CHORD qbd76 or Ayre qb9 ----> which should I buy?

[Ed_K]

In a previous response, Umetaro mentioned that he compared the ayre and Chord Dac's to the new Esoteric piece.

Umetaro, can you share some thoughts on this DAC. For that matter has anyone else audtioned this piece in their system. I know it is a new offering and I have only read what is available on their website. Seems like it could be a high quality and versatile piece.

 

I have audtioned the Ayre and have been sold on it's sound quality. I have been living with the Ayre C5xe for 2+ years. My only concern is that the Ayre QB-9 only has one input and I would rather not limit myself. Secondly, it would be very nice to possibly eliminate the preamp in my system. The Esoteric being 32 bit has a digital volume control and this makes it a bit more interesting.

 

Thoughts anyone?

 

Happy Holidays to all,

 

Ed

 

[Umetaro]

Ed,

I have a good impression toward Esoteric D-07. I auditioned D-07 and QBD76 connected to B&W803S and (probably) Luxman pre/power amps. D-07 was very detailed and clear and I had no complaint. I would have purchased either D-07 or QB-9 if I had not listened to QBD76. I preferred QBD76 to D-07 as I felt QBD76 produces more emotional/dynamic/energetic sound. D-07 is very accurate but sounds a little bit boring to me. This does not mean that D-07 is inferior to QBD76 in terms of sound quality but I just liked the sound of QBD76. D-07 is becoming very popular here in Japan and all sold out. You have to wait until Feb to get one.

 

Umetaro

 

[Ed_K]

Thanks for your reply, it is nice when you can audition your choices. Audtioning can be difficult here, especially where I am. Since I travel within the US in my job, I hope to be able to spend time, somewhere, with some of the other choices out there. Maybe I'll be able to find the QBD76 in my travels.

 

In one of your posts, you asked what the US prices were for these Dac's. I know the Ayre is about $2,500 US. The Esoteric I can only estimate based on the Japan pricing I saw of 315,000 Yen ( approx. $3,500). No idea on the Chord here.

 

Regards, Ed

 

[r2d2]

Ed I believe the qbd76 is between $5 and $6 in the US. I have seen one brand new advertised for $5. Chord gear is a little more expensive than in the UK.

 

I have been listening to the Ayre QB9 and I agree with a what posters have said in their descriptions of this dac. I have the qbd76 arriving thursday and will choose the dac I like the sound of most. Will post a more descriptive comparison between the two when I have both here.

 

Thanks again for all your help guys. I wouldnt have auditioned the chord if not for the glowing reviews here,

 

[barrows]

I am looking forward to hearing your listening impressions of the Ayre and Chord. Thanks, in advance, for letting us know what you think. Please be sure to let us know which inputs you used on the Chord for comparison, if we are talking about USB versus USB, or whatever, as I suspect the Chord may sound different via USB and SPDIF inputs.

 

[r2d2]

I will definately write some impressions. I think its going to be an interesting comparison between the two.

 

[r2d2]

Hi guys been real busy but can finally update this thread...

 

Would like to thank the various members who advised me to audition both of the dacs.

 

I had decided to purchase the Ayre dac by just reading the various reviews online and from forum posts etc. In hindsight this was foolish as I made a choice without letting my ears decide. One of the main things I was looking for in a dac was a realistic and detailed playback of my lossless music, to be used in a headphone based system for the immediate future.

 

Very shortly after recieving the Chord qbd76 and used it in my setup I knew which dac I wanted to keep.

I found the chord so much more natural and trasparent sounding than the QB9. The instruments felt more real and in the room with the chord. Like the other posters have said here, when you listen to the QB9 you are impressed with its sound, then when listening to the chord its a wow factor. I listened to many styles of music (no rap lol) from rock to jazz to classical. The chord was very analytical and seperated the different sounds/instruments at a level that the QB9 couldnt.

 

I would recommend the Chord to anyone who enjoys listening to music. It is cheaper in the UK than anywhere else so thats good. Though still expensive at £3000.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Telstar]

Note that the QBD76 is a much better unit than the DAC64. The comments about sterile hyperdetailed sound do not apply to the new model.

I wonder why it didnt get the press success it deserves.

 

[Audio_ELF]

r2d2 ... I'm just curious ... but do you use the Chord with it's built in USB connection, or with another SPDIF interface??

 

Thanks

Eloise

 

[r2d2]

I use it with SPDIF from a macbook pro. I tried the USB from a netbook. To my ears it still sounded very good.

 

[Matias]

Sometimes companies just don't want to pay Stereophile to do a review.

 

[slingshot]

I thought I would post on this thread instead of creating a new one. I am very interested in this DAC as I can buy a used one as an excellent price. However as computer audio novice, I continue to be confused about some of the connection issues.

 

1. The QBD76 has 2 x 75? SP/DIF BNC Coax and 2 x AES Balanced XLR Inputs. However, the review in Enjoy the Music states you need a dual connection and its not clear if they mean for both of the referenced inputs or only one of them.

 

The matching Chord transport which I don't need has these output connections. Are there sound cards that have these dual connections? My understanding is that the AES connection would give the best sound and then the BNC would give the second best connection. I have an Einstein preamp with balanced inputs so it would work out.

 

2, Secondly this unit also has Bluetooth Advanced Distribution Profile (A2DP). I am thinking of going with a MAC system as the music server and I have read that A2DP is supported by the OS. If I used this wireless connection than I am assuming I wouldn't need a sound card. However, my question is whether the MAC would transmit the bits in high rez such as 176, etc. or only at a lower rate. If it is only at a lower rate than I would apparently need a sound card.

 

[Audio_ELF]

"1. The QBD76 has 2 x 75? SP/DIF BNC Coax and 2 x AES Balanced XLR Inputs. However, the review in Enjoy the Music states you need a dual connection and its not clear if they mean for both of the referenced inputs or only one of them. "

 

The dual AES or SPDIF connection (you can use either) is needed for 176.4 and 192k sample rates. To connect this to the computer you need a device which supports this - unfortunately there are ony a few of these.

 

First up, both the RME HSPe AES32 and Lynx AES16e PCIe cards (and the older equivalent PCI cards) support the dual-wire mode (via AES). To use either of these you'll obviously need a computer which can fit an internal card - this rules out a laptop or "mini" computers such as MacMini. You could build one of Chris' C.A.P.S. type computers, or a full size tower could be used.

 

The alternative are firewire devices. There are a few devices I know of which support dual-wire mode. Weiss make the INT202 and AFI1 interfaces, both can be configured for dual-wire AES and the INT202 can do dual-wire SPDIF. TC Electronics make the (IIRC) Digital Konnect x32 and Apogee Digital can support FireWire to dual-wire AES via their Rosetta 200 with Firewire-X card.

 

2. Secondly this unit also has Bluetooth Advanced Distribution Profile (A2DP). I am thinking of going with a MAC system as the music server and I have read that A2DP is supported by the OS. If I used this wireless connection than I am assuming I wouldn't need a sound card. However, my question is whether the MAC would transmit the bits in high rez such as 176, etc. or only at a lower rate. If it is only at a lower rate than I would apparently need a sound card.

 

Using the APT-X lossless compression protocols I think the Bluetooth connection can do up to 24/96k. I would suspect sound quality would be better via one of the interfaces discussed above.

 

Eloise

 

[slingshot]

Thank you Eloise.

 

Actually I wanted to buy a MacMini and I didn't know you can't fit a card in it. The MacPro is very expensive. So I may not buy this DAC. I guess you could use a older G5?

 

Would you use firewire to connect a Mac to the Int202 and AFi? My understanding is that firewire is not very good for passing a signal. However, I guess the conversion of the signal in these boxes would make the sound okay.

 

Also are you saying that for any type of 176.4 and 192k sample rates you need dual connections? If this is the case, that was not clear in anything I read about it.

 

[Quest]

Hi, hope I can answer some of these questions as I was looking into it too. Was really impressed by this DAC.

 

1. 24/192 input to the Chord is possible using optical if your device supports it. So no need to stress about dual input. Unfortunately it does not work for any other single input.

 

2. Going dual input is more akin to having additional benefit by keeping the left/right signals completely separate, like using monoblocks.

 

Of course going this route also allows you to use 24/192 via other input such as AES, BNC, etc.. which may give you better sound too. I was told that Chord uses RME cards, but a Lynx card or devices like INT202 would do as well.