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    Ayre Acoustics QB-9 Asynchronous USB DAC Review

    QB-9_USB_Digital-to-Analog_Converter_imaThe Ayre Acoustics QB-9 asynchronous USB DAC is currently one of the hottest products around. Everyone is listening to it or talking about it. In fact I did both at the Computer Audiophile Symposium in June at Fantasy Studios. My first impression of the QB-9 was so good that I asked Ayre's Steve Silberman about using the DAC in one of the very high-end systems at the Symposium. I assured Steve that the rest of the system would be completely capable of faithfully reproducing the analog output from the QB-9. Thus, the QB-9 was connected to a Mac Mini, a nice preamp and pair of amps, and Magico v3 loudspeakers. Based on the Symposium attendees' reactions to the sound and my countless hours of listening to the DAC in several different systems I completely understand why the Ayre Acoustics QB-9 asynchronous USB DAC has everyone talking. The reason this DAC is so hot is because it's so good.

    [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]

     

     

     

     

     

     

    <b>Hit The Ground Running</b>

     

    At CES 2009 Ayre Acoustics introduced the QB-9 to the world. Ever since that show the DAC has continued to gain in popularity. This gain in popularity can be tough to accomplish. Some manufacturers introduce products at CES and talk about them, and talk about them, and talk about them, building incredible hype. This often backfires as there is a huge hype-hurdle to jump when the product is finally released. Everyone expects everything from such an over-hyped product. Ayre on the other hand bet on the QB-9's performance and let it speak for itself. The DAC was setup in a fully functional system at CES where people were free to tap the touch screen of a Mac Mini to select music they wanted to hear. Nothing generates great press like a great performing product and the CES demo got the ball rolling for Ayre's QB-9. Since CES there hasn't been much talk from Ayre itself but there's been a groundswell of Internet chatter and talk amongst those in the industry. I can't count the number of times I've been asked, "Have you heard the new Ayre DAC yet?" Since this DAC is only being reviewed by a few writers in 2009, I took the question seriously and assumed the person hadn't heard the QB-9. After listening to the QB-9 for a lengthy period of time I started to ask others in the industry, "Have you heard the new Ayre DAC yet?" However, when I asked people if they'd heard the DAC it was more of a statement than a question. I knew what the QB-9 was capable of and I likely tipped my hand by the way I spoke. Either way I communicated my positive thoughts about the QB-9.

     

     

     

    <b>Differentiation Is In The Details</b>

     

    <img src="http://images.computeraudiophile.com/graphics/2009/1011/QB-9_USB_Digital-to-Analog_Converter_image.jpg" style="padding: 5pt 10pt 7pt 5pt;" align="left">The Ayre Acoustics QB-9 is unlike most USB DACs on the market today. It's one of only a handful of USB DACs using asynchronous transfer mode and it's a solid state design. In a recent article here on Computer Audiophile titled <a href="http://www.computeraudiophile.com/content/Asynchronicity-USB-Audio-Primer">Asynchronicity</a> I delved into the differences between USB transfer modes used by USB DACs. The following information from that article should be helpful for readers unfamiliar with the concepts of Adaptive and Asynchronous USB transfer modes.

     

    <i>"The main thing to keep in mind when reading about adaptive and asynchronous USB modes is clocking. Clocking is extremely important with digital audio. Many digital audio experts agree that keeping the clock as close to the DAC as possible, or using a master clock for all digital components is the way to achieve the most accurate sound. In consumer high-end audio as well as professional audio clocking is a major concern and very often external master clocks are used to achieve the best sound.

    Asynchronous USB DACs are few and far between. Currently Ayre, Wavelength, and dCS are the major manufacturers with asynchronous products on the market. In my opinion the reason for this lack of async DACs is simply because it's very difficult implement this technology. There is a specific skill set required to implement asynchronous USB and it's not common place in high-end audio. Implementing async USB requires a manufacturer to write its own software for the TAS1020 chip and invest thousands of hours on this part of the DAC alone. The limited number of manufacturers who've decided to take on this task instead of going with a plug n' play chip are doing it because they think the performance gains far outweigh the development pain.

    Asynchronous USB essentially turns the computer into a slave device as opposed to adaptive USB which does the opposite. Thus, an asynchronous USB DAC has total control over the timing of the audio. One very important feature of asynchronous USB mode is bidirectional communication between the computer and the DAC. The computer sends audio and the DAC sends commands or instructions for the computer to follow. For example the computer's clock becomes less accurate over a given period of time and can send too much data too quickly and fill up the buffer. Asynchronous DACs will instruct the computer to slow down, thus avoiding any negative effects of a full, or empty, buffer which can manifest itself into audible dropouts and pops or clicks. According to Wavelength Audio the tail is no longer wagging the dog when using asynchronous USB mode. Plus all of this is done without additional device drivers or software installation."</i>

     

    Ayre Acoustics currently licenses the Streamlength Asynchronous USB code from Wavelength Audio. Even though Ayre and Wavelength share the same Streamlength Asynchronous USB code in their USB DACs most other design elements differ quite a bit. The most obvious difference is the QB-9's solid state design. However, The QB-9 is <b>not</b> just a solid state version of a Wavelength DAC. Wavelength uses custom filters on the new Sabre32 board and its Wolfson parts use different filters than the typical sharp units found in most DACs. Ayre uses its Minimum Phase digital filter. The MP filter used in the QB-9 is the result of extensive research by Ayre into improving compromises with pre and post ringing in typical digital filters. Typical "Brickwall" filters have about ten cycles of pre and post ringing.

     

    To help readers understand a bit about this ringing concept here is my layman's cheat-sheet.

     

    A pre-ring results in audible pre-echos

    A post-ring results in audible post-echos

     

    Pre and post echos are audible sounds that surround an actual event like an invigorating transient. Pre-echo >> Transient >> Post-echo. A live performance has no such thing as pre and post echos such as those involved in analog to digital conversion. An easy way to think of this pre and post ringing concept involves the Super Bowl. There is a pre-game show (pre-echo), the actual game (musical transient), and a post game show (post-echo). If one only wants to watch the actual game, the pre and post game shows should be eliminated. Brickwall filters can't eliminate the pre and post game shows. They force one to watch the pre game, game, and post game. Watching all three certainly detracts from the actual event if that's all one wants. Listening to an audio track one certainly doesn't want to hear pre-echoes and post-echoes in addition to the wonderful transients that are supposed to be reproduced. If the goal is to recreate a musical event in one's home then we must use components that drastically reduce these echos. The Ayre MP filter is somewhat equivalent to watching only the Super Bowl game and a small snippet of the post game show. Instead of ten cycles of pre-ringing and ten cycles of post-ringing, the MP filter has zero pre and only one cycle of post-ringing. To my ears this sounds like a highlight reel where only the best of the best is heard.

     

    In addition to the MP filter the QB-9 has fully balanced discrete circuitry and what's called the Ayre Conditioner. The Ayre Conditioner is a non-ferrous RF power line filter developed in-house at Ayre. A huge benefit of using a built-in RF power line filter is that the listener is virtually guaranteed this filter improves the sound. Ayre is not going to add features to its own product that decrease fidelity. The same cannot be said of external RF power line filters or conditioners. Third party filters or conditioners can make wonderful improvements in one's sound system, but the products must be designed to work with many different components on the market. Finding a power product that is a perfect match for one specific component can be difficult. Finding a power product that is a perfect match for all of one's components is even tougher. Thus, the value of the built-in Ayre Conditioner RFI power line filter should not be underestimated.

     

     

    One other factor in the QB-9's increasing popularity is that this DAC is getting more and more mainstream dealers interested in computer based audio. Ayre has been a well known brand for over seventeen years. It has a wide dealer network penetrating many different markets. Ayre is a Blue-chip company. When it releases products people can expect a very high level of quality and support. Thus, I've received emails from Ayre dealers about music servers and Ayre customers saying their dealer is really trying to get into computer based audio and has the QB-9 on display in a very good system. These are all very positive things in my opinion and have not only contributed to the QB-9's popularity, but the industry as a whole.

     

     

     

    <b>System Integration & Listening</b>

     

    I've listened to the Ayre QB-9 in more than a few systems since I received the review sample. Not only have I tried it with a plethora of components here in my listening room, I brought it with me to a colleague's studio in Northern California. There I listened to the QB-9 through an MSB and TAD based system. I really like the sound of TAD loudspeakers and the QB-9 made the listening session a great experience. The most impressed I've been with the QB-9 was at the inaugural Computer Audiophile Symposium at Fantasy Studios in June, 2009. The complete system was as follows.

     

    Magico V3 speakers, Ayre QB9 Asynchronous USB DAC with WireWorld prototype USB cable to a Mac Mini, WireWorld Silver Eclipse 6 Single-ended, (RCA), from the Ayre QB9 to Mbl 6010D preamp, WireWorld Silver Eclipse 6 balanced interconnect from preamp to Mbl 9007 mono power amps, Wireworld Silver Eclipse 6 speaker wire to the Magico V3 speakers. All power cords in this system were Wireworld Silver Electra Power 2 meter. External music was stored on a Thecus N7700 NAS drive with Seagate ES hard drives.

     

    The goals of this system were great sound, ease of use, and great aesthetics. Many people can't or don't want to put a large Mac Pro desktop computer with a Lynx card in their living room or listening room. Thus the QB-9 / Mac Mini combination was a no-brainer. It's simple to use, sounds great, and looks great.

     

    By far most of my listening was done here in my listening room. The winning combination I settled on for the most critical listening was the QB-9 connected to an Ayre AX-7e Integrated Amp, with Verity Audio loudspeakers. My Mac Pro desktop running OS X Leopard and later Snow Leopard with iTunes & Amarra was used for much of my listening as it's my current go-to computer for most listening.

     

    The Ayre QB-9 is incredibly simple to use. It has one USB input and both balanced XLR and single ended RCA analog outputs. There's no rocket science involved when making the physical connections from computer and to preamp. Using Mac OS X the software setup is just as easy. In the Audio Midi Setup application the QB-9 needs to be selected as the output device. A couple clicks and configuration is complete and bit transparent music is ready to flow into the listening room.

     

    <img src="http://images.computeraudiophile.com/graphics/2009/1011/QB-9_Black_Detail_web.jpg" style="padding: 5pt 10pt 7pt 5pt;" align="left">The sound of the Ayre QB-9 was just as I expected from an Ayre component at this level in the Ayre line-up, it was great. Most of the music I listen to does not hit the extreme ends of the <a href="http://www.independentrecording.net/irn/resources/freqchart/main_display.htm">frequency chart</a>. I don't listen to test disks for fun that's for sure. Thus the Ayre performed stellar 99.9% of the time. Remember, there is no such thing as an Ayre Acoustics all-out-assault DAC for $2500. There are bound to be some design compromises to hit this price point. The only faults of the QB-9 are the extreme highs lacked ultimate separation and resolution and the very bottom end frequencies were a tad smeared in my system and in my dedicated listening room. Everything in between was stellar. At $2500 the QB-9 is a great DAC. Music has a wonderful flow to it when played through the QB-9. I was not straining at all to hear the fine details of the new Beatles remasters. The Ayre QB-9 brought the music to me in all its glorious detail. Switching from the 16/44.1 Beatles collection to some 24/88.2 and 96k material delivered an even more pleasing experience. The QB-9 changes sample rates on-the-fly instantly. Users will hear no gap in playback like some DACs that take their time switching from sample rate to sample rate. Since recommending the Stone Temple Pilots DVD-A album Core to some of the Computer Audiophile readers, I've been listening to it quite a bit. I've ripped the files to 24/96 WAVs then converted them to AIFF via the Max application so I can add metadata and album art to the files in iTunes. This album sounded awesome through the QB-9. I know some of the more traditional audiophiles may be jumping out of their skin right now asking (the following should be read out loud in a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thurston_Howell,_III">Thurston Howell, III</a> voice) "How he can judge the quality of components with such abrasive Rock and Roll?" When one is intimately familiar with certain albums it is simple to evaluate components with this material and the differences in sound are identifiable immediately. Continuing my Rock and Roll high resolution road, I ripped Neil Young's Greatest Hits DVD to 24/96 WAV files and followed the same conversion process to AIFF. Again, the sound was great, listening was easy, and I didn't even have to think about the components in my system. There was no offensive sounds coming from anywhere. The QB-9 and AX-7e combination is extremely musical and very transparent. One thing I have really noticed about this asynchronous USB device is the way the music just flows to the listener. There is no leaning on the edge of the chair to hear the music or straining to hear the opening and closing of microphone channels before and after certain vocal recordings. It's all there and all served right to the listener. During my listening sessions I listened to a fair amount of acoustic Jack Johnson albums. Again, the music was right in the QB-9's wheelhouse. Jack's guitar sounded so real, almost like Jack was in the room sitting behind one of the Verity loudspeakers. This was some of the best sounding acoustic guitar I've heard in my system in recent memory. Flowing, accurate, and easy is a good description for listening to music through the Aye QB-9.

     

    Readers of Computer Audiophile know that my listening room as recently become the land of Asynchronicity. I have so many asynchronous USB products here that it's difficult to get excited about some of the good adaptive USB products currently on the market. During the review period I compared the QB-9 to the Wavelength Cosecant, Wavelength Proton, and dCS U-Clock asynchronous USB to S/PDIF converter connected to my Alpha DAC and the dCS Paganini DAC. Listening to The Beatles remastered Mono box set via the QB-9 and the Wavelength Cosecant was a very telling experience. I wish everyone who was considering these two DACs could listen to this material via each DAC side by side. In the simplest terms, if you like tubes you'll prefer the Cosecant. If you prefer solid state components the QB-9 will be the instant hands down winner. I will say the Cosecant's warmth made the Mono box set sound as close to vinyl as I've ever heard in any system. But, is that accurate or just what some listeners prefer? I have no idea, that's for each listener to decide. A major difference between the dCS combinations I used and the QB-9 DAC was soundstage, and of course tens of thousands of dollars. The dCS and Alpha DAC had a very deep transparent soundstage, and much larger price tag, that the QB-9 just couldn't match. There was no hearing all the way to the back of the hall during an orchestral performance with the QB-9, but one can't have it all without paying for it.

     

    Two other products readers are likely considering when researching the $2500 Ayre QB-9 DAC are the Bryston BDA-1 and the Benchmark DAC1 HDR. The Benchmark DAC1 HDR is a wonderful component that can be considered a jack of all trades. It has a remote control, volume control, analog input, several digital inputs, and a headphone amplifier all in one chassis. In addition to these features the DAC1 HDR uses an adaptive USB implementation developed with CEntrance. Some readers could use the aforementioned data to make a purchasing decision already. If you want all the extra features, and circuitry, the DAC1 HDR is your component. On-the-other-hand the QB-9 is at a big sonic advantage with its asynchronous USB implementation and the fact that is does one thing and one thing only. It receives digital data via its USB input and converts it to analog audio. Comparing the sound of the DAC1 HDR to the sound of the Ayre QB-9 is a pretty simple task. The DAC1 HDR has the CEntrance adaptive USB "house sound" and the DAC1 HDR is extremely tight, a little edgy, lacks the decay of the best DACs, and can be a tad fatiguing during long listening sessions if the listener isn't used to its presentation. The Ayre QB-9 sounds vastly different just as I described earlier in the review. The music flows unhindered right to the listeners ears with a sense of rightness that the adaptive USB DACs just don't have yet. Not only is the QB-9's asynchronous USB implementation and advantage, but the analog output stage in the QB-9 is very strong. Comparing the QB-9 to the Bryston BDA-1 via memory only I sense that the BDA-1 lacked a little something in its analog output stage. I remember saying the sound of the BDA-1 wasn't all that different between its numerous digital inputs. I tend to think this has to do a little with homogenization of the sounds all traversing through the same analog output stage in addition to other internal circuitry. The Bryston BDA-1 is a really good DAC, but I favor the Ayre QB-9's sound in my system.

     

     

     

    <b>Thousands of Miles and Hundreds of Hours Later</b>

     

    The QB-9 asynchronous USB DAC is Ayre's first entry into the USB DAC market. Based on performance Ayre has hit a home run on its first plate appearance. Asynchronous USB is currently the technology to beat in the USB DAC arena. Ayre made a very wise decision to release a product when the time and technology was right. Ayre did not go down the adaptive USB path just to release a product and sell units in a down economy. Again you're not going to get Ayre's all-out assault for $2500, but you will get a DAC that is incredibly pleasing and accurate. A sense of ease emanates from the QB-9. This translates into wonderfully relaxing listening sessions where one can forget about the components and get lost in the music without even trying. I hope listeners have a couple hours to spare each time they sit down to listen via the QB-9. Time flies when Sonny Rollins is whaling on his tenor sax or Beck is weaving a unique story with his lyrics and great sounding instruments. Thanks to Ayre for contributing to my musical enjoyment over the last few months and congratulations for making the Computer Audiophile Suggest Hardware <a href="http://www.computeraudiophile.com/Computer-Audiophile-Suggested-Hardware-List">(CASH)</a> list with the QB-9 asynchronous USB DAC.

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

    Associated Equipment: Mac Pro, Lynx AES16e card, Kimber USB cable v1 & v2, Benchmark DAC1 PRE & HDR, Kimber Select cable, Verity Audio Fidelio loudspeakers, McIntosh tube amplification, Virtual Dynamics power cables, Richard Gray's Power Company cables, dCS Paganini DAC, dCS U-Clock, Devilsound DAC v2, Berkeley Audio Design Alpha DAC, Wavelength Audio Proton & Cosecant, Ayre AX-7e Integrated Amp, Windows XP "Music Server for a Song."

     

     

     

    <img src="http://images.computeraudiophile.com/graphics/2009/1011/about-this-mac.png" style="padding: 5pt 10pt 7pt 5pt;" align="left">Mac Pro detailed specs:

    Model Name: Mac Pro

    Model Identifier: MacPro3,1

    Processor Name: Quad-Core Intel Xeon

    Processor Speed: 2.8 GHz

    Number Of Processors: 2

    Total Number Of Cores: 8

    L2 Cache (per processor): 12 MB

    Memory: 10 GB

    Bus Speed: 1.6 GHz

    Boot ROM Version: MP31.006C.B05

    SMC Version (system): 1.25f4

    System Version: Mac OS X 10.6.1 (10B504)

    Kernel Version: Darwin 10.0.0

    Boot Volume: Macintosh HD

    Boot Mode: Normal

    Computer Name: Mac Pro Music Server

    User Name: Chris Connaker (Chris)

    Secure Virtual Memory: Not Enabled

    64-bit Kernel and Extensions: No

    Solid State Hard Drive - MemoRight GT Series 2.5 64GB SATA SLC SSD

    Gigabit Ethernet direct connection to Thecus N5200B Pro NAS

    Digital I/O - Lynx AES16e w/ custom HD26 to XLR AES/EBU cable

    Software - iTunes with Amarra from Sonic Studio

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     




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    AJC, I have never referred to Ayre in particular, ok so lets assume components change in character over time ( the never sound worse do they ) wouldn't a responsible manufacturer, build, measure, soak test for as long as necessary, re measure and compare to a known reference then deliver the product ?<br />

    Keith.

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    <i>"Sorry if I've left gaps or confused anyone, but one has to understand that the ear is not a mic and the cortex is not a hard drive. There is no "bit perfect" in any of the human senses."</i><br />

    <br />

    <br />

    I like it msjjr :~)

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    of course components can get worse over time: specifically, electrolytic caps will wear out over time and lose their capacitance as one example. A power supply cap in a power amp with lower capacitance could affect the dynamic performance of the amp, or in a worst case scenario, the noise level (power supply hum) of the amp will rise.<br />

    If manufacturers did the kind of extended break in you suggest the price of the component in question would be raised considerably. Many components still require settling time after they have been powered down for a few days anyway, typically 24-48 hours, but some seem to need more, even after they are totally broken in, so break in by the manufacturer would not be totally effective anyway.

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    I have now in my system an Ayre QB-9 and a Berkeley Alpha DAC, driven by the same Mac Mini. <br />

    <br />

    As the review says, "there is no such thing as an Ayre Acoustics all-out-assault DAC for $2500... the Alpha DAC had a very deep transparent soundstage, and much larger price tag, that the QB-9 just couldn't match. There was no hearing all the way to the back of the hall during an orchestral performance with the QB-9, but one can't have it all without paying for it.". <br />

    <br />

    Even non-audiophile friends found the Berkeley held their attention in a way that the Ayre doesn't come close to. <br />

    <br />

    Rest of system is Wilson Watt 8, Krell FPB monoblocks, Levinson preamp. At that level, the price difference between these devices is insignificant.

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    Dacbuyer, how do you get the output from the Mini into the Berkeley? Sounds like a great system.

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    USB to Ayre, optical out to Berkeley using unremarkable cables in each case. <br />

    <br />

    The Berkeley comes with a disk of 172/24 samples. The Mac can't run at more than 96/24, and so no doubt does some interpolation of its own when it outputs these recordings at that setting. Even so, they sound better than I've ever heard anywhere, so I'd love to here them unmolested.

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    What kind of player did you use? Just out of interest, because it might not change the outcome of your findings.<br />

    But what is very important: If you use 172/24 with the Ayre, I Tunes will downsample! And that is a very unfair advantage for the Berkeley. I did an equal comparison with the Ayre QB9 and the weiss Minerva. At 196/24 the weiss blew the qb9 away. But I still ended up buying the QB9 because I preferred the sound on standard red book.<br />

    I did not have the same files in 196/24 an 24/96 so I could not compare them at the same high bitrate (just one sample at 24/96 and at that bitrate and with this sample I could live happily ever after with both units) and had no time to downsample everything. <br />

    If you still have both units rip some files at 16/44.1 and compare. <br />

    Sadly I never had the chance to listen to the berkeley in Germany. <br />

    Claudius

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    Presently I use a QB-9 (listened to it versus ARC DAC 7, PS-no bridge, Bryston) and for me the Ayre was superior. As I understand there will be an upgrade to expand the bandwidth....perhaps 192 is the term...<br />

    <br />

    Their customer service is without peer....they care and help resolve problems promptly and efficiently...while I never owned the ayre cd player....I can't think of any other company that offers upgrades at such a reasonable price. Thus I think they are a good company to work with....particularly if you don't wish to be churned...<br />

    <br />

    John

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    "Player" in both cases was a Mac Mini, as already explained, using vanilla iTunes. Both DACs were listened to for many hours using ripped CDs encoded as Apple Lossless files. The 176/24 DVD was listened to fleetingly on the Berkeley only and no comparative conclusion was drawn from it.

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    <br />

    The Ayre Qb9 has been reviewed by the french audiomagazine "revue du son" along with other Dacs.<br />

    The review was not bad nor good. They did not give the Dac their best ratings due to the fact that they thought that the Qb9 was a little bass shy and that it lacked "coherence". It could sound sweet or harsh. <br />

    They also thouht that it did not have a good ratio price vs quality. The Qb9 is worth 3000 € that is 4500$.<br />

    <br />

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    Hi Laurent,<br />

    what other DACs were reviewed?<br />

    How did they drive the QB9 (Software, Hardware...)? Did they write about Burn-in? <br />

    Thanks<br />

    Claudius

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    Hi Claudius,<br />

    <br />

    They did not mention any burn in. I think it must have been a demo unit.<br />

    They used WMP for PC in WAV and itunes with Mac in Aiff.<br />

    They reviewed 9 Dacs including the Msb Power Dac, the Dac1 from Benchmark, the Ps audio digital link, the Dac Magic, the Advance acoustic Dac... <br />

    What I like in their reviews it is that you always have the ratings and comments of two different reviewers. <br />

    <br />

    <br />

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    I think it's nice that you have different opinions from more reviewers.<br />

    <br />

    However, while the QB-9 is very much plugnplay, I think that to just use WMP and nothing else, is like trying a ferrari on a sandroad and conclude it isn't very good.<br />

    <br />

    They should have at least followed Ayre's instructions and installed foobar2k with Asio. That sound is a whole different ballgame. If you don't, what you really hear is the windows upsampling algorithm. It isn't very good.<br />

    <br />

    So in any case, the Ayre can sound very much better than a standard WMP installation. And.. I suspect the rest of the other dacs can too..

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    I have heard the Benchmark and the PS Audio digital Link in my system via USB. I preffered the PS Audio. But for me it really was a matter of taste. <br />

    I bought the QB-9 because it surpassed both DACs in all Areas (I preffered the bass of the Digital Link, it had more slam). I did not do AB comparisons, because I didnt feel the need to do so.<br />

    How did they rate the QB9 compared to benchmark and PS Audio? (Or is the review online?)<br />

    Thanks <br />

    Claudius

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    Stereophile Magazine just awarded the Ayre dac the 2009 "Overall Product of the Year".<br />

    I concur.<br />

    <br />

    Aaron H

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    <br />

    "Stereophile Magazine just awarded the Ayre dac the 2009"<br />

    <br />

    and to think, Alan Taffel spent 6 months of research before declaring that USB Audio was NOT up to audiophile standards. :)<br />

    <br />

    Amazing. I wonder which subscription I should renew?<br />

    <br />

    clay<br />

    <br />

    <br />

    <br />

    <br />

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    > Amazing. I wonder which subscription I should renew?<br />

    <br />

    <a href=http://pro.gigaom.com/2009/11/why-apple-should-choose-sprint-before-verizon-wireless/>Sprint </a> (real standard) ;-)<br />

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    On the strength of this evidence, you should renew your subscription to Revue du Son. Its findings are what I heard when I had the Ayre in my system. I'm astonished at the Stereophile choice for product of the year.

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    http://www.testberichte.de/p/ayre-tests/qb-9-testbericht.html<br />

    <br />

    I'm surprised at some of the above negative comments in this thread. I have no idea how the QB-9 ranks compared to other top players - and, no doubt, it's not everyone's cup of tea - but I've briefly heard it and it certainly doesn't suck! Makes me wonder if the Revue du Son conclusions were from a unit not fully broken-in, which several users have reported to be important?

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    To Claudius and to Beetlemania,<br />

    <br />

    I am travelling till the end of this week so I can't have a look at the review to be more precise.<br />

    What I can tell you is that the review was not good nor bad. They had high expectations due to the asynchronous usb... and were disappointed. For the price and technology, they expected better bass and better coherence. On the high end side, they preferred the Msb technology Power Dac.<br />

    They liked very much the Ps Audio digital link thinking that for the price it was a real bargain. <br />

    As for the unit, it must have been a demo unit provided by the french dealer of Ayre. I think the dealer must have done his job (burn in) before sending this dac for test to a well known and read magazine in France.<br />

    <br />

    I have tested the Qb9 (demo unit) in my own set up with Mc Intosh 6600 amp and Focal 1037be speakers and compared it to the Dac7 from ARC. I also had high expectations and was nearly sure that I would sell my dac7 and buy a Qb9.<br />

    Since the usb input could go not go above 44.1hz I had previously bought an M-Audio Transit usb card to go up to 24/96.<br />

    The fact was that I preferred the sound of the Dac7 with the M audio transit to the Qb9. I thought it had more bass, the highs went higher, it was more precise ( one I could hear more distinctly each instrument) and that with a larger soundstage. <br />

    But when both were compared in direct usb, the Dac7 had a certain harshness whereas Qb9 was much sweeter. <br />

    I tested with PC(only 2GB) with XP SP3, Foobar and Asio4all, files in flac.<br />

    <br />

    The problem with the Qb9 is that there is such a buzz about the asynchronous usb that you expect this unit to be "mind blowing". When I thought and heard that it was "just" a very good dac then maybe my judgement was biased in the wrong direction.<br />

    <br />

    To put thing in perspective, you will find a link where Mr Hansen from Ayre states that in their set up the Qb9 sounds "neck to neck" to their top range cd player.<br />

    <br />

    http://www.audioasylum.com/forums/pcaudio/messages/5/52545.html<br />

    <br />

    Laurent<br />

    <br />

    <br />

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    "To put thing in perspective, you will find a link where Mr Hansen from Ayre states that in their set up the Qb9 sounds 'neck to neck' to their top range cd player."<br />

    <br />

    I might interpret Charlie's remarks as increasing the buzz about the QB-9 rather than turning it down a few notches. After all the Ayre C-5xe CD player was rated one of the top 5 players for jitter rejection and resolution in a comprehensive shootout between hi end Cd players. See Stereophile - A Case of the Jitters: http://stereophile.com/features/1208jitter/index3.html<br />

    <br />

    So the QB-9 is on par with one of the top 5 CD players when playing CD quality 16/44.1 files. But reviewers agree that it's performance increases with hi resolution files @ 24/88.2 or 24/96. Hi resolution performance might be considered the Ayre QB-9's 'raison d'etre'.<br />

    <br />

    Regards,<br />

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    In the audioasylum thread Charles Hansen also states, that everything matters and talks about an sales manager who experienced a serious downgrade in sound after changing some things in his setup. After reformatting his harddisk and a complete new installation everything was back in place. I have similar experiences. One day the magic was gone and I knew something was wrong but had no idea what it was. Experimented with usb ports, shut down of system, took the QB9 of the power uninstalled Amarra, installed Amarra. Well I somehow got the magic back in my system. But I have no idea what happened. Sounds like computer audio. ;-)<br />

    I just make a very interesting experience with a new cable I have on loan which has a impedance matching function. With different imdedance the sound changes significantly. <br />

    Claudius

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    Hi James,<br />

    <br />

    I agree, in my mind the remark from Mr Hansen was a praise for the Qb9 since his top Cd player was two or three times more expensive than the Qb9. And it may not have been in his "financial" interest to say so since it might be more interesting to sell a Cd player than a Qb9.<br />

    Now what I wanted to say is that, according to Ayre, the asynchronous part allows the Qb9 to sound as good as a their cd player, no less but no more. <br />

    For the rest it shares many part with the cd player ie digital filter, dac chip...<br />

    <br />

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    Chris, a few people have asked for your thoughts on the Proton vrs the Ayre in comments in this thread. I am interested too and thought I'd raise the question again. I know you stated in this review you compared the Ayre to the Proton so hopefully you have some memory of the differences.<br />

    <br />

    Bryan

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    From Chris’s Asynchronicity article:<br />

    <br />

    "Asynchronous USB capable DACs are few and far between. Currently Ayre, Wavelength, and dCS are the major manufacturers with asynchronous products on the market. In my opinion the reason for this lack of async DACs is simply because it's very difficult implement this technology. There is a specific skill set required to implement asynchronous USB and it's not common place in high-end audio. Implementing async USB requires a manufacturer to write its own software for the TAS1020 chip and invest thousands of hours on this part of the DAC alone...<br />

    Note: I am by no means a leading authority on USB audio and I relied heavily on engineers in the industry while researching this article. Some, but not all, of my sources were Gordon Rankin from Wavelength Audio, Charlie Hansen from Ayre acoustics, and engineers at Data Conversion Systems (dCS). I filter out all marketing terms and bias when analyzing my correspondence with all experts."<br />

    <br />

    No mention of the E-Mu 0404 until the comments section later:<br />

    <br />

    "There's no free lunch as I'm sure you know. The EMU DAC does support 24/192 and is only $200, but just because it goes to "11" doesn't mean much. I think there is good reason nobody else is supporting 24/192 via USB. While it's technically possible there are some major compromises. This particular DAC has very high noise related to the oscillators and the USB circuitry. Thus, the jitter is about 15x higher than some of the CASH list products that only support 24/96 via USB.<br />

    Nobody I know has developed an asynchronous USB DAC at this level. The EMU 0404 is technically asynchronous via USB, but it's design and implementation are 180 degrees different than Ayre, Wavelength, and dCS. There is a reason the EMU is only $200 even though it's one of the only async USB DACs in the world."<br />

    <br />

    Two pages of flatulent commentary on this review, yet no one has yet questioned the wave of the hand dismissal of the E-Mu 0404 as unworthy competition for Ayre, dCS, and other rarefied (and Computer Audiophile sponsoring) Asynchronous USB DAC uber priced competitors (God forbid that you might mention that "asio"is a common term for the same damn thing, lest the fool and his money make the connection?).<br />

    <br />

    Well golly gee, this impoverished unit does not even require an optional several $$$ dollar hardware/software upgrade (if they’re dopey enough the first time might as well keep ‘em sucking at the teat) to decode native hi rez 24/176 and 24/192 music files, not to mention the hi rez tunes on your vintage DVD-A discs (Foobar DVDA decoder). No extra charge for the asio driver either (see new Wyred four Sound USB DAC).<br />

    <br />

    If your proposed USB DAC purchase cannot decode an asio-excuse me, ASYNCHRONOUS- delivered hi rez music file out of the box, walk, nay run away! I am rocking out to downloaded hi rez files of every stripe (heck Foobar even has a plug in that will convert DSD to hi rez PCM and another for native rate decoding of DVD-A discs); even digital hi rez rips of SACDs.<br />

    <br />

    Look, I know dCS, Meitner, and others make nice sounding products. But price no object, the humble E-Mu is right there with them and does not require a wealthy freshly killed elderly relative to afford. <br />

    <br />

    The great thing about computers for the audiophile is that it exposed many of the rotten lies that pervade high end audio.<br />

    <br />

    Look Chris,<br />

    <br />

    Can't we reserve this $$$ nonsense for Stereophile and The Absolute Sound? I have no problem with you reviewing $1.5K-$40K DACs and Louis XIV barcoloungers, but would it be so painful to admit (at least way down in the fine print) that a damn fine "Asynchronous" 24/192 USB DAC can be had for under $200 clams? Where is your review of the Musiland Monitor 02, another sub $200 hi rez capable asynchronous USB Dac? BTW, Creative Professional is not a start up. I would venture to guess that their volume of product sales would swamp several-fold "major manufacturers" Ayre, Wavelength, and dCS.<br />

    <br />

    <br />

    <br />

    <br />

    <br />

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