Ayre QX-5 Twenty


I have been looking at a few DAC's and Ayre QX-5 twnety  is one of them.  It checks a lot of boxers.  It has a built in streamer, headphone jack, and a filter for video which I like.  I just want to make sure the technology is still up to date since it has been out for so long.  I know that Ayre has updated the network card and usb port.  I found out the unit has an FPGA chip that is updated with software when needed.  It has the last generation ESS chip not the one just released but they don't use the filters on the chip.  They said they only use about 5% of the chip's processing power is used.  Let me know if their is anything just as good for the same price.  

brbrock

Showing 1 response by ghdprentice

I am familiar with a number of Ayre products and currently own a QB-9 DAC... their equipment is excellent in terms of sound quality. It is natural sounding and musical while being detailed. 

 

The streaming part is new to my. So I had to look into the manual to figure out if it even streams. It does... but not in the easy way that most high end streamers work. You have to download software connectors. Most companies supply their own interface... like Aurender, Aurlic... etc. Unless you want to be a technical person, I'm not sure I'd go this route. Although I highly recommend it as a DAC.

To anyone though, I recommend a separate streamer. Makes upgrading simple and usually sounds much better.