Ayre Acoustics QX-5 Twenty – The Digital Hub

[Tecnik1]

Sad Day. Rest in Peace Charles.

 

[barrows]

OMG, I figured this was coming, but I never thought it would be so soon.  I only met Charlie once, at the Ayre offices, but right away I knew this was an interesting man, a character of wit and high intelligence.  He was one of those people you meet, and you can tell there is a lot going on in his mind, with the wheels always turning.  As a fellow cyclist, and Boulder resident, I looked forward to the time I would get to go out on a ride with him, but then very quickly he had his accident, which was caused in my understanding by a careless motorcycle rider-it happened on the the mountain road which leads to my own home, a very popular route for cyclists of all levels, from pros training for the Grand Tours, to everyday riders.

Please, everyone, think about Charlie next time you are in your vehicle and encounter a cyclist on the road, and just consider taking an extra measure of care, cyclists are so vulnerable out there.

Charlie's loss is huge for the audio manufacturing community, but even more for the all of his family and friends, a truly unique individual and smart and fascinating man. 

[AmusedToD]

Such a sad day, Charlie was kind enough to respond to every question on this forum very patiently and with great passion. This is a huge loss for the audio community. R.I.P.!

[Blackstone]

He was the personification of everything I like about the hobby and the industry. Truly a devastating loss to the community. A truly inspirational person and the founder of my favorite brand in audio. I can’t think of another single component manufacturer who had such a profound impact on me as life long audio enthusiast. What else can I say?

[Ultrarunner]

Sad indeed.  Charlie and I had a lot of great conversations over the years.  He was always willing to offer advice or just talk about audio.

[Audio]

RIP.  This loss is being felt in Hong Kong and Singapore.   Sad day for all the Ayre fans on this side of the world.

 

(Audio)

[Vule]

Hi All,

Has anyone tried yet dcs NB with Ayre QX-5/20 via AES or SPDIF?

Any thoughts regarding SQ improvement?

[intermediatic]

I've auditioned one. It was superb. Had been using my Ayre Codex. I realize I could have spent another 2 months auditioning different gear, but this just made the system shine like never before and Roon runs so well on it. It's on order. 

 

It is a great tragedy that @Charles Hansen has passed, but I have been in touch with Ayre about a few things lately and I have to say that the company is very much on top of things. Apparently he had made careful plans for the transition with the team. This is far from the end of Ayre. Unfortunate that he won't be able to see what they are doing, but I think the company is hitting its stride so well. That is what legacy is about!   

[#Yoda#]

On 1.2.2018 at 8:27 AM, Vule said:

Hi All,

Has anyone tried yet dcs NB with Ayre QX-5/20 via AES or SPDIF?

Any thoughts regarding SQ improvement?

What should be the benefit? The QX-5 Twenty includes a first class rendering unit and if there may be a sonic advantage by using a dCS NB with the needed external cabling, it would be negligible and not worth the 4k $, IMHO. 

[barrows]

2 hours ago, #Yoda# said:

first class rendering unit

Not sure where you got this information...  It is not entirely correct.

[#Yoda#]

21 hours ago, barrows said:

Not sure where you got this information...  It is not entirely correct.

According to the available reviews and user experience, the view about overall performance of the QX-5 Twenty is consistently very positive and the ethernet streaming unit is an essential part of this product.

 

OK, considering Charleys general concerns about radio waves and the consistent omission of integrated support of wireless connections, what is not "entirely correct" in my post beside semantic details?

[intermediatic]

On 3/20/2018 at 9:41 PM, barrows said:

Not sure where you got this information...  It is not entirely correct.

What a strange thing to say without any back up.

[asdf1000]

44 minutes ago, intermediatic said:

What a strange thing to say without any back up.

 

Ayre are using a network module from ConversDigital, as mentioned in Stereophile's review.

 

http://www.conversdigital.com/kor/product/product01.php

 

I can't/won't speak for barrows but I GUESS he is hinting that it's not the best networking solution out there, even though I'm very sure Ayre have implemented it in the best way that is possible.

 

Expect to see much better ethernet-to-I2S cards coming (off the shelf and/or DIY) as ethernet input DACs become more popular.

[barrows]

While Ayre's implementation of the Convers module is about as good as it could be (separate transformer powering the module, isolated feed to the DAC section), the module itself has limitations.  As the late, great, Mr. Hansen has mentioned, there are price point considerations when building any product.

The Convers module has both sample rate, and performance limitations due to its affordable build quality and parts choice.

I am not saying it is "bad", just that it is not as good as it gets.

BTW, I am a big fan of Ayre gear, and mean no ill will towards their products.  The Bricasti DAC with their Ethernet Renderer is quite a bit more money than the QX-5, and in audio you often (not always) get more when you pay more.

[intermediatic]

Ok, that’s a lot more informative, thanks.

 

 

[intermediatic]

For any owners out there, I have been in contact with Ayre and Logitech and the both KX-5 and QX-5 are updated in the Logitech Harmony database. Since we use our Ayre stack in the living room, we like to use the Harmony Elite system to control it, the TV, Oppo UDP-205, cable box, and so on. With the update, you can go directly to an input without having to hit up and down buttons endlessly. Perhaps a small thing, but an important one.

 

On another note that I hope is more interesting, having upgraded from an Ayre Codex and Ayre K5xe to a KX-5 and QX-5 (it's coming this week), I've gone from nowhere near enough inputs (two balanced into the KX-5 and one Toslink into the Codex) to an absolutely crazy amount of inputs, both digital and analog. There have got to be some interesting things people are connecting to these units. I guess my AppleTV (via HDMI de-embedder), Roku, cable box, and UDP-205 will all get their digital inputs, and of course my turntable and (my never used) FM Tuner (which just looks cool more than anything else) but I wonder what other mad things I could hook to this system. I've long since abandoned having a Mac Mini directly in the mix since a Raspberry Pi with Hifiberry Digi+ handily beat that (which in turn was beat by the UDP-205, and in the end the QX-5).     

      

[d_elm]

38 minutes ago, intermediatic said:

For any owners out there, I have been in contact with Ayre and Logitech and the both KX-5 and QX-5 are updated in the Logitech Harmony database. Since we use our Ayre stack in the living room, we like to use the Harmony Elite system to control it, the TV, Oppo UDP-205, cable box, and so on. With the update, you can go directly to an input without having to hit up and down buttons endlessly. Perhaps a small thing, but an important one.

 

On another note that I hope is more interesting, having upgraded from an Ayre Codex and Ayre K5xe to a KX-5 and QX-5 (it's coming this week), I've gone from nowhere near enough inputs (two balanced into the KX-5 and one Toslink into the Codex) to an absolutely crazy amount of inputs, both digital and analog. There have got to be some interesting things people are connecting to these units. I guess my AppleTV (via HDMI de-embedder), Roku, cable box, and UDP-205 will all get their digital inputs, and of course my turntable and (my never used) FM Tuner (which just looks cool more than anything else) but I wonder what other mad things I could hook to this system. I've long since abandoned having a Mac Mini directly in the mix since a Raspberry Pi with Hifiberry Digi+ handily beat that (which in turn was beat by the UDP-205, and in the end the QX-5).     

      

I suggest connecting a Tascam DA-3000 to the KX-5's tape output and one of the balanced inputs.  Use the Tascam to record FM broadcasts and digitize vinyl.

[barrows]

I would also add that Ayre is great about offering their customers upgrades (to existing products) when they develop something new.  I would not be surprised if they offer an improved Ethernet interface for upgrade at some point in the future.  Ayre's upgrades are fairly priced when they offer them as well.

[#Yoda#]

1 hour ago, barrows said:

I would also add that Ayre is great about offering their customers upgrades (to existing products) when they develop something new.  I would not be surprised if they offer an improved Ethernet interface for upgrade at some point in the future.  Ayre's upgrades are fairly priced when they offer them as well.

I'm quite sure we can expect some more surprises from Ayre like the mid-range priced 8-series.

 

In expectation of his nearby pass away, it seems as he has initiated some important advancements for his company to be prepared for the expected challenges in the high-end audio market in the next years.

[Superdad]

2 hours ago, #Yoda# said:

In expectation of his nearby pass away, it seems as he has initiated some important advancements for his company to be prepared for the expected challenges in the high-end audio market in the next years.

 

I hope so.  I really miss Charley.  He was a special and kind, and very open individual.  I enjoyed many long chats with him on the phone.

[Ryan Berry]

As pointed out, the Converse module was adopted as it is a relatively popular module in the industry, hit some important key points on how it operates that other modules did not, and had been active in the marketplace for some time.  With these factors, the idea was that we would be able to adopt the module and would only have to invest minimal time implementing it after doing the usual things that Ayre does to every external component we would use inside of our units to make it sound as good as possible and ensure it doesn't negatively impact the rest of our circuit.  It was somewhat surprising to us that it had as many problems as it did.  By the time the QX-5 was released, our R&D team had fixed numerous issues and were key in adding a number of the new features and capabilities that the module now supports.  That said, we also were very conscious about how we implemented both the Ethernet and USB modules into the units so that they would be easily changed out at a later date should a better solution be available that meets the criteria we need.  Should we implement improved solutions for either of those inputs, we almost certainly will have an upgrade program available to allow users to have the latest and greatest technology for their existing units.

 

Also, thank you for the kind words regarding Charley.  In many ways he was absolutely instrumental in how Ayre designs its products and his ideas as well as his no-compromise, customer first philosophy will continue to pave the way for how Ayre operates long into the future.  That said, it's difficult for people outside of Ayre to understand how much his injuries impacted his ability to work on a day-to-day basis.  The transition of Charley handing over operations to the team at Ayre has actually been an 11 year long process, with the core of engineers here at Ayre working very hard to deliver Charley's vision.  This is, of course, not to discount Charley's many contributions to design concepts that he passed on to the rest of Ayre over the years, but in many ways our team has had to be equipped to exist without Charley's presence for some time.  He was a great man and an even greater friend to those that knew him well enough.  I'm very confident in our continued ability to deliver on his dream; and would even say in some ways, I feel we will do an even better job of it going forward as we continue to explore new ways to deliver quality music to our listeners. 

 

[intermediatic]

Well,  I've got my gorgeous QX-5, it's burned in for a week and a half and it's sounding great. Thoughtful to put in the three myrtle blocks! 

I've got an all-Ayre (KX-5/VX-5/QX-5 all Twenties plus a P-5Xe for my Clearaudio Performance DC) and Vandersteen 5A (not original owner, can't upgrade) stack now, very much the Audio Connection way and that's ok by me. These units are made for each other

I don't know what happened today, but I played it in the morning and then went to return the 7' Audioquest Aspens that I had borrowed from Johnny R and picked up the 8' Aspens that I had ordered. After installing the Aspens, the system sounded a bit better. You'd think the cables would not yet have built up a proper dielectric charge… Some thoughts…

 

When I swapped out the cable, I also moved the KX-5 from the top of the console they were in (a vintage 1960s Swedish wooden thing) to the bottom. Maybe it's a better base? 

 

I tipped the myrtle blocks on their shortest side, they were on the slightly bigger one.

 

Light corrosion on the earlier Aspens?

 

8' sounds better than 7'

 

Who the heck knows. Anyway, it's a great system that's going to last me many years. Heck, after this I can't afford to upgrade! 

[Blackstone]

On 4/7/2018 at 10:04 PM, intermediatic said:

Well,  I've got my gorgeous QX-5, it's burned in for a week and a half and it's sounding great. Thoughtful to put in the three myrtle blocks! 

I've got an all-Ayre (KX-5/VX-5/QX-5 all Twenties plus a P-5Xe for my Clearaudio Performance DC) and Vandersteen 5A (not original owner, can't upgrade) stack now, very much the Audio Connection way and that's ok by me. These units are made for each other

I don't know what happened today, but I played it in the morning and then went to return the 7' Audioquest Aspens that I had borrowed from Johnny R and picked up the 8' Aspens that I had ordered. After installing the Aspens, the system sounded a bit better. You'd think the cables would not yet have built up a proper dielectric charge… Some thoughts…

 

When I swapped out the cable, I also moved the KX-5 from the top of the console they were in (a vintage 1960s Swedish wooden thing) to the bottom. Maybe it's a better base? 

 

I tipped the myrtle blocks on their shortest side, they were on the slightly bigger one.

 

Light corrosion on the earlier Aspens?

 

8' sounds better than 7'

 

Who the heck knows. Anyway, it's a great system that's going to last me many years. Heck, after this I can't afford to upgrade! 

 

I have a similar system but with the AX-5. It always sounds good, but I noticed that little things make a big difference. For example, I can hear the difference when my Plasma TV is on the same outlet bank as my amp, so I moved it to a separate conditioning unit. I can hear significant changes in tonal balance between three different ethernet cables. (The Transparent Audio Performance Ethernet won out). There is a massive difference between my PC via USB and by ethernet into QX-5, with even junk ethernet cable beating out an $800 audiophile USB. 

 

With the cables you could feel the difference in the bass. A lot of things that you would suspect would fall in possible placebo range of difference end up being quite important. Again, it always sounds good, but you can definitely fine tune it. Especially with cables, and wine!

 

An all 5 series system is damn formidable. Congrats and have fun!

[intermediatic]

A firmware update rolled tonight, but what’s in it?

[Ryan Berry]

Sorry about that!  We were pushing hard to have the testing done before the weekend, I think we didn't have time to get the notes in.  

 

A very simple update that we've had requests for to add .dff support for DSD playback.   Nothing else beyond that at this time, but we're always working hard to continue to improve the interface.