This review page is supported in part by the sponsors whose ad banners are displayed below

One could also describe the differences between the Lumin and S-5 as the currently permissible gap between solid state and valves but I think it is a bit more. Ayon's DAC/preamp section is really impressive. To me it thus makes no sense to link the Ayon digitally to another DAC or even preamp unless you had the sort of bleeding-edge alternative I never yet had opportunity to host. By the same token if you had a CDP with digital output, I'd connect it to the S5 digitally rather than analog. The Ayon's synergy as an integral source would be wasted if it were just used as a bareboned streamer.


Used as just a preamp, I found my Rogue Hera II to be more dynamic, with more powerful bass and sweeter treble. But the Ayon was quieter with a blacker background and had this slightly recognizable sonic imprint in the upper midrange which had me think my Rogue was the more neutral. I also used the S-5 as an analogue source connected to the Rogue Hera II (Ayon set to fixed mode which bypasses its active preamp stage) but lost part of the efficient circuit integration which downplayed the overall performance over using Ayon's variable preamplification stage. Think of Ayon's S-5 as your primary digital source. This leads to a strategic simplification of your playback chain and requires only a good power amp and quality speakers to be complete.

Focusing on the sonic fingerprint of Ayon’s network player I would say that it has the advantages of a tube design without its common faults as a kind of perfect merger. The S-5’s output stage uses big coupling caps that provide maximum current conduction with negligible resistance. It produces the most outstanding transparency I've yet heard from a digital valve source! Listening to Benjamin Grosvenor in Ravel’s Three Poems for Piano after Aloysius Bertrand [Decca B0054O8PYA], the piano was more liquid and full-bodied than over the Lumin. The soundstage also was significantly wider and harmonic shifts were more accurate. My Esoteric K03/G02 combo was a bit more sterile which highlighted dynamic shifts in a stunning manner with impressive depth but still felt less realistic.
 
On Antonio Forcione’s Ghetto Paradise [Naim B000025574], the guitar had less harshness and a deeper background even if perhaps it was also a bit thinner. It had more bass extension where the Lumin seemed to have the better attacks. I found timbres to be more addictive with the Ayon, offering a more genuine recreation of what a nylon-strung guitar should deliver. Guitars are always a good comparison point to put into perspective the balance between attacks and bloom. If it is easy to be thrilled by fast attacks, it's more difficult to reproduce correct tone and decay. With the S-5 the aural palette took on a very attractive and at times absolutely mesmerizing signature.
On Peter Whelan’s reading of Weber’s Bassoon Concerto in F major, op. 75 [Linn CKD 409] the soundstage seemed wider and deeper with the S-5 but especially tone was convincing again. The instrument had this particular wooden nasal flavor which only people frequenting concerts halls or playing a woodwind would recognize. With the Ayon the bassoon was fully organic and modulated to achieved a higher degree of lyricism and laid-back serenity.
Listening to A night in Monte Carlo [Concord Records B004DURSBC] featuring bassist Marcus Miller, Raul Midon and the Monte Carlo Philharmonic, the piano on “So What” was wider and more defined with the S-5 and placed within a very liquid soundstage. The Lumin lost on all these battle grounds except perhaps for separation of instruments. Indeed the sole weak point of the Ayon could be its minor valve euphony which doesn't always serve the utmost focus on accuracy.
 

Another small criticism could be undue emphasis on tone as can be the case with many tube circuits But it's not really the case with the S-5 which provided with each recording the highest level of tonal diversity I have experienced with any digital source. And contrary to many tube CD players that deliver a very pleasant sound over the first months but lose my interest later with their excess colorations, the S-5 remained involving throughout the entire review period, delivering the various ambient tonalities of each recording with what seemed like extreme accuracy.


On Béla Bartok’s Music for strings, drums and celesta performed by the Baltic Chamber Orchestra [Calliope B0001KL2GU], the Lumin gave me the sensation of listening to a live performance in a very modern venue such as the new Pleyel Concert hall from the first row balcony. The Ayon S-5 moved me to the front seats. The soundstage was incredibly wide and dynamic. Small decays of drums and strings were highlighted which neither the Lumin nor Esoteric K-03 captured. That was no small thing taking into account the very lively generous nature of my Rogue preamp associated with the Lumin source. Listening to the Ayon was far more involving where the Lumin and Esoteric were more about contemplation and quietude. Yet this more lively nature of the Ayon was no detriment to precision, control or naturalness. Its sonic performance was simply outstanding and whilst I still remember Audioaéro's La Source which cost more than twice, it was slightly inferior to my Austrian loaner.