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Ayre QB-9 Twenty upgrade


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That sounds like it is a huge upgrade!  I suspect you will be very happy.  Just the change to the JFET first stage is huge, as this probably features Ayre's stock of NOS Toshiba JFETS which are unobtainable now.  I had my Ayre K5 preamp upgraded with the JFETs and the difference was not subtle at all, it went from being a very good preamp, to within spitting distance of the best.

SO/ROON/HQPe: DSD 512-Sonore opticalModuleDeluxe-Signature Rendu optical with Well Tempered Clock--DIY DSC-2 DAC with SC Pure Clock--DIY Purifi Amplifier-Focus Audio FS888 speakers-JL E 112 sub-Nordost Tyr USB, DIY EventHorizon AC cables, Iconoclast XLR & speaker cables, Synergistic Purple Fuses, Spacetime system clarifiers.  ISOAcoustics Oreas footers.                                                       

                                                                                           SONORE computer audio

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3 hours ago, jma2 said:

A huge advantage of other DACs in general is that you can hook up multiple sources while the QB-9 is single USB only

I believe this is actually an advantage for sonics:  all those other inputs add cost, complexity, and require a switching mechanism on digital signal lines.  It is impossible to have a "perfect" switch for digital signals, so having only a single digital input can result in increased performance.  I build all of my DIY DACs dedicated for a single input for specifically this reason.

SO/ROON/HQPe: DSD 512-Sonore opticalModuleDeluxe-Signature Rendu optical with Well Tempered Clock--DIY DSC-2 DAC with SC Pure Clock--DIY Purifi Amplifier-Focus Audio FS888 speakers-JL E 112 sub-Nordost Tyr USB, DIY EventHorizon AC cables, Iconoclast XLR & speaker cables, Synergistic Purple Fuses, Spacetime system clarifiers.  ISOAcoustics Oreas footers.                                                       

                                                                                           SONORE computer audio

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  • 1 month later...

I would suggest, why about it requiring USB power?  All reports are that the upgrade sounds significantly better, I would suggest that one just be happy that Ayre has gone and provided a significant upgrade to a product which is not even offered any more.  It is a rare company which does this.

Using USB power, from a technical standpoint, is a good way to allow for a totally isolated USB input (as I am sure the QB-9/20 is), as it provides a power supply for the USB interface which is entirely isolated from eh rest of the DAC circuitry, without having to add an additional transformer in an already small case.

Don't worry, be happy!

SO/ROON/HQPe: DSD 512-Sonore opticalModuleDeluxe-Signature Rendu optical with Well Tempered Clock--DIY DSC-2 DAC with SC Pure Clock--DIY Purifi Amplifier-Focus Audio FS888 speakers-JL E 112 sub-Nordost Tyr USB, DIY EventHorizon AC cables, Iconoclast XLR & speaker cables, Synergistic Purple Fuses, Spacetime system clarifiers.  ISOAcoustics Oreas footers.                                                       

                                                                                           SONORE computer audio

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  • 3 months later...
3 hours ago, Dr Tone said:


No, it’s limited by what the PCM rate of the DAC is capable of carrying.

Yes, Roon can play DSD 256 via DoP, but the attached DAC's USB interface needs to accept 705.6 PCM to allow this.  I am doing such right now...

SO/ROON/HQPe: DSD 512-Sonore opticalModuleDeluxe-Signature Rendu optical with Well Tempered Clock--DIY DSC-2 DAC with SC Pure Clock--DIY Purifi Amplifier-Focus Audio FS888 speakers-JL E 112 sub-Nordost Tyr USB, DIY EventHorizon AC cables, Iconoclast XLR & speaker cables, Synergistic Purple Fuses, Spacetime system clarifiers.  ISOAcoustics Oreas footers.                                                       

                                                                                           SONORE computer audio

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  • 3 months later...
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33 minutes ago, EicoMan said:

My name is Gordon and evidently I'm a Ayre QB-9 addict.  I've owned the original, the DSD version and now the Twenty.

 

The Twenty is simply stunning.  As others have commented, it maintains Ayre's signature "natural and right" sound signature while further opening up the soundstage and revealing even more detail, texture and overall musical depth.

 

On a less fun note, I'm having a few technical challenges with the QB9 Twenty and Audirvana 3.5 on my MacBook Pro.

 

First and foremost, I can't get the QB9 Twenty to recognize DSD.  The DAC was updated in August of 2020, so I think it has the latest firmware.

 

If anyone has a QB9 Twenty playing DSD from Audirvana 3.5, please let me know the Audio Settings you're using.

 

Thanks for the help!  I love the Twenty.  It's incredible.

Make sure you are sending DSD as DoP, otherwise it will not work with a direct USB connection from a Mac.

SO/ROON/HQPe: DSD 512-Sonore opticalModuleDeluxe-Signature Rendu optical with Well Tempered Clock--DIY DSC-2 DAC with SC Pure Clock--DIY Purifi Amplifier-Focus Audio FS888 speakers-JL E 112 sub-Nordost Tyr USB, DIY EventHorizon AC cables, Iconoclast XLR & speaker cables, Synergistic Purple Fuses, Spacetime system clarifiers.  ISOAcoustics Oreas footers.                                                       

                                                                                           SONORE computer audio

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  • 1 year later...

Indeed, semi conductor IC availability is still a big problem, and will likely be so going forward.  At Sonore we have had to re-design some products using different parts, as some ICs are just not available at all anymore (rest assured, when we re-desing we make improvements, and never allow our products to have reduced performance).  Re-design like this takes a long time and is costly as well.  It has been really challenging for small companies, (all companies in high end audio are very small) to keep producing products as the IC availability problem is unprecedented.  Previously, if a part was going to be unavailable, there was always a long period where all users of that part were warned a couple of years, or more, in advance of that happening, and so companies could plan for the change with plenty of warning.  Now part availability can be a month to month thing.  One can even have the problem of a part disappearing, without much warning, while a product is in development (consider a development cycle for new electronic products can be a year, or more), so your "new" product, might have to be re-designed to suit available parts, even before it is released!

Unfortunately, to some extent, this appears to be the "new normal" of doing business in electronics, and it is very challenging.

SO/ROON/HQPe: DSD 512-Sonore opticalModuleDeluxe-Signature Rendu optical with Well Tempered Clock--DIY DSC-2 DAC with SC Pure Clock--DIY Purifi Amplifier-Focus Audio FS888 speakers-JL E 112 sub-Nordost Tyr USB, DIY EventHorizon AC cables, Iconoclast XLR & speaker cables, Synergistic Purple Fuses, Spacetime system clarifiers.  ISOAcoustics Oreas footers.                                                       

                                                                                           SONORE computer audio

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24 minutes ago, nrenter said:

Since I have y’all here…

 

Any thoughts on why I’m not getting any output from my replacement QB-9 (other than I’ve received a bum unit)? I’ve tried with 3 different Macs (from an M1 Mac, Intel MacBook Pro, last 2000s iMac) and an Alienware Windows 10 laptop). I can see the sample rates change on the display, but nothing from either the balanced or single ended outputs. I’d like to think there’s a simple solution, but I fear I got sold a lemon. 

Have you contacted Ayre?  Ayre customer service is generally excellent...

SO/ROON/HQPe: DSD 512-Sonore opticalModuleDeluxe-Signature Rendu optical with Well Tempered Clock--DIY DSC-2 DAC with SC Pure Clock--DIY Purifi Amplifier-Focus Audio FS888 speakers-JL E 112 sub-Nordost Tyr USB, DIY EventHorizon AC cables, Iconoclast XLR & speaker cables, Synergistic Purple Fuses, Spacetime system clarifiers.  ISOAcoustics Oreas footers.                                                       

                                                                                           SONORE computer audio

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  • 2 months later...
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On 5/27/2023 at 2:07 PM, krass said:

 

correct…. many do not understand the difference but it’s part and parcel of internet discussion forums. 

 

In some ways it is unsurprising as the majority will not have a requisite technical background, and digital signal processing is rather niche. Same can be said for digital filters.. how many will have even a basic understanding of that interlinked relationship between frequency- and time- domain ?

There is really no difference, being said that this is all just semantics.  Indeed some people have made a distinction that one of those two words applies to asynchronous non-integer conversion, and the other applies to integer conversion, but there is no real world actual definition of such anywhere.  It is just semantics.  We should distinguish between these two forms of up conversion, but it is much more complex a topic than that.  There was a time, where synchronous integer conversion could be considered "superior" to asynchronous, non-inter conversion-but when we are talking about conversions done by powerful enough algorithms, running on powerful enough hardware, that time has passed.

Early examples of asynchronous conversions in hardware were the awful TI chip (was it the 1492?, I cannot remember), this chip made jitter go way down, but introduced all kinds of bad sound artifacts due to its imprecise math.  Nowadays, due to a huge increase in the processing power of many types of processors, we can have asynchronous oversampling which sounds fantastic, given we write the algorithms with precise enough math.  For example, the Mola Mola Tambaqui DAC uses custom async conversion of all incoming rates, and it sounds fantastic, natural, dynamic, organic, detailed, just wonderful.  It also uses 3 high power AD SHARC chips to do so, and Bruno Putzeys is one of the genius designers who knows how to design both digital filters and SD modulators.  It can also be stated that HQPlayer, running on a powerful server, can do wonderful async, non-integer, resampling.

I used to avoid non-integer conversions at all costs, but I am now happy as pie to use HQPlayer to convert 48 kHz base rate files to DSD 512 to serve to the DAC with no worries at all, as the level of precision in Jussi's algos is up to the task, as long as the server processor is.

SO/ROON/HQPe: DSD 512-Sonore opticalModuleDeluxe-Signature Rendu optical with Well Tempered Clock--DIY DSC-2 DAC with SC Pure Clock--DIY Purifi Amplifier-Focus Audio FS888 speakers-JL E 112 sub-Nordost Tyr USB, DIY EventHorizon AC cables, Iconoclast XLR & speaker cables, Synergistic Purple Fuses, Spacetime system clarifiers.  ISOAcoustics Oreas footers.                                                       

                                                                                           SONORE computer audio

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2 hours ago, ssh said:

Hi Barrows,

 

How does the Bricasti process DSD 512?

 

I thought that it was limited to DSD 256.

 

 

Joe

We are straying way off topic, sorry Ayre!  I will answer this one question and then we should go back to discussing the QB-9.

Currently my Bricasti DAC does not accept DSD 512 because of the limitation of its USB interface (I wish they would update this to allow for 512, as I suspect the discrete converter would have no problem with such, and the XMOS USB processor is certainly capable of 512 with the right programming).

In addition to the Bricasti I also have a very capable DIY DSC-2 DAC, which is DSD only input, with a discrete DSD converter, isolated USB interface, Lundahl transformers, and a stout active analog output stage for driving amplifiers directly.  So now that HQPlayer can get to DSD 512 with the EC modulators on my server, I play DSD 512 with this DAC.

SO/ROON/HQPe: DSD 512-Sonore opticalModuleDeluxe-Signature Rendu optical with Well Tempered Clock--DIY DSC-2 DAC with SC Pure Clock--DIY Purifi Amplifier-Focus Audio FS888 speakers-JL E 112 sub-Nordost Tyr USB, DIY EventHorizon AC cables, Iconoclast XLR & speaker cables, Synergistic Purple Fuses, Spacetime system clarifiers.  ISOAcoustics Oreas footers.                                                       

                                                                                           SONORE computer audio

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  • 9 months later...

Sterling silver is an alloy, usually of copper and silver-why one would want to use such an alloy for a USB signal makes little to no sense.  Sterling makes silver stronger, and is used for jewelry and silverware.

For USB signal carrying wires, the best conductor is a solid core copper wire, with a heavy plating of the purest silver possible.  The reason for this is that the signal is carried on the very surface of the conductor due to its high speed (google  skin depth in high speed signals for more info).  With a heavy silver plate on a copper wire the signal will be carried entirely via the silver layer, without the additional expense of a full solid core wire of silver.

SO/ROON/HQPe: DSD 512-Sonore opticalModuleDeluxe-Signature Rendu optical with Well Tempered Clock--DIY DSC-2 DAC with SC Pure Clock--DIY Purifi Amplifier-Focus Audio FS888 speakers-JL E 112 sub-Nordost Tyr USB, DIY EventHorizon AC cables, Iconoclast XLR & speaker cables, Synergistic Purple Fuses, Spacetime system clarifiers.  ISOAcoustics Oreas footers.                                                       

                                                                                           SONORE computer audio

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