Accudazed
29-12-2018, 15:38
Hi. Everyone had enough of turkey and booze?! This will take your mind off it...
Up for sale is my beloved Ayon CD-3s CD player.
I am only selling this machine because a friend of mine has given me first refusal on his Accuphase CD player. I love Accuphase. They are my favourite hifi manufacturer. Simple as that. I have an Accuphase integrated amplifier and partnering it with one of their CD players is my idea of hifi nirvana so I have to go for it (without even a listening comparison...!). I appreciate that this irrational emotive approach will annoy/bewilder some (many?) people but there you go. We are all different.
My Ayon was manufactured in April 2013, is an official UK import and cost £5350. Condition is as new - not a single scratch, ding, scrape, faded paint, missing buttons, etc. The CD player comes with original packaging, CD rom containing music download software, hefty remote (hewn from a solid alloy billet!), original mains cable and comprehensive manual. I purchased the Ayon from Central Audio in 2014 and am the second owner.
This is the most reliable CD player I have ever had - it has never failed to read a disc and been well, boringly reliable (unlike my last Accuphase CD player - a tale of woe detailed in a previous thread on AoS). Kevin at Fi Audio who are the official UK Ayon distributor recently confirmed to me that in his experience the CD-3s has proved to be an extremely reliable machine.
Who the hell are Ayon? http://www.ayonaudio.com They are an Austrian company who source some of their parts from Stream Unlimited and design and build their hifi products in-house in Austria. Ayon are unashamedly a high end hifi manufacturer who make extensive use of valves in their equipment. My CD player is no different having two 6H30 triodes running parallel single-ended per side fed from a power supply sporting a quartet of 6Z4s as rectification.
As you would expect (hope) the Ayon's build quality is astounding. The Ayon's case is made from 12mm thick solid alloy CNC machined plates NOT thin sheet steel (hence the hefty 17kg overall weight). The relatively large radius corners, panel fit, quality of anodising, very high-grade components on individually isolated industrial grade PCBs, switches, etc. are of the highest class too. No wonder the Absolute Sound magazine dubbed Ayon ‘The Bugatti of Audio’.
The Ayon is a pretty large machine at 48x39x13cm. However, this is not some big bluff box where only about 10% of the internal space is actually used. As you can see from the attached images below, the massive alloy case is crammed full of high quality components including big capacitors and 4 transformers. The digital to analogue conversion is done through a pair of Burr Brown PCM 1792 chips. The PCM1792 is highly regarded and used in a number of hi-end CD/DVD/SACD players made by Audio Research, Lindemann, Aesthetix, Bel Canto, Primare and Luxman. Each PCM1792 is a 24 bit /192k dual differential device meaning both channels are on one chip and the outputs are balanced.
The Ayon's CD transport sits on top of the machine and is a bespoke structure made by fellow Austrians, Stream Unlimited. Yes, it's a 'top loader'! A beautifully finished hefty semi-opaque lid holds the CD in place and this sits in a polished and lacquered alloy receptacle. All this means that there are no sliding trays, belts, gears etc. to worry about. And, ha ha, you can even watch the CD spinning round! Cleaning the laser lens would be a doddle too because it sits there staring up at you - I have never cleaned the lens though as it is a process best left to an expert.
The Ayon is not just a CD player it is a pre-amp too. Infact it has been said in a previous Hifi+ review that "this is clearly a valve amplifier manufacturer making what it considers to be the best way of making a CD player – essentially an excellent valve amp with good digital bits, rather than the other way round". I am inclined to agree with that and of course having a built in pre-amp gives you options in the way in which you can deliver the sound from CDs. The Ayon can also do fixed volume and not bit-reduction volume control.
Inputs wise, you get two for analogue (and one tape out) and for digital there is USB, AES/EBU, S/PDIF, Toslink, coaxial and I2S. On the output side of things digital has 1x S/PDIF and coaxial and analogue gets RCA and XLR. The USB input and Windows driver that comes with the CD Rom has opened up the world of computer audio for me too (not that I have any intention of making this my primary source of audio - I prefer to own rather than rent/loan music...).
Never mind all this tech. stuff, how does the bugger sound? I mean, that's what matters isn't it? With a THD of <0.002%, S/N ratio >120dB and a
Dynamic range >110dB and a case stuffed full of very high grade components the Ayon was always going to be in with a chance of sounding good. Sorry to be a bit base here but in my opinion the sound quality is fucking amazing!!! Everything you could possibly want is there. Don't be put off by the presence of valves as the valves = warmth mantra simply does not apply here. Neutrality, forensic level of detail retrieval, musicality, dynamics, timing, pace and rhythm are there in spades. And to top it off, this all happens within a great big sound stage. The sound stage height in particular is amazing - a real eye opener on my very first listen. Every year I attend a big hifi show with amongst other things, the intention of finding a front end that can give me more than my Ayon and present bits of information, dynamics. etc. that I have never heard before. I always take my listened to death 'test' CDs and where vinyl is concerned, get a demo with the same music in record format. So far, only one set up fronted by a dCS 4 box flagship CD player (total system cost £150,000) has, for me, been able to offer a bit more of everything. Food for thought...
The attached picture was taken today - poor light, shaky hands, etc. It is the best I can do for now. For some reason I cannot upload any more or delete pictures in my AoS folder.
I am happy to email you more pictures if you want. Please send me a PM.
A review of the Ayon CD-3S carried out by Hi-fi+ magazine is available on line to read. This article can be seen here: http://www.ayonaudio.com/fileadmin/upload/review/HiFi__Cover_Iss.pdf The reviewer's conclusion to this article is quite telling, "This is instead one of the best sounding CD players you can buy. In fact, it’s so good, it makes you question the need to rip all those discs to a computer, when they sound this good. In 2013, audiophile CD replay needs a champion to fight for the cause. In the Ayon Audio CD-3s, I think we’ve found it".
The price for my Ayon CD-3s is £2500 (not even 50% of its original price). Because the Ayon is a very high spec. precision machine I would rather not send it via a courier as the omnipresent uncaring/thieving/trashing courier problem is never far away (don't laugh, it has happened to me). So, the £2500 price includes free delivery by myself to anywhere in the UK mainland. If you live offshore I am prepared to ship the Ayon but we would need to agree the best way to do it and I will try and construct a mobile nuclear bunker so it arrives in one piece. The £2500 would need to be adjusted to take account of shipping.
My mobile nr is 07527 759 097.
Thanks for looking. Fingers crossed that my Ayon sells. I really want my friend's Accuphase!!!!!!!!
Cheers
Steve
Up for sale is my beloved Ayon CD-3s CD player.
I am only selling this machine because a friend of mine has given me first refusal on his Accuphase CD player. I love Accuphase. They are my favourite hifi manufacturer. Simple as that. I have an Accuphase integrated amplifier and partnering it with one of their CD players is my idea of hifi nirvana so I have to go for it (without even a listening comparison...!). I appreciate that this irrational emotive approach will annoy/bewilder some (many?) people but there you go. We are all different.
My Ayon was manufactured in April 2013, is an official UK import and cost £5350. Condition is as new - not a single scratch, ding, scrape, faded paint, missing buttons, etc. The CD player comes with original packaging, CD rom containing music download software, hefty remote (hewn from a solid alloy billet!), original mains cable and comprehensive manual. I purchased the Ayon from Central Audio in 2014 and am the second owner.
This is the most reliable CD player I have ever had - it has never failed to read a disc and been well, boringly reliable (unlike my last Accuphase CD player - a tale of woe detailed in a previous thread on AoS). Kevin at Fi Audio who are the official UK Ayon distributor recently confirmed to me that in his experience the CD-3s has proved to be an extremely reliable machine.
Who the hell are Ayon? http://www.ayonaudio.com They are an Austrian company who source some of their parts from Stream Unlimited and design and build their hifi products in-house in Austria. Ayon are unashamedly a high end hifi manufacturer who make extensive use of valves in their equipment. My CD player is no different having two 6H30 triodes running parallel single-ended per side fed from a power supply sporting a quartet of 6Z4s as rectification.
As you would expect (hope) the Ayon's build quality is astounding. The Ayon's case is made from 12mm thick solid alloy CNC machined plates NOT thin sheet steel (hence the hefty 17kg overall weight). The relatively large radius corners, panel fit, quality of anodising, very high-grade components on individually isolated industrial grade PCBs, switches, etc. are of the highest class too. No wonder the Absolute Sound magazine dubbed Ayon ‘The Bugatti of Audio’.
The Ayon is a pretty large machine at 48x39x13cm. However, this is not some big bluff box where only about 10% of the internal space is actually used. As you can see from the attached images below, the massive alloy case is crammed full of high quality components including big capacitors and 4 transformers. The digital to analogue conversion is done through a pair of Burr Brown PCM 1792 chips. The PCM1792 is highly regarded and used in a number of hi-end CD/DVD/SACD players made by Audio Research, Lindemann, Aesthetix, Bel Canto, Primare and Luxman. Each PCM1792 is a 24 bit /192k dual differential device meaning both channels are on one chip and the outputs are balanced.
The Ayon's CD transport sits on top of the machine and is a bespoke structure made by fellow Austrians, Stream Unlimited. Yes, it's a 'top loader'! A beautifully finished hefty semi-opaque lid holds the CD in place and this sits in a polished and lacquered alloy receptacle. All this means that there are no sliding trays, belts, gears etc. to worry about. And, ha ha, you can even watch the CD spinning round! Cleaning the laser lens would be a doddle too because it sits there staring up at you - I have never cleaned the lens though as it is a process best left to an expert.
The Ayon is not just a CD player it is a pre-amp too. Infact it has been said in a previous Hifi+ review that "this is clearly a valve amplifier manufacturer making what it considers to be the best way of making a CD player – essentially an excellent valve amp with good digital bits, rather than the other way round". I am inclined to agree with that and of course having a built in pre-amp gives you options in the way in which you can deliver the sound from CDs. The Ayon can also do fixed volume and not bit-reduction volume control.
Inputs wise, you get two for analogue (and one tape out) and for digital there is USB, AES/EBU, S/PDIF, Toslink, coaxial and I2S. On the output side of things digital has 1x S/PDIF and coaxial and analogue gets RCA and XLR. The USB input and Windows driver that comes with the CD Rom has opened up the world of computer audio for me too (not that I have any intention of making this my primary source of audio - I prefer to own rather than rent/loan music...).
Never mind all this tech. stuff, how does the bugger sound? I mean, that's what matters isn't it? With a THD of <0.002%, S/N ratio >120dB and a
Dynamic range >110dB and a case stuffed full of very high grade components the Ayon was always going to be in with a chance of sounding good. Sorry to be a bit base here but in my opinion the sound quality is fucking amazing!!! Everything you could possibly want is there. Don't be put off by the presence of valves as the valves = warmth mantra simply does not apply here. Neutrality, forensic level of detail retrieval, musicality, dynamics, timing, pace and rhythm are there in spades. And to top it off, this all happens within a great big sound stage. The sound stage height in particular is amazing - a real eye opener on my very first listen. Every year I attend a big hifi show with amongst other things, the intention of finding a front end that can give me more than my Ayon and present bits of information, dynamics. etc. that I have never heard before. I always take my listened to death 'test' CDs and where vinyl is concerned, get a demo with the same music in record format. So far, only one set up fronted by a dCS 4 box flagship CD player (total system cost £150,000) has, for me, been able to offer a bit more of everything. Food for thought...
The attached picture was taken today - poor light, shaky hands, etc. It is the best I can do for now. For some reason I cannot upload any more or delete pictures in my AoS folder.
I am happy to email you more pictures if you want. Please send me a PM.
A review of the Ayon CD-3S carried out by Hi-fi+ magazine is available on line to read. This article can be seen here: http://www.ayonaudio.com/fileadmin/upload/review/HiFi__Cover_Iss.pdf The reviewer's conclusion to this article is quite telling, "This is instead one of the best sounding CD players you can buy. In fact, it’s so good, it makes you question the need to rip all those discs to a computer, when they sound this good. In 2013, audiophile CD replay needs a champion to fight for the cause. In the Ayon Audio CD-3s, I think we’ve found it".
The price for my Ayon CD-3s is £2500 (not even 50% of its original price). Because the Ayon is a very high spec. precision machine I would rather not send it via a courier as the omnipresent uncaring/thieving/trashing courier problem is never far away (don't laugh, it has happened to me). So, the £2500 price includes free delivery by myself to anywhere in the UK mainland. If you live offshore I am prepared to ship the Ayon but we would need to agree the best way to do it and I will try and construct a mobile nuclear bunker so it arrives in one piece. The £2500 would need to be adjusted to take account of shipping.
My mobile nr is 07527 759 097.
Thanks for looking. Fingers crossed that my Ayon sells. I really want my friend's Accuphase!!!!!!!!
Cheers
Steve