Sound drops out for split second every few minutes.....

Id point to the laptop not the AYRE, or try CAT 6 cable (higher speed).

Are you using any other application while it's playing Deezer/Tidal?  If you don't have enough CPU, it can cause split-second dropouts during playback.  I experience the same thing with Jriver when using Firefox to browse an especially complex web page. 

This can also happen with just other general background processes.  If you are trying to play DSD or higher bitrate DSD (such as 2X or 4X DSD), then the laptop may not be able to synch/clock the bitrate accurately as it sends it to the Ayre DAC.  This can cause split-second dropouts or other similar behavior.

You can alter the CPU priority of your player software by going into Task Manager. Then right click on the executable for your player and select "Set Priority => High".

Thanks for the suggestions.  Last night I suffered a bout of frustration and took a more scorched earth approach:  I wiped the hard drive and did a clean install of Win10.  :-)  Now, I'm going to start listening and then adding stuff back in and see if there's something that causes it.  

I'll check out what was mentioned above too.  Thanks!

Could be background processes running in windows that's one of reasons I don't like using windows to stream music. You can Google how to optimize windows for audio playback might help and do what you said add one program at a time and monitor. 

@djones51 - I didn't know about that (optimize for audio).  Will Google!

I’ve got the bare minimum installed presently and I’ve done a number of the optimizations (after djones51 suggestions) and it’s still occurring. I’m beginning to suspect the unpowered USB hub that I have attached. Disconnecting and we’ll see.

EDIT:  Well, that wasn't it.   UGH. 

It's likely that the Windows 10 OS is causing the drop out.
Try a restart rather than Reinstall.
It happened on my PC and a restart did help.
With two Desktop PCs running Windows 10 the Media Player will not function properly on the older PC.
The Update to the New Edge Browser seems to have brought the OS back around again.

I found a program called LatencyMon.  Here's what it had to say:

CONCLUSION
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Your system appears to be having trouble handling real-time audio and other tasks. You are likely to experience buffer underruns appearing as drop outs, clicks or pops. One or more ISR routines that belong to a driver running in your system appear to be executing for too long. One problem may be related to power management, disable CPU throttling settings in Control Panel and BIOS setup. Check for BIOS updates.
LatencyMon has been analyzing your system for 0:01:29 (h:mm:ss) on all processors.

You might try these steps in the link.

https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/all/high-dpc-isr-latency/0bbe509a-54ac-4874-847d-7...

You should also try playing from the laptop without the speakers. 

Did a BIOS update and that has definitely helped. Still getting higher latency but not as bad. Going to try some of the other steps now.

EDIT:  Doing a search for "Windows 10 latency" yielded a lot of good results.  

Updated all drivers and disabled pretty much every piece of hardware I don't use (Wimax, Wifi, etc.).

Latency looks better in LatencyMon presently.  Fingers crossed.

You might give Fidelizer a try.
It can prioritize audio in Windows.
I use it and it seems to improve sound quality significantly.
Plus, the price is not prohibitive.
https://fidelizer-audio.com/

In fact, I would contact the designer,  

Keetakawee, and tell him what you are experiencing.

He might just know what to do.

Bob

Awesome. Thanks!

Talked Keetakawee and installed Fidelizer.  Unfortunately, it didn't work.  Also tried different USB cable. 

Instead of throwing the laptop out the window I did a clean install of Windows 8.  Maybe the laptop isn't happy with Win10.  

Still in the process of updating everything......

@OP,
This is getting pretty weird.
How are you getting internet?
I am beginning to think it might be your router or ISP.
Windows, for me, hasn't been a problem with streaming.
There might be a firewall/security protocol that is not allowing music to stream through.
Check Windows to make sure Tidal and Deezer are 'white listed'.
Check your router to make sure FTP allows music services.
If you are unsure how to make adjustments to your router, either Google or ask you ISP.

Bob

@gdnrbob - It occurred with local files also so I don't think it was network related.  

After the Win8 clean install, the problem stopped.  I still had high latency but no more dropouts.  I'm thinking that the old laptop just wasn't happy with Win10 (likely some I/O driver issue).  

I think I solved the problem: I bought a new laptop.  :-)  
Should have it in a few weeks.  

Thanks for all the suggestions everyone!

@OP, 
Yes, Win 10 can cause havoc on older PC/laptops. 
If I remember correctly, there was a local network issue that took almost a year to be corrected.
In any case, good luck with your new laptop.
B

Sounds like you've fixed your problems by going back to Win 8, but one more observation. I have Win 10 on a desktop which I occasionally use for recording and mixing with an older version of the Adobe Audition program. While the program ran fine on prior computers, it suffered some drop-outs and interruptions on the new PC with Win 10. The problem was fixed by going into settings and changing the priority to its highest level for Audition. Most programs don't really care if there is the odd pause here and there in  CPU processing as its tries to balance the various operating demands, but that doesn't work well for audio. Changing the priority settings fixed that for me.