is ayre qb-9 dac better than cx7e mp?

05-31-12: Ptmconsulting
Is there a way to put someone on "auto-ignore" on these forums?

LOL! yeah Audiofreak32 is turning out to be a consumate a-hole.
he does not realize that the harder he peddles Linn DS the more people he is turning off...

And the more happy I will be listening to it while you are still in ignorant bliss with your outdated CD player.... tee he he.

Auto-ignore ACTIVATED!!

Me too... Idiot-Ignore ACTIVATED!!!

In that case, you won't be able to read your own posts Audiofeak32!!! Too bad we all can't enjoy the benefit of ignoring you....

Is there a way to auto-ignore all these audiophiles that love to tweek with every little thing, buy expensive components over and over again to try to reach audio nirvana? Instead of maybe just sitting and listening to what they have - a great system already. I feel sad for you guys.

So it's been a long whole since my post but here is some background to my statement. The QB-9 was a demo unit so fully broken in. The computer was a MBP with flash drive and 8 g of memory. The program was channel D pure music playing 24bit 192khz files, connected via toslink. Pretty sure the Dac had everything it needed to perform at its best and was NO WHERE NEAR the C5xeMP in the exact same system. My opinion

Harri how did you get the Mac to output optical to the QB9. It only has a USB input.

lol Hmm thats a good question, I guess I remembered incorrectly. I obviously must have been using the USB out from the comp not the optical. Sorry about that, it has been a long while since I compared but do remember enjoying the C5 more, hence me sending the QB-9 back.

All I can say is my Mac Mini / Wavelength Cosecant sounds far superior to my previous Ayre C5xeMP.

Harri

I personally find that a "spun" disc tends to sound more "live" than computer audio. I currently own a Weiss INT202 FireWire interface, a Wavelink HS and have used M2Tech async, Bel Canto uLink (synchronous) as well as built in USB ports of various DACs and own an EMM Labs XDS1, Ayon CD5S, Bel Canto DAC3.5VB MkII, previously Benchmark DAC1 and it seems to be true across many different platforms and implementation.

The Bel Canto in particular sounds very good with the matching CD2 as a transport.

So I suspect that what you are comparing isn't the difference in DAC per se, but a preference for the spun disc on the C5 vs computer audio on the QB9.

Computer audio has progressed at an incredibly fast pace in the last few years and it may be that it would overtake the spun disc in a few more generations of technology. Who knows?

A friend of mine swears by his Empirical Audio Offramp and it does seem a noticeable step up from my Wavelink HS.

My LINN Akurate DS playing 24/192 WAV sounds better than any CD player that I have owned and others that I have compared it to - easily. But this is connected via ethernet cable, sending raw data to the DAC, not a USB or other connection.

Doggie, I think we may be on the same page. I have not heard a computer based system yet that sounds as natural as a spun disk.