I consider myself rather fortunate that I review almost exclusively high-end Hifi items. It has been my experience thus far that I have not listened to anything that did not sound rather spectacular in its own way. When you are playing in this rarified air you have the right to expect things that are beyond good. They should and most often do border on great. Rarely have I had to reject something because of poor sound. Thankfully I can say that 98% of my review experiences have been stellar. This year alone I have gotten to do five first review exclusives. These are first reviews ahead of anyone else in the US. These are not obscure brands either. They are known brands such as Von Schweikert, Koetsu and some others along the way. Ironically in a year that has been fraught with personal health issues and other trials & tribulations I have found myself actually living in Audio Nirvana. God giveth and he taketh away and this last 9 months he hath given a lot. Such was the case with the Ayon trio! (The reviewer’s position on religion is of his own and is respected. It does not necessarily represent the philosophical view of Dagogo. –Ed.)
Ayon
Ayon is no stranger to Dagogo’s readers as we have had a number of their products reviewed in these pages; but for those of our readers unaware, here is a short blip about Ayon:
“Ayon Audio offers a complete line of high performance audio components.
Ayon components combine premium design, new construction principles, advanced technologies and profound musicality.
Ayon components offer explosive dynamics, purity of tone, neutrality, finesse, emotional realism and stable sound stage projection.
Our engineers are established leaders in their respective fields of high-end audio expertise. Our range of activities covers the development of high performance vacuum triode power tubes, the design of sonically outstanding tube preamps, triode tube power amplifiers, CD-Players with vacuum tube output stage and advanced technology speaker systems.
Ayon components are designed with future upgrades in mind, providing for emerging new technologies, up-to-date performance and preservation of investment.
Naturally flowing curves and sophisticated color schemes characterize the aesthetics of the Ayon line, offering a timeless value of understated elegance.
Ayon products reward music lovers with an authentic and excitingly realistic reproduction of music as a real live event. All these activities are guided by a singular idea: the perfect reproduction of recorded music.”
This message brought to you by Ayon Music.
Now for a message from the writer!
Some of Ayon’s design criteria are ambitious to be sure. The good news is, in a nutshell, they pretty well deliver. Let me start by saying that the build quality of the CD-2, Polaris II preamplifier system and Typhon monoblock amplifiers was some of the finest I have seen. They are stout to be sure and having a friend or two to help you schlep them in is a good thing. Charlie Harrison, the distributor for the brand in the US, delivered the system to my home and we wrestled the five boxes into the house. We then got my studded 24-year-old-son Matt to help us unpack and set up. The old guys (well, me at least) were grateful to have the strong back of a young athlete helping out.
The components all share the same cabinet materials, which are all very solid with extremely well machined billet aluminum front, back and side plates. They are anodized in black finish and all the front and rear panel descriptions, names etc. are not merely painted on but, machined into the aluminum. All knobs are very solid in feel and work very smoothly. There is a real quirk regarding the Ayon components and that is that all the ON/OFF switches are on the bottom of the component, roughly an eighth of an inch back from the front edge of the component. If you do not read the nicely done manuals that come with the components, I could see how someone who might think they know so much and who did not read the manuals first would find themselves frustrated in short order. And really, what manly man would ever cop to reading instructions? I mean really…come on! The end result of all the work on the cabinets is that these components are simply as enjoyable to look at as they are to listen to.
Ayon CD-2
A short note about the CD-2 is needed here. This review was for the amps and pre-amp but Charlie Harrison was kind enough to loan me the CD player for my personal audition. Our own Doug Schroeder auditioned the CD-2 a while back and you can read his review here.
To summarize the CD-2 I will refer to Doug’s own words:
”Do you want a hot, top loading, single chassis disc player which will give you close to the ultimate in digital performance, but you don’t want to spend $20,000? Then ogle the Ayon CD-2! I’ve been living with the CD-2 for about three months now, and it’s a Super Spinner. It does not do SACD, but what it can do for Redbook is so superb that you’ll get the notion you might just as well be hearing SACD.
I’ve worked with every level of Ayon player from the original CD-1 to the two-chassis CD-3, and now the CD-2; I compared the CD-3 and CD-2 extensively, the only one I haven’t touched is the CD-1s, the replacement for the CD-1. This is the best of the bunch, not only in terms of refinement of sound, but ease of operation.”
I can only confirm Doug’s sentiments regarding the CD-2. It is probably the best CD player I have ever had in my system to date.
