New member here... first post. I have the Ayre KXR/MXR Twenty with Aurender N10, Ayre QX5 Twenty dac and Wilson Sasha DAW. IMHO it sounds very good.Anyone who has heard it or owns it... thoughts? Any comparisons you did ?
I have not heard many other systems, so hard for me to compare to others. However, I do have some time spent listening to Dag Momentum and Wilson Alexia V2 and feel I can compare to that. Without trying to get too analytical and of the belief all of our adjectives used to describe what we are hearing may vary, I would say the Ayre/Wilson combo is comparable to the Dag/Wilson combo, but Ayre is a little less fwd sounding (maybe just a smidge more relaxed compared to the Dagastino). Ayre is very sweet on top, good bass grip, very musical and resolving to my ears, but (I'm splitting hairs here) the Dag gear seems to be slightly more fwd in the mid-hi freq. range.
Unfortunately, I can't give you an opinion specifically on the KXR Twenty compared to other preamps, but there are many reviews out there that name it as one of the top performing preamps.
On another note, I tried running my QX5 Twenty dac direct to MXR Twenty amps, and definitely prefer it with the KXR Twenty. QX5 Twenty direct to amp has a slight "digital" sound at loud volumes compared to KXR in system. Also feel like I get a much more complete sound at very low volumes with KXR in system. Medium volumes were slightly less obvious improvement with KXR in system.