rshad000,
I bought the Dave over the Ayre and I am still happy I did. The Ayre is smooth and clean and you can listen for a long time with no fatigue. Excellent DAC for sure. I personally did not like the look of the Ayre and it just does not look as clean and classy as the rest of my equipment. The Dave gives you more of everything...more detail, bigger soundstage, often eerie vocals that I love. It is definitely more engaging. Still love my vinyl set up more, but when I listen to digital, the Dave is special & different than my other DAC's. Not better or worse than vinyl, different. My High Fidelity Reveal magnetic cables also seemed to take it to another level. I also preferred using the Aurender and Aurender App over Roon. Just seems to sound better. The Aurender works flawlessly. I was so tired of MacBook Pro and Amarra issues, especially with every update.
I bought the Dave over the Ayre and I am still happy I did. The Ayre is smooth and clean and you can listen for a long time with no fatigue. Excellent DAC for sure. I personally did not like the look of the Ayre and it just does not look as clean and classy as the rest of my equipment. The Dave gives you more of everything...more detail, bigger soundstage, often eerie vocals that I love. It is definitely more engaging. Still love my vinyl set up more, but when I listen to digital, the Dave is special & different than my other DAC's. Not better or worse than vinyl, different. My High Fidelity Reveal magnetic cables also seemed to take it to another level. I also preferred using the Aurender and Aurender App over Roon. Just seems to sound better. The Aurender works flawlessly. I was so tired of MacBook Pro and Amarra issues, especially with every update.