Ayre Codex, Lampizator Amber, Schiit Yggy, exaSound e32, and Ayre QX-5, DAC Comparison -A Short Story

[1markr]

Good review MJ, and great story-telling! I really enjoyed it.

 

I assume that you tested the DACs with their native power sources, whether factory power cords, or stock AC adapters and such? The reason I bring that up.... well, I'm a happy ExaSound E32 user, and have been most of this year (ran an E12 for a year or so before that), but I run it off of DC power from an SLA battery, which made a substantial improvement to transient responses of the DAC, and it put a little more "meat on the bones"  on instruments and performers as it laid out the sonic picture. 

 

As for comparisons, the only thing I can add is that I much preferred the ExaSound E12 to the Holo Spring Lev 3 DAC, that I also owned, and it was fully broken in.  The Holo was just too laid back for me, and didn't get my blood flowing listening to my tunes. Both were driven off of USB.