Meeting the challenge
The AX-5 didn’t fully pull its punches to
conceal the recording’s shortcomings, leaving me craving a little more upper
bass ‘bloom’ to flesh out the track’s stridency. But I was left convinced of
the Ayre’s transparency as a consequence.
Ayre AX-5, balanced input, volume control at "46,"
frequency response at 2.83V into: simulated loudspeaker load (gray), 8 ohms
(left channel blue, right red), 4 ohms (left cyan, right magenta), 2 ohms
(green) (0.25dB/vertical div.)
Meanwhile it proved adept at serving up
infectious rhythms and delivered a beguiling musical fluidity, with a fine
sense of ‘body’ and definition to instruments, fast and detailed bass lines, a
well projected and enticingly warm midrange and high frequencies free of grain
or splashiness.
I’ve observed in the past that when I use
my Levinson No383 amp to listen to Reference Recordings’ Testament album with
the Dallas Wind Symphony and Turtle Creek Chorale [RR-49CD], the amplifier’s mellow
warmth and ‘tubbiness’ tends to congeal the massed voices. The AX-5 proved far
better at separating the voices in this challenging recording. Yes, the sound
appeared leaner, nonetheless the tonal qualities of the orchestra were more
clearly defined and the depth of the image enhanced.
Thanks to the amplifier’s supreme clarity,
stereo imaging was exceptional when auditioning audiophile-quality recordings containing
realistic spatial elements, with outstanding inner detailing.
Ayre
AX-5, small-signal 10kHz squarewave into 8 ohms
Moreover the AX-5’s neutral honesty
rendered brass in an appropriately aggressive manner: for example, the first
movement of Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring [Telarc CD-80054]. Quite how it manages
to sound so vivid and highly detailed yet ‘sweet’ at the same time is difficult
to put into words. Perhaps it’s the absence of any over-bright glare, a
condition that often plagues highly revealing solid-state electronics, that’s
so refreshing.
This is a musically engrossing, gorgeous
sounding amplifier that should be high on any hi-fi enthusiast’s wish list.
Hi-fi news verdict
Once you’re accustomed to the mechanical
clunking of the volume control’s stepper motor, the AX-5 is a lovely amplifier
to use thanks to its large display, customisable input naming and illuminated
handset. It delivers fabulous detail and musical insight without sounding in
the least bit analytical, its sweet tonality and subjective warmth adding charm
and innate listenability. It really is a class act.
Sound quality: 88%
Ayre
AX-5, spectrum of 1kHz sinewave, DC–1kHz, at 100W into 4 ohms (left channel
blue, right red; linear frequency scale)
Lab report
This is the first Ayre amplifier to be
comprehensively tested in Hi-Fi News and the results are intriguing. The AX-5
has a couple of exceptional measurement ‘features’ and others that may well
account for the AX-5’s ‘character’. The frequency response, for example, is as
ruler flat from near-DC to 100kHz as makes no difference (±0.04dB) while the
A-wtd S/N ratio is possibly the widest I’ve ever encountered for an integrated
amp at a massive 102.4dB (re. 0dBW). Many amplifiers are still 20dB behind this
figure these days. The power output meets Ayre’s 125W/8ohm specification at
2x130W/8ohm but the 250W/ 4ohm rating is not, at least with a 1% THD criteria,
at 2x225W/ 4ohm. There’s more available under dynamic conditions at 160W/280W
into 8/4ohm but limited current restricts power to 215W/125W into 2/1ohm loads.
There’s also a marked difference in
distortion versus level into 8, 4, 2 and 1ohm loads [see Graph 1, below]. While
the trend into 8ohm is fairly uniform (0.008% at 1W, 0.045% at 10W and 0.35% at
100W), those into lower impedances are evidently more undulating. How the AX-5
performs will clearly be speaker-load dependent, at least to a degree. Perhaps
because of its VGT topology, the volume position, or overall gain, also impacts
on the AX-5’s distortion trend. For a fixed 10W power output, the lowest
distortion is achieved at the maximum volume position (46), with THD increasing
as the volume controlis reduced [see Graph 2 where the power output remains
constant at 10W/8ohm].
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Hi-fi news specifications
·
Power output (<1% THD, 8/4ohm): 130W / 225W
·
Dynamic power (<1% THD, 8/4/2/1ohm): 159W /
280W / 215W / 125W ·
Output impedance (20Hz–20kHz): 0.164–0.170ohm ·
Frequency response (20Hz–100kHz): –0.01dB to
+0.04dB ·
Input sensitivity (for 0dBW/125W): 70mV /
815mV (Balanced in) ·
A-wtd S/N ratio (re. 0dBW/125W): 102.4dB /
123.4dB ·
Distortion(20Hz-20kHz re. 10W/8ohm): 0.0095–0.023%
(max vol, ‘46’) ·
Power consumption (Idle/Rated o/p): 160W/480W ·
Dimensions(WHD) / Weight: 440x120x480mm / 21kg
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