues arise when the player interpolates when it could correct, or it silences when it could interpolate, or it skips when it could silence. Many moons ago, I made a calibrated error CD with a sharpie and took it to a Hi Fi store. Much to my surprise, a $600 Nakamichi could not play what everything else in the store could, including a $150 portable boombox. Please don't get me wrong, I firmly believe that a clean and unscratched disc is best and all the discs I bought new still look new decades later.
several years ago I was in a stereo store. There was a Harman Kardon CD player. the amplifier was a Linn If I remember correctly the name of the speakers I probably don't remember but they were considered to have very good resolution for the time. the sound was like holographic, it sounded like I was in a different place than the room I was in
Wonderful review, Guido! I was a little confused though. You mentioned at the end that you were running the Ayon as a transport to the Holo May, so I am curious why you went for this unit and not the transport only version? Are there upgrades to this version that make it sound better when only used as a transport? Thanks.
Thanks! I explained it in the video...I wanted to try the full Ayon package and was hoping that the inside DAC would be better but it wasn't. In fact I suggest to try out the CD-T II if you have a quality DAC. Nevertheless, we must remember that the CD-35 II, apart from the HF edition, is the TOTL of Ayon so the components should be better than the transport probably not a night and day difference.
Yes! Ayon CD35 11. I agree with you in regards to this unit! Got mine in US a few years ago and I love this player! I also am a tube guy and enjoy the experience! I wanted to tell you about something I added to my system that really enhanced the sound of my Ayon! That is something called an RC35 which is kind of a Harmonics Generator as best as I can describe it! Built originally for Studio use but now available for home use! Check it out! Larry
I'm sorry! I made a mistake! I have CD10 11 Signature not a CD35. Still damn good! In regards to the RC35! Yes! You set it by ear! It is recommended to set it as in the photo they send with the unit! I have found they have been almost spot on with this recommendation! I add a little turn on the low frequency and it sounds great! This unit is strictly fully balanced and 1 input and 1Output. I also have a real ear opener for you to try! It is called a Synchro Mesh Relocker! The company is Empirical Audio and this device lowers jitter in any digital devices! Ok now for the comparison! I just purchased a older Berkeley DAC Alpha 1! My friend audio dealer told me an ultra audiophile came in with the Berkeley DAC and this Relocking device! He listened to it first with out the Recloker and he said it sounded great comparing it to a 10k DAC he sells! Then he told me about the funny devices that came with it! I asked him if he could hook it up and listen to it! He did and called me back 5 minutes later and said he heard a difference that was quite noticable! So I bought it! Got it hooked up to the Berkeley DAC and my Ayon using only the Transport. Sounded wonderful! Lots of detail etc. I was pretty pleased for about 2 listening sessions and then I started thinking! I'm not using the Tube Analog stage in the Ayon! Can I do that by bypassing the DAC? So I called the owner/designer of the Synchro Mesh and told him what I wanted to do and he said if the Ayon has Digital In and Digital Out I could! So today I hooked it up using the Analog Outs and also knowing that the Volume Control is Analog not Digital! Well, I was blown away! The Tubes were back and the Sound has never been better! The Recloker lowers the Jitter regardless of the clock in the Ayon and makes it that much better! Wow! This device is very inexpensive for what it does! I must say though there are some things that must go with it! The Dynamo OTL Power Supply and of course high quality BNC cables! He makes his own. Anyway, how lucky did I get to get Everything including Power Supply and his custom Silver BNC cable! Check out the Empirical Audio Website! I think you may learn a lot like I have! So with the RC35 and my Mono Tube Amps and Ayon running fully Analog the Sound is Unbelievable! I also have dedicated lines running to my Audio System! That helps too!
Looks very fancy. I'm sure this will keep you happy for at least a few months, Guido! Interesting remarks about SA-CD players being compromised for CD playback. It would be interesting to see a shootout between this and something like a Luxman D-10X.
Being that I don't have 2 pairs of my best interconnects I cannot A/B between cd playback and lp playback. My turntable has RCA outputs on the back so you have to use an external interconnect, and my best one is expensive enough that I only have one. But what I think, is that cd playback is capable of sound quality that at least rivals the lp plaback of someone who has lp equipment of my level, which I would describe as well above average, but probably not pushing the state of the art or overly expensive. Sound that is good enough that in most ways you couldn't imagine anything much better. That you can actually go out and for a few dollars buy used cd after cd and bring them home and get that kind of experience, has to be the entertainment value of all time. Even speaker drivers don't necessarily have to be that expensive. I find that more expensive midrange drivers do sound less strained and more effortless than any cheaper midrange drivers I've ever heard. The best tweeters I know for clean natural sound however, were used in a very inexpensive speaker. I'll say what they are, when I think I found enough of them on the used market. At first, I thought they were smooth but dull sounding and maybe lacking in extension. Then in one of my configurations I had the tweeters employed in a system where I was using a vintage tube integrated amp with tone controls. I turned the treble up a bit and I couldn't believe how good the tweeters were. So clean, detailed and airy. Without the treble control I would have never discovered how great they were. Once I was reading a thread where a guy who seemed to know his stuff was saying how they were the best tweeters he has ever heard. I thought "What?" "I have those, and they don't sound like anything special; they sound dull and lacking in detail." That of course was before I heard them with some treble boost. When the high frequencies get cleaner, they will seem to sound less loud. This is a well documented psychoacoustic effect. It pays to experiment. Harry Pearson, the former editor of The Absolute Sound said his favorite tweeters of all time were vintage ribbon tweeters made by Panasonic. I've seen them on ebay auctions a few times and they are capable of getting around $400 for a used pair. Panasonic/Technics must have been good with tweeters. The tweeter in some of their vintage top of the line speakers like the SB 700A was the only truly good driver, that wasn't colored sounding with that late 1970s/80s Japanese coloration. If you wanted a non colored natural sounding speaker back then you bought US or U.K. speakers. Although I'm sure there were some others somewhere. Cd players are right up the alley of guys like me who like to experiment and improve their sound. One of the latest things I've discovered lately is putting something with some weight on top of the biggest capacitors in your cd player. Definitely don't use metal, as if it gets bumped and rolls off onto other metal parts inside, you could blow a fuse or the player. I use little pieces of thick marble or heavy wood. I think that cd sound from first hand experience is just so good you would have to be crazy to try to pick out things a tiny bit wrong with it. It gives you so much for so little. We didn't necessarily need SACD after all. The sampling rate of redbook cds is generous enough. They used good judgement.
Have you done a video about what items you need in your set up, like from turntable/cd player/cassette deck to speakers? I want to upgrade my set up, but got confused with pre-amps and integraded amps and do both of them need power amps if I consider passive speakers... I'm newbie at this. But this CD do look soooooo nice! 😍 it really does look good, but waaaaay too expensive for me. Love that lid thing for CD it seems rare thing that you can actually see the cd spinning. with most players they just eat them. Once I thought I lost the cd I got from library, but it still was in player, but with this kinda player it's nice to know if you do forget to take it out.
Welcome aboard Alise! A video on what you "need" may be presumptuous because one may build his system in several ways. If uou have specific questions just write them here! If you can write them in a new comment because replies sometimes don't reach me. Starting from this comment I will try to answer you. If you use an integrated amp (which has a preamp and amp in the same box) you don't need anything else apart from a source (cd, lp, etc) and speakers. Other solutions are separates, preamp and amp but which is going to sound better in mist cases but also more expensive. Otherwise you can use activ3 speakers that have their own amp attached to tye speakers. At that point you just need a preamp or something that has a volume knob (some times CD players, dacs etc). Finally a phono preamp is only for the phono cartridge for reading lps, which needs to be connected to a normal (line level) preamp in order to regulate the volume + an a power amp obviously.
Aren't those Ayons LOVELY! 👍 I had the great opportunity to buy my very first tube amp after 40+ years of pretending to be an Audiophile. This nice fellow had a used Ayon Orion II Class 'A' tube integrated amp that originally sold for about $4500 or so, something I would never ever be able to afford. Well, amazingly I was able to get it for a good price and, yes, it sounds bloody amazing! Not bad for my very first tube amp 😁 I *LOVE* the look of their stuff and your new CD player looks just great! I'm sorry Guido, but you keep saying 'Combined with a good quality DAC'... I don't understand, if you are using the Ayon, how would you be using it WITH a DAC...? Wouldn't you normally play your DAC directly to your amp/preamp? Where would the CD players come in? Thanks!
I am sorry! It appears that I wasn't clear enough on this point. I just wanted to try the Ayon's full package and I was hoping the inner DAC would be as good or close to my Holo Audio May but no, the latter is the clear winner. So I am using the Ayon as a trasport also because with this new upcoming DAC I am about the review the results made me almost cry. In fact, in the video I said this and I also said that I would recommend to probably stick with the trasnport CD-T II by Ayon IF you have a high quality DAC, otherwise the Ayon inner DAC is very very good for the overall price. My last consideration is that the CD,-35 II is, apart from the HF version, the TOTL of Ayon so I suppose the components are better than the transport, which is also why I decided to go that way. I hope it's clear now. Once again sorry about that and congrats for your catch. Quality used is the way to go!
@@anadialog Thank you most kindly for the nice reply Guido! I did take notice when you said that your stand alone DAC was indeed better, although the internal DAC of the Ayon is very good. I guess I misunderstood and thought you were somehow using the DAC AND the Ayon together, sorry about that 😊 BTW, you are getting some *SERIOUSLY* expensive equipment these days... Must be those special Italian Connections 😁(Actually, I am almost full Sicilian myself)
That is a very interesting question. Surely the distance has been reduced even though we must underline that they can be matched on certain parameters but overall the two reproductions are just different. I was switching last night from a CD to the LP of the same album and analog, surely also due to the mastering, is just more faithful and engaging.
Aries g1, Holo audio spring 3 kte with pre module, kinki studio monos and sasandu sb acoustics speakers. This is my deminishing return choice, worried to give this tips to z friend about their maintenance and sinergy…kudos to you.
Hi Guido, In the video you say that "the upcoming DAC" and the Holo May sounds better than the internal DAC in the Ayon. Do you use the Ayon as a transport? Do you use any tube stages in the Ayon, I suppost that the tubes are only in the analogue parts, after the DAC. Can you explanin? Karl-Erik
Sure, yes I am using the Ayon as a trasnport the May and especially the new DAC I am about to present on this channel were much more convincing and engaging than the inner DAC. The signal then goes in my Mastersound or Shindo masseto tube preamp. I am deciding which one works better with the rest of the chain. Also the power amps I am testing and soon presenting are tube based. Tube
@@anadialog Thank you for the clarification. Another question, is your Marantz CD 95 modified? If not, I recommend Antonio Cruz modifications, hi Antonio if you read this. With the mods it is a different machine. Should be interesting to hear a comparison with your best stuff.
Hi, I am just in the situation to decide: I am using the DAC 200 and thought to add the AYON CD-T II as transport connected to the DAC 200. Now I was at my dealer and he told me to buy instead the CD-35II which sounds much better with it´s internal DAC than the combination with the DAC 200 (T+A). So I know that You also have the DAC 200. Did You ever compare these two (CD-35II with internal dac versus CD-35ii as transport and T+A DAC 200) and what do You like more for yourself? And last not least if I go with the CD-T II would it bring a hearable sound improvement with the optional PCM to DSD module? Your opinion is very appreciated!
I have absolutely no doubt in saying that the dac200 combined with the Ayon CD35 II was much better than the player stand-alone. That DAC is just phenomenal. I haven't tried the trasport but I think it is the way to go and no, drop the DSD module. It's just a conversion which will introduce noise. Ok, I haven't tried it, but as I always say DSD stays with DSD and PCM with PCM.
I think your videos are the most engaging and informative of all the other reviewers. Thank you for sharing. One question is does that mean you will not be using the dac section as your may dac sounds better?
Dude.. you keep upgrading!! I'm getting Fomo 🤣🤣🤣 Actually, my TEAC UD505 DAC uses the dual AKM Verita chip, just like yours. Infact it utilizes the chip a tier above, the one running at 22,4 mhz - DSD 512. I really prefer the sound of AKM chips, as compared to Sabre, Burrbrown or Wolfson. I've been around the block! With the Teac DAC everything is converted to DSD 512, even PCM. And i prefer the sound converted to DSD, this isn't merely an upsampling, the signal is changed from PCM to PDM. Now we can engage the Digital cut-off filter at 800 khz instead of the analogue FIR filters (fast/slow) used in the PCM domain. But again, perhaps it's very specific to the individual piece of equipment, which setting sounds best. That's a pretty accurate rule of thumb. At the end of the day, even an entry level turntable with cheap spherical pickup still sounds more 'true-to-live" than any amount of digital samples .. to my ears...
Hahaha! Well, I changed a few dacs in the past years and even when I find the same chips the overall architecture just creates a very different sound, usually on the dull side...
@@anadialog i find lots more depth and spatial infomation when it's converted to DSD. But i know some rather exotic DAC's that swears by non-upsampling. As you say, it's all about the implementation. There most likely isn't a correct answer here.
Out of the many CD Players I own,my favorite was the RAYSONIC CD-168, with Russian tubes and BURR-BROWN 1794A CHIPS,but it died....as u see in my videos I'm a Yamaha fan...and I agree that for the most part sacd players comprise cd play-back,prefer BURR-BROWN over ESS SABRES, for.." Glare ", and the YAMAHA CDX-1060 has a class A headphone output I love and it's 30 years old...lol. would like to hear and tryout this Ayon and several other high-dollar players with tube outputs, been saving up for a 10k player and still researching, as many players are coming out every where...good times! Thanks for your Report..!
Had the Raysonic 168 and it also died. Transport stopped working. I replaced it with an Ayon 07s, which I really loved while I owned it. Music was very involving.
As always your video is top notch, and full of emotions. And you are always honest and real. That's great! Just wander what's your take on current Luxman and Accuphase CD players?
In the video I in fact suggested to get their transport IF you have a very good DAC. In terms of components I am not sure, the 35 II is, apart from the HF, their TOTL so it should be better but probably not night and day difference.
Ayon CD-35 II is a great player, you did very good picking it up. Next to the quality the look is very great, even it should not be that important I still buy with my eyes. I was about to buy it too but ended up with Playback Designs MPD-8 & MPT-8 (incl. Streamer-X Modul) combo which is IMO the best combo money can buy. Yes it is not cheap but compared to the entire market it is on the beginning of the very high end stuffs price, but when it comes to quality I would say nothing can really beat it. So CD/SACD/Streamer/USB+NetworkPlayback all gets handled with the MPT-8 which is connected over fibre cable to their DAC MPD-8 and boy I can tell you, that DAC is a beast. Design and buildquality are outstanding too so I did skip any other tryouts and landed with Playback Designs
Like the illuminated buttons and they are on top where you can see them. Some engineers appear to think we see in dark and twist our necks in strange angles. TV remotes are some of the worst no illumination and buttons for a 4 year olds fingers.
With the integrated DAC mode some color was added but I actually do like that. I don't think complete neutrality is actually realistic, paradoxically! That is probably because audio in reality gets colored as soon as produced.
Great to learn about this cd player. I'm confused however. You talk both in terms of using this as a CD player and a transport with your external Dac, which confused me about what you prefer.. im assuming the magic you speak of happened when you used it as a CD player which uses its internal DAC only.. am i correct in that understanding?
Hi there! Actually no, I said different things. Maybe you skipped here and there. I said that I wanted to experiment the whole package hence I got a player and not a transport. Compared to my standalone DAC, the Holo audio May KTE (and something new soon to be presented) the later were the clear winners. The internal DAC is good but not stellar. Later on I said that I don't recommend getting the player and that PROBABLY the trasport is the right choice but I haven't listened to it. Moreover, the CD-35 II, excluding the HF edition, is their TOTL hence the components should be better than their trasport.
The video may be considered already a reply to that. Unfortunately streaming by its own nature looses a lot along the road the the reconstruction of the signal is just not right. If compared to a quality CD player streaming, even high-res just dissapears in most cases. I have a quality streamer and a Qobuz subscription but I am constantly dissapointed. If you don't know the real sound of a specific album on CD or vinyl or even a fake stored on a SDD drive and you simply listen to it streamed it will sound great but once compared in let's say 80% of cases it will just sound thin even though aparrarently it may seem more detailed, several things are wrong. We will come back to this in a future video. It's an interesting topic.
A well recorded, uncompressed CD easily outperformes high res streaming. Extra „high res“ is unnecessary for great sound anyway…the industry wants to make you believe but it’s not true!
Well, I am currently using it with my Holo Ausio May KTE DAC and a new DAC I am about to review, connected to a Mastersound preamp and Shindo Masseto, amplified by an Accuphase a48 and more recently by a pair of SET mono blocks that are soon to be reviewed. Speakers are my GoldenEar Triton Reference.
I've been looking into this for a few years now, but still too damn expensive for me! Talked with people that had the PCM to DSD option, and to my amazement they didn't like it! (I though it would be a cool option, as it is not exactly "upsampling", it's a different process. Maybe one day... I also love the red on black look, would match my 2008 Buell XB12R perfectly! LOL
When it means PCM to DSD. Is it then the same principle as the CD players in the 90s that used 1 bit technology. the Saying for it was . That you placed the pieces on a conveyor belt at a certain speed instead of having 16 pieces on a wheelbarrow where some piece Or pieces got lost along the way
I haven't but I have reviewed the Marantz CD-94 MKII which has the famous TDA1541 single crown DACS. The AMR is based on this design. Here is the video: th-cam.com/video/ByClVQevxqo/w-d-xo.html
Great video but a little bit confusing. The heart of Ayon CD-35 II is SE-Triode vacuum-tube DAC. Yes, it can be used also as digital transport only, but it is not its primary virtue. As far as DAC quality, it is almost Ayon flagship, only bested by their standalone DAC Kronos. You are saying that you wanted all tubed CD player but when using only digital section with external DAC it negates the main star fo the show - Pure Class A triode tube analog stages. Using tube CD player of this quality only as digital transport is little bit waste.
True! But that is. Maybe in the future I will try their transport. For the tube, you are correct. I got mixed up with a different model that has buffer tubes in its digital output. Sorry about that.
@@anadialog One of the best CD transports in the world, two box Audio Note CDT Six, has tube digital output stage with tube rectified power supply. Yes, Ayon CD35 II has tube rectified power supply, but I dont know if it also means that it has similar type of valve digital output stage as in Audio Note CDT.
@@bikemike1118 he was concerned, because it Does Not indicate that on the Front,which is strange. The fact that is says one thing on the front, and something different on back is very notable. Are you all caught up now?
The Ayon looks like a really cool piece of equipment. Years ago because of a review in The Absolute Sound, many audiophiles in the US were put on to the idea that Ayon might make the best amplification on the planet. Then it was VTL etc. One thing that I would have hoped for on the Ayon cd player, would have been a high quality headphone amplifier. It would give people a chance to hear just how good the Ayon player is. We never really do get to hear exactly how good most audio equipment is. How clean it is, how much subtlety and detail it is resolving. We get to hear what it sounds like after being degraded by cables; even if you have great cables. I have a source piece of equipment which does have a beautiful headphone input, and I couldn't believe how much better the sound was, plugging my headphones straight in and eliminating the signal going through an interconnect cable and the extra circuitry of a headphone amp. I prefer speakers. Who wouldn't prefer sound that is 5 to 10 times bigger with more believable spatial characteristics and vibration you can feel. But I use headphones too, when doing my mods. A great pair of headphones will almost always sound clearer and cleaner than your speakers, and alway way less colored from room acoustics. I have probably doubled the sound quality of my cd player in the last 5 weeks; and I think it was doubled before that from all my mods, from when it was unmodified. I do not think I can tell cd playback from analog now. Maybe if I did an A/B comparison, I'd hear something different. In my early days of modifying, I could tell my cd playback was starting to sound really better and more analog like. I sort of thought that it would sound totally analog like some day, but I wondered what would be the last stubborn performance area to hold out; to hold on to it's digital lineage? I knew it wouldn't be openness and spatiality; I achieved that early on. Would the last thing to go be bleached tonal colors, edginess, maybe the slight lack of warmth. Now that I am at the apex, I know what it is. The last thing with cd playback to avoid being conquered was..........."Glare". Not that I've totally eliminated it. But if I ever achieve true analog perfection, a bit of digital glare or electronic glare will have been the last stubborn thing to go. To go completely. All the other things sound perfectly fine. Just the slightest tiny bit of glare. I am experimenting with eliminating stray eddy currents now, because that is what can contribute to a slight amount of glare. What was the last instrument that I wondered if cd playback could reproduce perfectly? The acoustic guitar. For some reason digital playback always seemed to have a slight problem with perfectly capturing its sound and harmonics in a totally convincing way. I am glad I have whatever records I have, but it's cds really coming on for me..
@@anadialog SORRY 🥹 to hear that ,I hate being sick …BUT I Am GLAD 🤗 you are feeling better , and I HOPE YOU CONTINUE IMPROVING QUICKLY 🤗 … I am good thanks for asking 🤗💚💚💚
A 4k USD used year 2010 model of Audio Note cdt 3 will beat is easily. It has a more deep warm sound and way of gluing sound together. But you are right this is a player well above average.
I can't say. I never hear one against the other but obviously I have great respect for Audio Note except for the unhuman prices (in fact you said used).
As reported in a comment here below, I have a quality streamer and use Qobuz BUT the sound quality is quite inferior to a CD, not always but in most cases it is. The way streaming works inherently looses information and has bulky reconstruction of the signal. It's not a FTP. It may seem more detailed listened by itself but when compared directly with a CD it just sounds thin, and compressed.
If you really want cutting edge CD playback system that is made like no other, save your time and money, and buy SH Spectral audio SDR4000SL. You will hear CD playback like never before, even all that HD formats will be questioned again.
Way above the budget and actually just silly after a certain price point. If one thinks at the amount of materials and technology in a 30k automobile there is no sense in spending that amount of money just for a single component as a DAC. Yes, A&R have a cost and the units sold are low but still, those unreal price tags are just too high in most cases. We discussed this here: th-cam.com/video/QKixhYovxJQ/w-d-xo.html
@@anadialog Also, you have Accuphase amp which is state of the art amp and can handle ANY speaker., and you push that expensive thing with 8 ohms speakers. If you challenge yourself to make DIY HIFI speakers at 2 ohms or even 1 ohm instead of give your 20k money on high end brends., you will get something that you cannot imagine right now with that ALSO super expensive CD player.
it is one that can probably play DXD, which is probably seen as the most extreme in PCM. Then someone wonders where you can buy albums in DXD, yes, for example On the website native DSD
I have old 40 lbs pioneer elite transport. Hook that pioneer up with just about any DAC and you won't believe the sound. Transports are more important than DAC. In my experience
I just saw it online being sold for 9000 €. That's crazy money. I bought a Technics CD/SACD Player for 2499 € and that was already a lot of money for me and worth every penny. I can recommend the Techncis SL-G700 100%. Fantastic CD player.
Exactly for the opposite reason. Don't care about the looks, the sound must blow me away to stay with me. Which quality player or transport have you experienced?
@ANA[DIA]LOG Hi mr. ANA[DIA]LOG! I don't agree with some things in your review. Before I get to that, let me introduce myself as a probably one of the biggest Ayon freaks in the world - own full Ayon setup: CD-T II - CD transport S-5 - preamp / DAC / streamer Triton KT150 - power amp Black Raven - speakers Black Pearl - cables Now, let's get to the disagreemet part! Sorry, but your coments about CD-T II and quality parts comparision with CD-35 mk2 is for me just rambling without checking some things. CD-T II is, in every way, the same or even higher league comparing it with CD-35 mk2. As you probably don't know, the retail price of CD-T II is the 13k€, it has Philips Pro 2 mechanism which is one of the best drives ever, and few steps above the drive in CD-35 mk2. There are probably better cd transports out there, that costs 20k or even more (I tried one of those) but It wasn't better than CD-T II when connected to Ayon S-5. Of course, the sinergy of Ayon components is guilty why CD-T II sounded better. Btw, combo of any of last Ayon Dac + CD-T II is way better than CD-35 mk2. And when you put together CD T II and S-5 it's a step above CD-35 HF II and you get full state of the art sound. Anyway, great review and great promotion of Ayon and their big boss Gerhard Hirt, who is one of the last crazy (in a good way!) mohicans in audio world.
I don't ramble, I report. The cost reported is that present in Europe, where Ayon is produced and I live. If the prices are different in other parts of the world that si a different matter. Of course I know about the CD pro 2. But that is not enough as we have seen in my Jay's ausio CD transport review. I think it is a little presumptuous to think I have no idea of what I am talking about. The CD-35 II is their TOTL in CD reproduction. Nevertheless I admit that I haven't listened to the transport so as stated in the video mine is a supposition. How about you? Did you do a side by side comparison or only defending what you have?
@@anadialog Hi! Yes I did side by side duel, not only between CD-35 mk2 vs Kronos + CD-T II, I had a chance and luck to listen and compare more than a dozen of Ayon components over a past 10 years. I live in Europe also, and Gerhard Hirt (who is friend of mine) told me today that last price of Ayon CD-T II is little above 13K€. I didn't mean to be rude about a rambling part, but it would be ok to check out the parts of CD-T II before saying that CD-35 mk2 is better machine! Kind regards from Croatia, Europe, Jurica Kosovic
When one is consumer with limited technical knowledge, manufacturers can claim all kind of bull.... if they know what people like to hear about product.
Sure, but then high-fidelity experience kicks in (if you have it) and no BS can stand that...at least not in my case as I demonstrated sending back the extremely famous and acclaimed Jay's Audio transport.
First of all, there is no cd playback without cd servo system of some kind, optical system can't work without servo that adjust pickup optics and position many times per second . All audio circuits or stages have some kind of feedback, at least local, even basic triode. When some manufacturer claim that is non feedback design, they say that it's not global feedback, but there is always local one. So as I said, manufacturers claim what people want to hear, for some reason. I have some level of techical knowledge so it's funny and sad to hear some of manufacturer claims. High fidelity experience?? I have some as person of 20+ years in this as hobby, but also as audio/sound and electronic engineer. So what can I say. Not impressed with today hifi scene, as they sell a lot of BS. Very few can claim that they make above avarage sounding devices, not to mention long lasting. Ayon is on my black list as manufactutrer of many internal compromises, low quality parts, and weird approach to manufacturing and assembly . It smells on china/EU made and outsourced electronic blocks or modules combined with a lot of intarnal wires. Pretty untidy.
Funny how they give it a frequency response of 20hz to 50Khz. Ideally it should just be 1hz to 20Khz. One, Digital can go down to 1 Hz so why chop off the signal at 20hz, two.. CD's have a brick wall at 20Khz preventing music and harmonics from going past that wall. So any deck that says it is capable of going to 50Khz is simply laughable since the media is restricted at 20Khz.
It’s not the CD that has a brick wall filter. It’s the old CD players from the 80’s that came with brick wall filter. The 20kHz limit of CD is from its sampling frequency of 44Khz defined by Nyquest theorem.
Very very poor mechanism! Try something like Wadia, Esoteric or TEAC with VRDS CMK-3.2 - KSS-151A laser Pick-up / Mechanics. Or with Philips CDM1, CDM1-MKII, CDM9.
Music is music. What ever it takes to get closer to the magic of it. Analog is my thing and my videos are mainly dedicated to that type of media but I also treat digital and trying to find the way to make it more analog and engaging.
![ANA[DIA]LOG](http://yt3.ggpht.com/K0qr1ndqDdGUyxbMUYesdA0KM3wZ-_upZ4bvQR8Vi_Ie1773eXoIXY2VblfzWYRJnwxd5pVrbXw=s48-c-k-c0x00ffffff-no-rj)
Beautiful piece, Guido. Congrats on the new CD player, and tube based at that. I built a tube buffer I had put after my DAC at first, but it ended up sounding better before the transport. Using an optical cable to connect the transport and DAC made a big difference, especially real glass too. The tube buffer added such a great “warmth” (for lack of better words).
That Ayon has so many great options. It’s so wonderful when a piece of gear actually connects with you on an emotional level. Congrats again, Guido! Enjoy the tunes, man. 🔊🥳🎶
I own the now very old ayon cd2-s. I had upgraded several times. With burson discrete opamps, jupiter wax and paper caps, solen teflon caps. I use now as dac and I can tell is a bit better than the t+a dac 8 and my other dac the ps audio directstream. I love it.
Beautiful machine
You are making me envious... of course
I hope you enjoy your Ayon as much as possible!
Phenomenally well engineered and fantastic aesthetics, well done on your find.
10K is not bad considering it's a DAC, transport, and preamp rolled into one beautiful package.
she look's simply beautiful. am so psyched to hear verification that if we search we will find that elusive higher level.
congrats and enjoy Guido...and am waiting for the scoop on your mystery dac!
Thanks George!
Bravo! I discovered Ayon Audio just over two years in a Stealth DAC and CD-T II transport. Most amazing digital I have ever heard.
Sweet!
Very interesting unit. I kinda like the built in preamp/DAC option.
I checked the local pricing for this CDP here in Oz and thought it seemed reasonable compared to the likes of Esoteric and dCS. Then I saw the price of the HF Edition and suddenly we weren't in Kansas anymore. When the blurb contains the word 'magical', I can only assume that the gear does more than play music ;)
😂
I purchased the original EAR Acute tube CD player in 2006 and used it until 2019. I bought it because it was so analog like sounding, gorgeous mids. It lacks in resolution and deep bass though although I did not change the fuse (I should have before selling it). Ayon CD35 is a definite cut above that unit.
Very nice unit Guido. I'm surprised you haven't found Audionote UK. Peter Qvortrup's approach to oversampling is right up your street.
Woah Audionote, now there you really need a mortgage just for the medium models! I discussed about them in my CD transport video. They are surely among the best out there.
@ANA[DIA]LOG Yes Guido I guess they can get up to eye watering prices, I heard their level 3 CD player, the 5.1x, I understand they have CD players that sit at level 5/6 which is mind blowing as I cannot believe how stunningly great the level 3 cd player sounded so it's mind bending to think what a level 5 CD Audionote player would sound like or even if I ever will get to hear one. Incidentally Peter Qvortrup maintains that they still have much work to do until he is truly satisfied with digital. I'm spoiled now because I know I won't be satisfied until I can get one. The Ayon has always caught my eye for build quality and design aesthetic but I wouldn't need the preamp section so would look at other models. I agree too that AAD red book CD's can sound unbelievably good. I wish you happy experiences on your journey with the Ayon. P.S. I'm a predominantly Analogue guy but I wouldn't cut myself off from great digital, both have their place but and its a big but! Great digital is very hard to get as most of it sounds pretty poor in my view. Thank you for your work and I look forward to your future output.
I used to own an Ayon CD-5s with upgraded Burson Single HD discrete op-amps, matched 6H30DR super tubes and matched 6C4P rectifiers. I found that player had good synergy placed on an Acoustic Revive RST-38H under board. I now own a Vitus SCD-025 Mk2 which is a very well thought out and analogue-sounding spinner.
I can see you are very happy with the CD-Player so I'm very happy for you. Congratulations 😎🎸🎷🎺👍
Thanks!
Che bella macchina! Guido, you outdid yourself, congratulations! I hope you enjoy it for a very long time...........that unit looks like it's "future-proof". 👍💿📀💿📀💿🔈🎶🎧✌
Great video. Can you do a sound demo ?
Thanks. Yes, I am planning on doing that BUT it will be an ambient capture.
@ 26:25 I was totally confused and basically lost with everything you explained afterwards! You were talking about the big „bump“ that you experienced after connecting the Ayon to the Holo May and attributed the silk sound „probably“ to the tubes. Sorry, but I think the tubes are out of the equation the minute you use the digital out of the Ayon connecting it to an external DAC. Or did I miss something?
Yes, I apologize I got mixed up. Do to a recent test on another transport which had tubes on the digital buffers section I mixed them up. In any case I can confirm that the Ayon DAC and related tube output stage are very good but the results with the Holo are just better. I will do another test in the future after even more use and see if things have changed.
Super cool. Now on my dream list. 😃. - Heather
what a beauty,congrat!
It's a beautiful unit. How is it at error correction? Some discs have errors at pressing you can't see. I buy a lot of used CD's. Some more used than others.
True story: Many years ago I made a calibrated error CD with a sharpie and played it (attempted) on various players at the Hi-Fi shop. An expensive Nakamichi could not play what a player 1/4 it's price could.
I am not sure that is a positive aspect. Interpolation cab be harsh and even if you are reading used coasters that doesn't mean the sound will be faithful but actually more artificial
@@anadialog Thank you for responding.
Small errors can be 100% corrected. Larger ones get interpolation, and even larger ones will receive the silent treatment with very quick fades before and after. Beyond that the player merrily skips along!
Quality issues arise when the player interpolates when it could correct, or it silences when it could interpolate, or it skips when it could silence.
Many moons ago, I made a calibrated error CD with a sharpie and took it to a Hi Fi store. Much to my surprise, a $600 Nakamichi could not play what everything else in the store could, including a $150 portable boombox.
Please don't get me wrong, I firmly believe that a clean and unscratched disc is best and all the discs I bought new still look new decades later.
what about comparing or listening to a Wadia 861x❓
several years ago I was in a stereo store. There was a Harman Kardon CD player. the amplifier was a Linn If I remember correctly the name of the speakers I probably don't remember but they were considered to have very good resolution for the time. the sound was like holographic, it sounded like I was in a different place than the room I was in
Outstanding review and product I always find your reviews genuine and honest.
The only issue I see is for those in N.America is dealer support.
Thanks! I see there is an Ayon USA...www.ayonaudiousa.com/
My Gongrats dear Guido for your new HI-END CDp 👍👍👍👍
Thanks! 😊
oooh baby!
How does it compare to the Luxman D-10x??
Wonderful review, Guido! I was a little confused though. You mentioned at the end that you were running the Ayon as a transport to the Holo May, so I am curious why you went for this unit and not the transport only version? Are there upgrades to this version that make it sound better when only used as a transport? Thanks.
Thanks! I explained it in the video...I wanted to try the full Ayon package and was hoping that the inside DAC would be better but it wasn't. In fact I suggest to try out the CD-T II if you have a quality DAC. Nevertheless, we must remember that the CD-35 II, apart from the HF edition, is the TOTL of Ayon so the components should be better than the transport probably not a night and day difference.
Yes! Ayon CD35 11. I agree with you in regards to this unit! Got mine in US a few years ago and I love this player! I also am a tube guy and enjoy the experience! I wanted to tell you about something I added to my system that really enhanced the sound of my Ayon! That is something called an RC35 which is kind of a Harmonics Generator as best as I can describe it! Built originally for Studio use but now available for home use! Check it out! Larry
Interesting, thanks! It's a room control equalizer. Do you set it by the ear?
I'm sorry! I made a mistake! I have CD10 11 Signature not a CD35. Still damn good! In regards to the RC35! Yes! You set it by ear! It is recommended to set it as in the photo they send with the unit! I have found they have been almost spot on with this recommendation! I add a little turn on the low frequency and it sounds great! This unit is strictly fully balanced and 1 input and 1Output. I also have a real ear opener for you to try! It is called a Synchro Mesh Relocker! The company is Empirical Audio and this device lowers jitter in any digital devices! Ok now for the comparison! I just purchased a older Berkeley DAC Alpha 1! My friend audio dealer told me an ultra audiophile came in with the Berkeley DAC and this Relocking device! He listened to it first with out the Recloker and he said it sounded great comparing it to a 10k DAC he sells! Then he told me about the funny devices that came with it! I asked him if he could hook it up and listen to it! He did and called me back 5 minutes later and said he heard a difference that was quite noticable! So I bought it! Got it hooked up to the Berkeley DAC and my Ayon using only the Transport. Sounded wonderful! Lots of detail etc. I was pretty pleased for about 2 listening sessions and then I started thinking! I'm not using the Tube Analog stage in the Ayon! Can I do that by bypassing the DAC? So I called the owner/designer of the Synchro Mesh and told him what I wanted to do and he said if the Ayon has Digital In and Digital Out I could! So today I hooked it up using the Analog Outs and also knowing that the Volume Control is Analog not Digital! Well, I was blown away! The Tubes were back and the Sound has never been better! The Recloker lowers the Jitter regardless of the clock in the Ayon and makes it that much better! Wow! This device is very inexpensive for what it does! I must say though there are some things that must go with it! The Dynamo OTL Power Supply and of course high quality BNC cables! He makes his own. Anyway, how lucky did I get to get Everything including Power Supply and his custom Silver BNC cable! Check out the Empirical Audio Website! I think you may learn a lot like I have! So with the RC35 and my Mono Tube Amps and Ayon running fully Analog the Sound is Unbelievable! I also have dedicated lines running to my Audio System! That helps too!
Looks very fancy. I'm sure this will keep you happy for at least a few months, Guido! Interesting remarks about SA-CD players being compromised for CD playback. It would be interesting to see a shootout between this and something like a Luxman D-10X.
I hope more than a few months 🤞🤞🤞🙈
The Luxman would be my choice if I had the budget. ............I would not compare as I know the LUX does it for me..........
The Luxman has received mixed reviews. Apparently, extremely detailed and clear but not so much body and musicality. I haven't heard it though.
Being that I don't have 2 pairs of my best interconnects I cannot A/B between cd playback and lp playback. My turntable has RCA outputs on the back so you have to use an external interconnect, and my best one is expensive enough that I only have one. But what I think, is that cd playback is capable of sound quality that at least rivals the lp plaback of someone who has lp equipment of my level, which I would describe as well above average, but probably not pushing the state of the art or overly expensive. Sound that is good enough that in most ways you couldn't imagine anything much better. That you can actually go out and for a few dollars buy used cd after cd and bring them home and get that kind of experience, has to be the entertainment value of all time.
Even speaker drivers don't necessarily have to be that expensive. I find that more expensive midrange drivers do sound less strained and more effortless than any cheaper midrange drivers I've ever heard. The best tweeters I know for clean natural sound however, were used in a very inexpensive speaker. I'll say what they are, when I think I found enough of them on the used market. At first, I thought they were smooth but dull sounding and maybe lacking in extension. Then in one of my configurations I had the tweeters employed in a system where I was using a vintage tube integrated amp with tone controls. I turned the treble up a bit and I couldn't believe how good the tweeters were. So clean, detailed and airy. Without the treble control I would have never discovered how great they were. Once I was reading a thread where a guy who seemed to know his stuff was saying how they were the best tweeters he has ever heard. I thought "What?" "I have those, and they don't sound like anything special; they sound dull and lacking in detail." That of course was before I heard them with some treble boost. When the high frequencies get cleaner, they will seem to sound less loud. This is a well documented psychoacoustic effect. It pays to experiment. Harry Pearson, the former editor of The Absolute Sound said his favorite tweeters of all time were vintage ribbon tweeters made by Panasonic. I've seen them on ebay auctions a few times and they are capable of getting around $400 for a used pair. Panasonic/Technics must have been good with tweeters. The tweeter in some of their vintage top of the line speakers like the SB 700A was the only truly good driver, that wasn't colored sounding with that late 1970s/80s Japanese coloration. If you wanted a non colored natural sounding speaker back then you bought US or U.K. speakers. Although I'm sure there were some others somewhere.
Cd players are right up the alley of guys like me who like to experiment and improve their sound. One of the latest things I've discovered lately is putting something with some weight on top of the biggest capacitors in your cd player. Definitely don't use metal, as if it gets bumped and rolls off onto other metal parts inside, you could blow a fuse or the player. I use little pieces of thick marble or heavy wood. I think that cd sound from first hand experience is just so good you would have to be crazy to try to pick out things a tiny bit wrong with it. It gives you so much for so little. We didn't necessarily need SACD after all. The sampling rate of redbook cds is generous enough. They used good judgement.
Have you done a video about what items you need in your set up, like from turntable/cd player/cassette deck to speakers? I want to upgrade my set up, but got confused with pre-amps and integraded amps and do both of them need power amps if I consider passive speakers... I'm newbie at this.
But this CD do look soooooo nice! 😍 it really does look good, but waaaaay too expensive for me. Love that lid thing for CD it seems rare thing that you can actually see the cd spinning. with most players they just eat them. Once I thought I lost the cd I got from library, but it still was in player, but with this kinda player it's nice to know if you do forget to take it out.
Welcome aboard Alise! A video on what you "need" may be presumptuous because one may build his system in several ways. If uou have specific questions just write them here! If you can write them in a new comment because replies sometimes don't reach me.
Starting from this comment I will try to answer you. If you use an integrated amp (which has a preamp and amp in the same box) you don't need anything else apart from a source (cd, lp, etc) and speakers. Other solutions are separates, preamp and amp but which is going to sound better in mist cases but also more expensive. Otherwise you can use activ3 speakers that have their own amp attached to tye speakers. At that point you just need a preamp or something that has a volume knob (some times CD players, dacs etc). Finally a phono preamp is only for the phono cartridge for reading lps, which needs to be connected to a normal (line level) preamp in order to regulate the volume + an a power amp obviously.
Class
Aren't those Ayons LOVELY! 👍 I had the great opportunity to buy my very first tube amp after 40+ years of pretending to be an Audiophile. This nice fellow had a used Ayon Orion II Class 'A' tube integrated amp that originally sold for about $4500 or so, something I would never ever be able to afford. Well, amazingly I was able to get it for a good price and, yes, it sounds bloody amazing! Not bad for my very first tube amp 😁 I *LOVE* the look of their stuff and your new CD player looks just great!
I'm sorry Guido, but you keep saying 'Combined with a good quality DAC'... I don't understand, if you are using the Ayon, how would you be using it WITH a DAC...? Wouldn't you normally play your DAC directly to your amp/preamp? Where would the CD players come in? Thanks!
I am sorry! It appears that I wasn't clear enough on this point. I just wanted to try the Ayon's full package and I was hoping the inner DAC would be as good or close to my Holo Audio May but no, the latter is the clear winner. So I am using the Ayon as a trasport also because with this new upcoming DAC I am about the review the results made me almost cry. In fact, in the video I said this and I also said that I would recommend to probably stick with the trasnport CD-T II by Ayon IF you have a high quality DAC, otherwise the Ayon inner DAC is very very good for the overall price. My last consideration is that the CD,-35 II is, apart from the HF version, the TOTL of Ayon so I suppose the components are better than the transport, which is also why I decided to go that way. I hope it's clear now. Once again sorry about that and congrats for your catch. Quality used is the way to go!
@@anadialog Thank you most kindly for the nice reply Guido! I did take notice when you said that your stand alone DAC was indeed better, although the internal DAC of the Ayon is very good. I guess I misunderstood and thought you were somehow using the DAC AND the Ayon together, sorry about that 😊 BTW, you are getting some *SERIOUSLY* expensive equipment these days... Must be those special Italian Connections 😁(Actually, I am almost full Sicilian myself)
How close does the Ayon CD 35 come to your Kuzma TT?
That is a very interesting question. Surely the distance has been reduced even though we must underline that they can be matched on certain parameters but overall the two reproductions are just different. I was switching last night from a CD to the LP of the same album and analog, surely also due to the mastering, is just more faithful and engaging.
Aries g1, Holo audio spring 3 kte with pre module, kinki studio monos and sasandu sb acoustics speakers. This is my deminishing return choice, worried to give this tips to z friend about their maintenance and sinergy…kudos to you.
Hi Guido, In the video you say that "the upcoming DAC" and the Holo May sounds better than the internal DAC in the Ayon. Do you use the Ayon as a transport? Do you use any tube stages in the Ayon, I suppost that the tubes are only in the analogue parts, after the DAC.
Can you explanin?
Karl-Erik
Sure, yes I am using the Ayon as a trasnport the May and especially the new DAC I am about to present on this channel were much more convincing and engaging than the inner DAC. The signal then goes in my Mastersound or Shindo masseto tube preamp. I am deciding which one works better with the rest of the chain. Also the power amps I am testing and soon presenting are tube based.
Tube
@@anadialog Thank you for the clarification.
Another question, is your Marantz CD 95 modified? If not, I recommend Antonio Cruz modifications, hi Antonio if you read this. With the mods it is a different machine. Should be interesting to hear a comparison with your best stuff.
Hi, I am just in the situation to decide:
I am using the DAC 200 and thought to add the AYON CD-T II as transport connected to the DAC 200. Now I was at my dealer and he told me to buy instead the CD-35II which sounds much better with it´s internal DAC than the combination with the DAC 200 (T+A). So I know that You also have the DAC 200. Did You ever compare these two (CD-35II with internal dac versus CD-35ii as transport and T+A DAC 200) and what do You like more for yourself?
And last not least if I go with the CD-T II would it bring a hearable sound improvement with the optional PCM to DSD module?
Your opinion is very appreciated!
I have absolutely no doubt in saying that the dac200 combined with the Ayon CD35 II was much better than the player stand-alone. That DAC is just phenomenal. I haven't tried the trasport but I think it is the way to go and no, drop the DSD module. It's just a conversion which will introduce noise. Ok, I haven't tried it, but as I always say DSD stays with DSD and PCM with PCM.
@@anadialog Thanks a lot Guido! I ordered the CD-T II without the PCM -> DSD module.
I think your videos are the most engaging and informative of all the other reviewers. Thank you for sharing. One question is does that mean you will not be using the dac section as your may dac sounds better?
Thank you! Yes, the May was the clear winner as well as the other new DAC I am currently testing.
Dude.. you keep upgrading!!
I'm getting Fomo 🤣🤣🤣
Actually, my TEAC UD505 DAC uses the dual AKM Verita chip, just like yours.
Infact it utilizes the chip a tier above, the one running at 22,4 mhz - DSD 512.
I really prefer the sound of AKM chips, as compared to Sabre, Burrbrown or Wolfson. I've been around the block!
With the Teac DAC everything is converted to DSD 512, even PCM. And i prefer the sound converted to DSD, this isn't merely an upsampling, the signal is changed from PCM to PDM.
Now we can engage the Digital cut-off filter at 800 khz instead of the analogue FIR filters (fast/slow) used in the PCM domain.
But again, perhaps it's very specific to the individual piece of equipment, which setting sounds best. That's a pretty accurate rule of thumb.
At the end of the day, even an entry level turntable with cheap spherical pickup still sounds more 'true-to-live" than any amount of digital samples .. to my ears...
Hahaha! Well, I changed a few dacs in the past years and even when I find the same chips the overall architecture just creates a very different sound, usually on the dull side...
@@anadialog i find lots more depth and spatial infomation when it's converted to DSD.
But i know some rather exotic DAC's that swears by non-upsampling.
As you say, it's all about the implementation. There most likely isn't a correct answer here.
The finish reminds me of Wadia.
Out of the many CD Players I own,my favorite was the RAYSONIC CD-168, with Russian tubes and BURR-BROWN 1794A CHIPS,but it died....as u see in my videos I'm a Yamaha fan...and I agree that for the most part sacd players comprise cd play-back,prefer BURR-BROWN over ESS SABRES, for.." Glare ", and the YAMAHA CDX-1060 has a class A headphone output I love and it's 30 years old...lol. would like to hear and tryout this Ayon and several other high-dollar players with tube outputs, been saving up for a 10k player and still researching, as many players are coming out every where...good times! Thanks for your Report..!
Thank you and please come back when you get yours and tell us about it!
Had the Raysonic 168 and it also died. Transport stopped working. I replaced it with an Ayon 07s, which I really loved while I owned it. Music was very involving.
You should give a listen to Jays Audio CDT3/3 transport.
I stopped at the 2. That was enough for me. Don't get me wrong it's a good transport but nothing special.
@@anadialog I agree, not exceptionally gifted.
As always your video is top notch, and full of emotions. And you are always honest and real. That's great! Just wander what's your take on current Luxman and Accuphase CD players?
Don’t ask his opinion…ask your ears. It all comes down to personal taste
@@bikemike1118 Absolutely true. Own ears are the most important thing, just for me would be very interesting to hear Guido's opinion too.
@@normanz.2087… okay 👍🏼
Thank you! 😊 I would love to test them only heard some amazing past models at shows...
I see there is a Ayon cd transport II. Wonder if that is the same as cd35 II without the dac?.
In the video I in fact suggested to get their transport IF you have a very good DAC. In terms of components I am not sure, the 35 II is, apart from the HF, their TOTL so it should be better but probably not night and day difference.
Ayon CD-35 II is a great player, you did very good picking it up. Next to the quality the look is very great, even it should not be that important I still buy with my eyes.
I was about to buy it too but ended up with Playback Designs MPD-8 & MPT-8 (incl. Streamer-X Modul) combo which is IMO the best combo money can buy. Yes it is not cheap but compared to the entire market it is on the beginning of the very high end stuffs price, but when it comes to quality I would say nothing can really beat it.
So CD/SACD/Streamer/USB+NetworkPlayback all gets handled with the MPT-8 which is connected over fibre cable to their DAC MPD-8 and boy I can tell you, that DAC is a beast.
Design and buildquality are outstanding too so I did skip any other tryouts and landed with Playback Designs
Sweet!
Like the illuminated buttons and they are on top where you can see them. Some engineers appear to think we see in dark and twist our necks in strange angles. TV remotes are some of the worst no illumination and buttons for a 4 year olds fingers.
True...
coloration...aka distortion caused by the tubes?
With the integrated DAC mode some color was added but I actually do like that. I don't think complete neutrality is actually realistic, paradoxically! That is probably because audio in reality gets colored as soon as produced.
Always wondered never tried. Now have Audio Research Ref 9 CDP, tube output stage quad DAC… that’s endgame for me.
Uuuh! Sweet!
Great to learn about this cd player. I'm confused however. You talk both in terms of using this as a CD player and a transport with your external Dac, which confused me about what you prefer.. im assuming the magic you speak of happened when you used it as a CD player which uses its internal DAC only.. am i correct in that understanding?
Hi there! Actually no, I said different things. Maybe you skipped here and there. I said that I wanted to experiment the whole package hence I got a player and not a transport. Compared to my standalone DAC, the Holo audio May KTE (and something new soon to be presented) the later were the clear winners. The internal DAC is good but not stellar. Later on I said that I don't recommend getting the player and that PROBABLY the trasport is the right choice but I haven't listened to it. Moreover, the CD-35 II, excluding the HF edition, is their TOTL hence the components should be better than their trasport.
General question: how do you evaluate high-resolution streaming vs CD?
Few cds have better sound vs. streaming ...
The video may be considered already a reply to that. Unfortunately streaming by its own nature looses a lot along the road the the reconstruction of the signal is just not right. If compared to a quality CD player streaming, even high-res just dissapears in most cases. I have a quality streamer and a Qobuz subscription but I am constantly dissapointed. If you don't know the real sound of a specific album on CD or vinyl or even a fake stored on a SDD drive and you simply listen to it streamed it will sound great but once compared in let's say 80% of cases it will just sound thin even though aparrarently it may seem more detailed, several things are wrong. We will come back to this in a future video. It's an interesting topic.
A well recorded, uncompressed CD easily outperformes high res streaming. Extra „high res“ is unnecessary for great sound anyway…the industry wants to make you believe but it’s not true!
Thanks for the answer, that's interesting, even the techical aspects behind those differences
Great review Guido!! One question: are you using the CD-35 as a stand alone player or as a transport to Holo May? Thank you!
As a transport now, paired with the Holo (now gone) and now with the T+A D200 things are much better.
Just wondering what set up are you using this with, ie speakers especially.
Well, I am currently using it with my Holo Ausio May KTE DAC and a new DAC I am about to review, connected to a Mastersound preamp and Shindo Masseto, amplified by an Accuphase a48 and more recently by a pair of SET mono blocks that are soon to be reviewed. Speakers are my GoldenEar Triton Reference.
@ANA[DIA]LOG Very impressive, thanks for the reply buddy 👍🏻
12:09 Guido: Does it remind you of something?
Me: Raysonic CD player like CD-168
Guido: Mark Levinson
Me: oh
😂
Looks a bit like kit, Micheal knight car in the night rider.
It sure is a thing of beauty.
I had the same thought...! Kit kit?! Answer me....
Should I replace my oppo 105?
If you have a great DAC, absolutely yes! Or, as I do, use it for multi-format playback.
I've been looking into this for a few years now, but still too damn expensive for me! Talked with people that had the PCM to DSD option, and to my amazement they didn't like it! (I though it would be a cool option, as it is not exactly "upsampling", it's a different process. Maybe one day... I also love the red on black look, would match my 2008 Buell XB12R perfectly! LOL
Yes, it's a conversion aimed at noise shaping. Forget about it IMHO
When it means PCM to DSD. Is it then the same principle as the CD players in the 90s that used 1 bit technology. the Saying for it was . That you placed the pieces on a conveyor belt at a certain speed instead of having 16 pieces on a wheelbarrow where some piece Or pieces got lost along the way
Wait, i am watching AnaDialog.. What are these silver discs and bits you speak of?
PCM, DSD, Redbook?
Thanks.
🤣...you know how they say, "know your enemy" ;-)
Great video and excellent company. I own tube mono blocks (Scorpio).
Did you try it as a pre amp? I am curious how it sounds.
Thanks
I haven't because thatbwoukd mean using the internal DAC which isn't at the level of my external DAC unfortunately. Nice monoblocks!
Did the Hegel Mohican just get curbstomped?
Now that is an inferior manufactured unit which may sound good. Look at the parts and design of it.
Have you ever Try an AMR cd-77 ?
I haven't but I have reviewed the Marantz CD-94 MKII which has the famous TDA1541 single crown DACS. The AMR is based on this design. Here is the video: th-cam.com/video/ByClVQevxqo/w-d-xo.html
Vs Luxmans ?
Does it still work completely?
What do you mean?
@@anadialog Hi, I wanted to ask If the player has had any issues after about a year.
Great video but a little bit confusing. The heart of Ayon CD-35 II is SE-Triode vacuum-tube DAC. Yes, it can be used also as digital transport only, but it is not its primary virtue. As far as DAC quality, it is almost Ayon flagship, only bested by their standalone DAC Kronos. You are saying that you wanted all tubed CD player but when using only digital section with external DAC it negates the main star fo the show - Pure Class A triode tube analog stages. Using tube CD player of this quality only as digital transport is little bit waste.
True! But that is. Maybe in the future I will try their transport. For the tube, you are correct. I got mixed up with a different model that has buffer tubes in its digital output. Sorry about that.
@@anadialog
One of the best CD transports in the world, two box Audio Note CDT Six, has tube digital output stage with tube rectified power supply. Yes, Ayon CD35 II has tube rectified power supply, but I dont know if it also means that it has similar type of valve digital output stage as in Audio Note CDT.
why didn't you buy versions that support SACD . Then you might have gotten wonderful SACD sound too. Or have I misunderstood something
Mofi CDs. Could have a warm sound. I have one of them it doesn't sound like a CD normally sounds
Omg.....i just wanna cry.....god bless the audioentusiastsics.....
On the back it says CD 35 ll.
Yes…? What do you want to tell us with that? It also says CD 35 II in the vid description
@@bikemike1118 he was concerned, because it Does Not indicate that on the Front,which is strange. The fact that is says one thing on the front, and something different on back is very notable. Are you all caught up now?
The Europeans find such nomenclature a bit déclassé, so round the back it goes.
@@iyona14granturismogt6gtspo7 …completely caught up now! Austrians always tend to be not too obvious…maybe THAT is why … lol
@@bikemike1118 exchanging ideas on the internet without insults....what a strange and novel concept. 😆
The Ayon looks like a really cool piece of equipment. Years ago because of a review in The Absolute Sound, many audiophiles in the US were put on to the idea that Ayon might make the best amplification on the planet. Then it was VTL etc. One thing that I would have hoped for on the Ayon cd player, would have been a high quality headphone amplifier. It would give people a chance to hear just how good the Ayon player is. We never really do get to hear exactly how good most audio equipment is. How clean it is, how much subtlety and detail it is resolving. We get to hear what it sounds like after being degraded by cables; even if you have great cables. I have a source piece of equipment which does have a beautiful headphone input, and I couldn't believe how much better the sound was, plugging my headphones straight in and eliminating the signal going through an interconnect cable and the extra circuitry of a headphone amp. I prefer speakers. Who wouldn't prefer sound that is 5 to 10 times bigger with more believable spatial characteristics and vibration you can feel. But I use headphones too, when doing my mods. A great pair of headphones will almost always sound clearer and cleaner than your speakers, and alway way less colored from room acoustics.
I have probably doubled the sound quality of my cd player in the last 5 weeks; and I think it was doubled before that from all my mods, from when it was unmodified. I do not think I can tell cd playback from analog now. Maybe if I did an A/B comparison, I'd hear something different. In my early days of modifying, I could tell my cd playback was starting to sound really better and more analog like. I sort of thought that it would sound totally analog like some day, but I wondered what would be the last stubborn performance area to hold out; to hold on to it's digital lineage? I knew it wouldn't be openness and spatiality; I achieved that early on. Would the last thing to go be bleached tonal colors, edginess, maybe the slight lack of warmth. Now that I am at the apex, I know what it is. The last thing with cd playback to avoid being conquered was..........."Glare". Not that I've totally eliminated it. But if I ever achieve true analog perfection, a bit of digital glare or electronic glare will have been the last stubborn thing to go. To go completely. All the other things sound perfectly fine. Just the slightest tiny bit of glare. I am experimenting with eliminating stray eddy currents now, because that is what can contribute to a slight amount of glare. What was the last instrument that I wondered if cd playback could reproduce perfectly? The acoustic guitar. For some reason digital playback always seemed to have a slight problem with perfectly capturing its sound and harmonics in a totally convincing way. I am glad I have whatever records I have, but it's cds really coming on for me..
Thanks for sharing that. Yes, considering it's also a preamp they could have added a quality headphone amp, I agree.
GUIDO,HOPE YOU ARE DOING WELL …VERY COOL 😎 LOOKING 👀💚💚💚
Was sick, in fact I wasn't able to publish a few days ago, now I feeling much better. How about you?
@@anadialog SORRY 🥹 to hear that ,I hate being sick …BUT I
Am GLAD 🤗 you are feeling better , and I HOPE YOU CONTINUE IMPROVING QUICKLY 🤗 … I am good thanks for asking 🤗💚💚💚
So I’ve got one ,,, so give us your 10 best digital recordings to play on this machine .
Here is a first selection I made in a dedicated video on my test discs: th-cam.com/video/18zsudsOvnY/w-d-xo.html
Co to za gramofon ?
Kuzma Stabi R
Actually just the transport here is 10K---that model might be 11.5K on sale.
Yes, I saw only after that in the US even the trasnport is quite high...:-(
A 4k USD used year 2010 model of Audio Note cdt 3 will beat is easily. It has a more deep warm sound and way of gluing sound together. But you are right this is a player well above average.
I can't say. I never hear one against the other but obviously I have great respect for Audio Note except for the unhuman prices (in fact you said used).
@@anadialog The new and better version is about the same price as this Ayon model: 10k USD.
I have never heard you talk about streaming music. WHY????
As reported in a comment here below, I have a quality streamer and use Qobuz BUT the sound quality is quite inferior to a CD, not always but in most cases it is. The way streaming works inherently looses information and has bulky reconstruction of the signal. It's not a FTP. It may seem more detailed listened by itself but when compared directly with a CD it just sounds thin, and compressed.
If you really want cutting edge CD playback system that is made like no other, save your time and money, and buy SH Spectral audio SDR4000SL.
You will hear CD playback like never before, even all that HD formats will be questioned again.
I was on the lookout for that one ;-)
I guess you don't have a chance over there in Europe to listen to EMM Labs DA2 V2 or it's just way above the budget at $30,000.00!!
Way above the budget and actually just silly after a certain price point. If one thinks at the amount of materials and technology in a 30k automobile there is no sense in spending that amount of money just for a single component as a DAC. Yes, A&R have a cost and the units sold are low but still, those unreal price tags are just too high in most cases. We discussed this here: th-cam.com/video/QKixhYovxJQ/w-d-xo.html
I am having a mental breakdown, right now! 10k bucks for 7 percent better sound?
Where did you get 7%? It depends from where you start. I started up high and the difference was considerable.
@@anadialog in compare with 4/19 laser mechanism.
@@anadialog Also, you have Accuphase amp which is state of the art amp and can handle ANY speaker., and you push that expensive thing with 8 ohms speakers. If you challenge yourself to make DIY HIFI speakers at 2 ohms or even 1 ohm instead of give your 20k money on high end brends., you will get something that you cannot imagine right now with that ALSO super expensive CD player.
it is one that can probably play DXD, which is probably seen as the most extreme in PCM. Then someone wonders where you can buy albums in DXD, yes, for example On the website native DSD
I have old 40 lbs pioneer elite transport. Hook that pioneer up with just about any DAC and you won't believe the sound. Transports are more important than DAC. In my experience
That’s £11,000. Out to be good, but at that price I’d check out Audio Music DAC/1, although that’s just a DAC
I just saw it online being sold for 9000 €. That's crazy money. I bought a Technics CD/SACD Player for 2499 € and that was already a lot of money for me and worth every penny. I can recommend the Techncis SL-G700 100%. Fantastic CD player.
I agree! I was able to get it for a 6k but it's still crazy
£10K, best thing since sliced bread...
why is it your new reference? Cuz it looks super duper cool, even though it sounds the same like any other cdp?
Exactly for the opposite reason. Don't care about the looks, the sound must blow me away to stay with me.
Which quality player or transport have you experienced?
@ANA[DIA]LOG
Hi mr. ANA[DIA]LOG!
I don't agree with some things in your review.
Before I get to that, let me introduce myself as a probably one of the biggest Ayon freaks in the world - own full Ayon setup:
CD-T II - CD transport
S-5 - preamp / DAC / streamer
Triton KT150 - power amp
Black Raven - speakers
Black Pearl - cables
Now, let's get to the disagreemet part!
Sorry, but your coments about CD-T II and quality parts comparision with CD-35 mk2 is for me just rambling without checking some things. CD-T II is, in every way, the same or even higher league comparing it with CD-35 mk2. As you probably don't know, the retail price of CD-T II is the 13k€, it has Philips Pro 2 mechanism which is one of the best drives ever, and few steps above the drive in CD-35 mk2. There are probably better cd transports out there, that costs 20k or even more (I tried one of those) but It wasn't better than CD-T II when connected to Ayon S-5. Of course, the sinergy of Ayon components is guilty why CD-T II sounded better.
Btw, combo of any of last Ayon Dac + CD-T II is way better than CD-35 mk2. And when you put together CD T II and S-5 it's a step above CD-35 HF II and you get full state of the art sound.
Anyway, great review and great promotion of Ayon and their big boss Gerhard Hirt, who is one of the last crazy (in a good way!) mohicans in audio world.
I don't ramble, I report. The cost reported is that present in Europe, where Ayon is produced and I live. If the prices are different in other parts of the world that si a different matter. Of course I know about the CD pro 2. But that is not enough as we have seen in my Jay's ausio CD transport review. I think it is a little presumptuous to think I have no idea of what I am talking about. The CD-35 II is their TOTL in CD reproduction. Nevertheless I admit that I haven't listened to the transport so as stated in the video mine is a supposition. How about you? Did you do a side by side comparison or only defending what you have?
@@anadialog
Hi!
Yes I did side by side duel, not only between CD-35 mk2 vs Kronos + CD-T II, I had a chance and luck to listen and compare more than a dozen of Ayon components over a past 10 years.
I live in Europe also, and Gerhard Hirt (who is friend of mine) told me today that last price of Ayon CD-T II is little above 13K€.
I didn't mean to be rude about a rambling part, but it would be ok to check out the parts of CD-T II before saying that CD-35 mk2 is better machine!
Kind regards from Croatia, Europe,
Jurica Kosovic
When one is consumer with limited technical knowledge, manufacturers can claim all kind of bull.... if they know what people like to hear about product.
Sure, but then high-fidelity experience kicks in (if you have it) and no BS can stand that...at least not in my case as I demonstrated sending back the extremely famous and acclaimed Jay's Audio transport.
First of all, there is no cd playback without cd servo system of some kind, optical system can't work without servo that adjust pickup optics and position many times per second .
All audio circuits or stages have some kind of feedback, at least local, even basic triode. When some manufacturer claim that is non feedback design, they say that it's not global feedback, but there is always local one. So as I said, manufacturers claim what people want to hear, for some reason.
I have some level of techical knowledge so it's funny and sad to hear some of manufacturer claims.
High fidelity experience??
I have some as person of 20+ years in this as hobby, but also as audio/sound and electronic engineer. So what can I say.
Not impressed with today hifi scene, as they sell a lot of BS.
Very few can claim that they make above avarage sounding devices, not to mention long lasting.
Ayon is on my black list as manufactutrer of many internal compromises, low quality parts, and weird approach to manufacturing and assembly . It smells on china/EU made and outsourced electronic blocks or modules combined with a lot of intarnal wires. Pretty untidy.
Funny how they give it a frequency response of 20hz to 50Khz. Ideally it should just be 1hz to 20Khz. One, Digital can go down to 1 Hz so why chop off the signal at 20hz, two.. CD's have a brick wall at 20Khz preventing music and harmonics from going past that wall. So any deck that says it is capable of going to 50Khz is simply laughable since the media is restricted at 20Khz.
Remember this is also a preamp
It’s not the CD that has a brick wall filter. It’s the old CD players from the 80’s that came with brick wall filter. The 20kHz limit of CD is from its sampling frequency of 44Khz defined by Nyquest theorem.
Yes. Dedicated CD player would be better. No SACD.
Not quite as elegant as it would pretend to be.
I don't know about how it sounds but personally I think it looks ugly- it reminds me of a hot plate oven.
Very very poor mechanism! Try something like Wadia, Esoteric or TEAC with VRDS CMK-3.2 - KSS-151A laser Pick-up / Mechanics. Or with Philips CDM1, CDM1-MKII, CDM9.
No and Yes. Philips CDM pro units and CDM9 are/were great. Stream Unlimited also have some great transports. VRDS, not always either.
10000€...
wtf!
CD isn't analog. Change your channel name maybe.
Music is music. What ever it takes to get closer to the magic of it. Analog is my thing and my videos are mainly dedicated to that type of media but I also treat digital and trying to find the way to make it more analog and engaging.
Putin strike in Austria, 10,000 for CD player is genocide.