Ayre Acoustics QX-5 Twenty – The Digital Hub

[ctsooner]

Looks like it will be at the house waiting for me when I get back from my trip next week. Can't wait to get it in and burning in. Will use the Mac Mini for a spell to get a good idea on the sound and then I'll sell that off and get the Melco N1ZH60 most probably.

[Hyperion]

We've debuted the QX-5 with its natural partner VX-5 this weekend at the Gothenburg Hi-fi show in Sweden.

 

This is truly a wonderful achievement.

 

 

 

[MikeJazz]

We've debuted the QX-5 with its natural partner VX-5 this weekend at the Gothenburg Hi-fi show in Sweden.

 

This is truly a wonderful achievement.

 

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[ATTACH=CONFIG]29080[/ATTACH]

 

That must have been an interesting test.

A "traditional" approach of high quality and the "innovative" approach of active/dsp'ed loudspkears.

Were the Kii's playing at the same "ballpark"?

[Hyperion]

That must have been an interesting test.

A "traditional" approach of high quality and the "innovative" approach of active/dsp'ed loudspkears.

Were the Kii's playing at the same "ballpark"?

 

PMC twenty5 and Kii Three - being two very different concepts and executions - do share some fundamental philosophies. Both offer solutions for both studio and home audio use, as well as aiming for linearity, neutrality and bass control. Kii uses a quite unique DSP supported solution for bass handling (Active Wave Focusing). PMC on the other hand are famous for their implementation of the Transmission Line concept. There's a basic truth saying that "when you get the bass right - everything else will fall in place". This is very true in relation to both these concepts and solutions imo.

 

/ Marcus

[Blackstone]

CTSooner give us a status report! [emoji41]

[ctsooner]

In Vegas still. I'm not sure if it was shipped yet. My buddy called me yesterday and said his Has over 200 hours now and is crushing it. He sells some very expensive dacs and says this is in a different league. I'll call him back today and tell him to stop teasing me. Lol. Black stone PM me ur number as soon as u see this and I'll call

[silvertone]

Looking at the Ayre website it appears they haven't published any new firmware updates to address all the issues this unit has, kind of disappointing since we're almost in October.

 

I had to return my unit a while back and get a refund from dealer due to all the issues I ran into while I had it. It's pointless to have a 'Digital Hub' that doesn't function as one.

 

If and when Ayre fixes all the issues with this unit I'll give it another shot, however based on my experience with this DAC it appears to me that they rushed this product out the door without proper testing.

 

-ST

[ctsooner]

Interesting. Maybe it's due to not having the full allotment of chips. Who knows. I have a feeling that they are fixing things now. I know one other who's having no problems using it as a digital hub and it's working fine. I will also be using it as a hub so I'm hoping it works seamlessly. I'll find out what's going on. I thought I saw an update.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Computer Audiophile

[ctsooner]

New software update will be very very soon. I'll post more hopefully tomorrow.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Computer Audiophile

[Blackstone]

Yes my dealer says software is in beta as well.

 

Very frankly it has not been a smooth ride but as long as they can resolve issues through software I don't care.

 

You would not believe the improvement in functionality in the Microsoft's Surface Book that occurred just from software updates over the past year. Same type of thing--a laptop that converts into a tablet and does everything. Well it went from almost unusable to totally seamless and bullet proof. It did not work right for at least six months.This is not unique to Ayre. And if they didn't ship yet we would be bitching about the wait. Better to get the hardware into consumers hands and get the feedback and patch it than try and game out every usage scenario. As long as they do fix it, I'm good.

[ctsooner]

Completely agree. We all use products like this differently and they can't figure out everything so hence the updates.

[ctsooner]

Completely agree. We all use products like this differently and they can't figure out everything so hence the updates.

 

Shipped from the dealer today. I hope to get it Friday or Sat if they deliver then. Otherwise Monday most probably. I can't wait.

[audio.bill]

Shipped from the dealer today. I hope to get it Friday or Sat if they deliver then. Otherwise Monday most probably. I can't wait.

Congrats! Enjoy the tunes and we're all looking forward to your impressions.

[Blackstone]

There is nothing worse on this earth than missing a Friday delivery! Good luck sir!

[ctsooner]

There is nothing worse on this earth than missing a Friday delivery! Good luck sir!

 

No kidding, lol. I'm sure I'll miss whatever the delivery is. Always happens and I'm home much of the time during the day as I'm disabled. Just karma . Now I have to make some tough decisions. I've had more than a few inquire about my Mac Mini with the Paul Hynes LPS. I think I may just sell it to the highest bidder and just move the music to a hard drive and then once I get the Melco, move that music over to it. Is that pretty easy to do? I'm not the computer guy. I run all Mac and have an external HD I will use.

[Blackstone]

Melco is the best sound for sure according to Scottsol. Scottsol's opinions are more factual than my facts.[emoji848]

[Blackstone]

No clue about transferring to Melco. Transferring uncompressed raw .wav files (CD) is always tricky because there are no tags. You tend to loose metadata. I would considering converting to flac first. Flac transfers are easy. I suspect melco shows up as a drive on your network and you can transfer. How much ram does your mac have? If the computer is older you might want to consider transferring in batches. This type of thing would crash my older machines.

[ctsooner]

No clue about transferring to Melco. Transferring uncompressed raw .wav files (CD) is always tricky because there are no tags. You tend to loose metadata. I would considering converting to flac first. Flac transfers are easy. I suspect melco shows up as a drive on your network and you can transfer. How much ram does your mac have? If the computer is older you might want to consider transferring in batches. This type of thing would crash my older machines.

 

I will call Steve at Empirical since he rebuilt the machine. Even though it's a 2009 it isn't even close to stock. I bet the ram is at least 8GB. I need to figure out how to get it on the network as I don't have anything run through the house yet. I'll need an electrician and when I do that, I'll run two separate and isolate lines into the audio room/loft. I should be able to just connect the mac mini to the Melco via the USB port and transfer, no? Will that not work?

[Blackstone]

Really not sure.

 

Anyway I finally am set up in the new room with QX-5 ice cold and it is phenomenal. The bass is killer. It has great punch and slam. Really smooth. My headphone days are numbered. The thing is ice cold with zero hours on the main outputs and it is by far I have ever heard this system. The room is a big factor I'm sure. I can tell it is a big step from QB-9 though and my old preamp. Very musical, and I have VERY fussy ears when it comes to noise/grain. Can't wait for stuff to warm up but I'm pretty stoked!!!

 

Just to clarify, I have only heard the headphone amp on my unit up to this point.

[ctsooner]

Really not sure.

 

Anyway I finally am set up in the new room with QX-5 ice cold and it is phenomenal. The bass is killer. It has great punch and slam. Really smooth. My headphone days are numbered. The thing is ice cold with zero hours on the main outputs and it is by far I have ever heard this system. The room is a big factor I'm sure. I can tell it is a big step from QB-9 though and my old preamp. Very musical, and I have VERY fussy ears when it comes to noise/grain. Can't wait for stuff to warm up but I'm pretty stoked!!!

 

Just to clarify, I have only heard the headphone amp on my unit up to this point.

 

The old DAC isn't even in the same category, lol. It just isn't. Wait until the thing gets to 50 hours and then 100. That seems like when it opens up and tightens up even more. Personally I felt it was ragged on top when it was new and cold. At the end of the day, it really smoothed out nicely. You and I are both in for a treat, lol.

[Blackstone]

It is jaw dropping. I never thought it would sound this good with my old N804 speakers and Bryston 3BST amp but it just does. The preamplifier is absolutely first rate. And it makes everything sound good, even the recordings I used to thing had too much bite. It is an experience once set right. I find it hard to believe any audiophile with optimal setup would not want one. Even my wife and parents were blown away. Even a lay person can hear it. AWESOME!!!!

[ctsooner]

It is jaw dropping. I never thought it would sound this good with my old N804 speakers and Bryston 3BST amp but it just does. The preamplifier is absolutely first rate. And it makes everything sound good, even the recordings I used to thing had too much bite. It is an experience once set right. I find it hard to believe any audiophile with optimal setup would not want one. Even my wife and parents were blown away. Even a lay person can hear it. AWESOME!!!!

 

You tease...I really hope mine comes in tomorrow or Tuesday.

[Ultrarunner]

I'd be curious how the QX-5 would compare as a replacement to my DX-5 / KX-R combination. In other words, if the DAC would be more of an improvement over the QB-9 than the QX-5 preamp would be inferior to the KX-R. Or, if having the DAC and preamp in one chassis would have some advantage. If so, it would make purchasing this easy on the budget.

[ctsooner]

Ultra, I have only heard it in person with about 40 hours at most on it. It is a tremendous DAC. I recently sold my Empirical DAC as most know to get this one. That Empirical DAC to many of us was better than the newest Berkley ref DAC. Yes, it's THAT good. The QX-5 is special in so many ways. It does everything much better than their old DAC. The Codex betters the 9 in some ways, but not all. If you run it directly you will get a more dynamic sound, but personally, I feel you miss some subtleties. You can't have it all. The highs are much more natural and the soundstage to me was more open when using the KX-R Twenty. If I had to chose between running the QX5 directly or keeping the current set up, I'd have to say you would like it run directly better because your source would be better and that's the most important part. Garbage in, g out..., but you have to feed it a great signal to get the most out of it of course. That's a whole new ball game. There is no advantage in having a digital pre inside the DAC over having a KXR Twenty. That's a world class preamp, so that's why I say it.

 

I'd be curious how the QX-5 would compare as a replacement to my DX-5 / KX-R combination. In other words, if the DAC would be more of an improvement over the QB-9 than the QX-5 preamp would be inferior to the KX-R. Or, if having the DAC and preamp in one chassis would have some advantage. If so, it would make purchasing this easy on the budget.

[Pat Case]

I'm watching and listening to you folk. Hopefully, your juries report back with evidence of improved SQ - the only reason why I'd upgrade.