Ayre now has a new QX-5 all in one

@ctsooner

My experience with Ayre DAC's is that they CAN sound awesome but only with great sources.

Your friends who traded in the BADA, what is the source?

Best,

Erik

Erik, anyone in this league needs to have a good source.  That goes for any DAC.  If your source isn't good, then there is no way anything else can sound good in the system.  

I've heard this DAC with an old Macbook running Flac and no special software and it was the best I've ever heard it and that was before it was broken in.  
One has an Aurender W20 which is a very good source.  Another is using a Melco as a NAS, which is a very good source. I don't know if it's uncompressed Flac or WAV though.  We are talking about high end systems

@ctsooner

I think we have different expectations.

Personally,  if I am paying for an excellent DAC it needs to be more or less immune to source quality. I've found some DAC's do this much better than others. 

Schiit and Mytek for instance to me seem more immune than the Ayre QB-9 and possibly the Codex and Oppo. I find Mac Mini's to have presented the worst sound I've ever heard, taking down otherwise excellent DAC's, like the QB-9, down.  Your mileage may vary and it's been a while since I had a chance to do exhaustive comparisons, but this is what my experience leads me to believe. In particular, listen for evidence of a harsh, or etched quality to the treble.

I consider DAC's which are "revealing" of power cables, digital cables or upstream sources (within reason) far less desirable than a DAC that performs consistently well.

Of course, not all feel that way, and please enjoy yourself your way. My point to this reply was just to explain where I'm coming from, and that I must remain in disagreement with the philosophy that an excellent DAC is revealing of the source components. I feel it's the opposite.

Best,


Erik

Erik, that's what makes this hobby fun.  I invite you to listen to my Mac Mini.  It was rebuilt by Steven Nugent rebuilt the one I am using and installed new SSD drives and he upgraded a Paul Hynes LPS to drive it all.  It sounds as good as nearly anything I've heard.  I do agree that most mac's sound like crap.  that's why I was shocked at how great the QX5 sounded out of the box and with fewer than 50 hours on it.  I really was in shock.  You can run this thing with most sources and it will maximize the potential of the server you are using. Maybe that's the best way to put it.  It will keep getting better and better with when it's fed better source material.  I wouldn't think that folk purchasing this unit, would use source material that isn't up to what the DAC would give you.  That would be a waste I would think.  

There are plenty of DAC's under 4k or so that sound nice with most sources.  They are usually voiced with source components in that range. I've never heard the Codex sound bad with anything and it makes most average headphones sound outstanding.  Maybe that's what you are looking for?  

For me, I have always felt that the best systems will be highly revealing.  That's part of the micro/macro dynamics etc... that give you the emotional attachment to the music.  That's just me though and I realize it's not you.  We just like different things, which is why there are so many gadgets on the market.  

It's possible to make a piece of equipment, especially speakers, "discriminating" without being better.  Make the input receivers more sensitive, reduce the buffer sizes, increase the output impedance, etc. and you have a piece of equipment that is now more "revealing" of upstream components.

Not saying that's always the case, but be careful about being fooled into thinking something "discriminating" is always better.

Best,


Erik