Ayre VX-8

POWER AMPLIFIER

- John Atkinson

Can an audio brand maintain a "house sound" if the original creator of that sound is no longer among the living? If the brand in question is Ayre Acoustics, the answer is a resounding Yes.

When Ayre founder Charley Hansen passed in late 2017, Ariel Brown, who is now Ayre's vice president and chief technology officer, was ready, waiting in the wings. Brown has worked for Ayre since he was a sophomore in college. As John Atkinson wrote in his 2019 review of Ayre's EX-8 Integrated Hub, "Brown says that for better or worse, he was indoctrinated in Hansen's way of thinking and design. 'I only know the Charley way! Charley never wanted to introduce a product unless we had something new to offer with that product. 'New-Better-Different' was his philosophy; every product had to be a step up from before."

To my way of thinking (and listening), the Ayre house sound is as visual as it is audible, or almost so. The sound of Ayre amplification, including the component I have in-house for review, the VX-8 stereo power amplifier ($6800), which debuted in April at AXPONA 2023, is supremely quiet, deep-space black, aerodynamic, even futuristic.

Speaking with Brown via email, I asked if in design terms, the VX-8 bears more of his fingerprints or Hansen's?

"I worked with and learned from Charley for 21 years, so my core design thinking is never going to radically diverge from the path Charley forged," Brown wrote. "The changes are more likely to be continued subtle refinements to the topology we already believe to be second to none.

"I believe that some of my bigger contributions, recently and upcoming, are in the power supply and implementation details. The X-8 series, along with the Codex"-Ayre's combination DAC/ headphone amp/digital preamplifier-"and the recent QB-9 Twenty DAC upgrade, show off quite a bit of my design thinking in those areas.