I've been mostly an Ayre guy, all my electronics is Ayre and I've been using the Ayre Codex for the last 1 1/2 and it has been a great ride. Unable to spend money for the Ayre QX5/20 and getting the itch for something new, I ended up buying a DAC from a Chinese company called Denafrips. Granted, I blindly bought their top line DAC the "Terminator", what a nice surprise, the sound quality is exceptional. It easily beats the Codex and in my opinion it's sounds even better than the QX5 for pcm files. If I was in the market for a new DAC, I would definitely put one of the Denafrips DACs in the running. Btw, I'm keeping the Codex has a headphone DAC/amp. Lots of good choices out there. Buy what sound good to you. Good luck!
