Ayre Acoustics QX-5 Twenty – The Digital Hub

Or sell DSD DACs after his entertaining anti-DSD rant....[emoji14]

Shall we wager the QX-5 will be PCM only? I bet $0.02.

It's kind of surprising that a company such as Ayre would launch a product and say a major part of that product is a chip they've never heard.

The secret words in the Ayre press release are "" Ayre is proud to partner with ESS Technologies". You would be surprised what partnerships can accomplish with the sharing of design data and even working post production models.

Or sell DSD DACs after his entertaining anti-DSD rant....[emoji14]

But Ayre does sell DACs with DSD. Three Ayre DACs with DSD according to the DSD Database.

http://nativedsd.com/database

A little more info regarding the collaboration btw ESS and Ayre here.

But Ayre does sell DACs with DSD. Three Ayre DACs with DSD according to the DSD Database.

http://nativedsd.com/database

My point exactly, after this:

http://www.computeraudiophile.com/f6-dac-digital-analog-conversion/another-example-why-i-hate-direct-stream-digital-and-why-customers-who-bought-sonys-boloney-are-so-annoying-17112/index5.html

My point exactly, after this:

 

http://www.computeraudiophile.com/f6-dac-digital-analog-conversion/another-example-why-i-hate-direct-stream-digital-and-why-customers-who-bought-sonys-boloney-are-so-annoying-17112/index5.html

Ayre DACs use ESS DAC chips, which are totally capable of DSD playback without any special considerations, so of course they allow for DSD playback, as the market demands it.

This does not have anything to do with Charlie Hansen's disdain for DSD in general.

There are a lot of things to dislike about the path digital audio has taken in the marketplace. I consider the fact that we have to have two different base frequencies, requiring two different clock frequencies abhorrent, for example. And the wars between DSD/DVDA, and Sony's subsequent mind blowingly poor marketing of SACD and desire for strong copy protection are just some examples of such. The history of music distribution and recording formats is not one which serves audiophiles/music lovers.

It's kind of surprising that a company such as Ayre would launch a product and say a major part of that product is a chip they've never heard.

Hi barrows,

My only point in bringing the DSD rant up, was to to respond to why would the above quote be surprising. They are in the business of making money.

Hi barrows,

 

My only point in bringing the DSD rant up, was to to respond to why would the above quote be surprising. They are in the business of making money.

I have met Charlie Hansen a few times, and have known some of the other folks over at Ayre, and I can assure you that their first concern is making excellent products, and that making money is their second concern. They are one of the good guys of the audio industry.

The ESS 9038 is a refinement of the 9018, using the same basic architecture for the modulator, so it is very reasonable to assume the sound quality will be very similar. Since Ayre already uses the other ESS chips, it seems reasonable to me for them to go ahead and spec ESS' new flagship chip in their DAC. I know, as an ESS 9018 user myself, I am confident that the 9038 will be at least as good sounding, if not better than previous ESS chips.

Hi barrows,

 

My only point in bringing the DSD rant up, was to to respond to why would the above quote be surprising. They are in the business of making money.

Good products make money in the long run. Ayre is a blue chip company that's been around the block a few times.

I was surprised Ayre would announce a product using a chip not in its hands for testing. Perhaps Ayre got the chip early.

Or maybe was even brought in during the chip design for input.

Or maybe was even brought in during the chip design for input.

I very much doubt it. Ayre does not use much of the capabilities of the ESS chips, as they prefer to run their own oversampling and filters in an FPGA, bypassing the complete front end section of the ESS DAC chip, and the also run the ESS chip synchronously, bypassing ESS' "jitter eliminator" feature. One of the new capabilities of the new 9038 is that it has more onboard filter options, but Ayre will not be using any of those. If Ayre was helping design a DAC chip for their use, they would likely eliminate 3/4 of the "features" which ESS build into its chips, and the chip would just include the second stage oversampling and Delta Sigma Modulator.

I very much doubt it.

Nevertheless, the press release from ESS points to a collaboration like tranz suggests, at least that's the way I read it:

“ESS always improves on previous products and the ESS SABRE ES9038PRO breaks all the old benchmarks – both qualitatively and quantitatively. It has unmatched technical specifications and more importantly the sound is spectacular,” said Dan Christman, Chief Marketing Officer of ESS Technology. “It was natural for us to collaborate with Ayre, a company revered by both audiophiles and musicians for superb audio quality. The Ayre QX-5 Twenty extends the audiophile excellence that ESS and Ayre have built together over the past decade.”

Not that it matters that much - I'm just looking forward to hearing it!

I wish for an HDMI input so I could connect an Apple TV.

My "digital hub" is the Bryston BDA-3, which does have HDMI inputs and an output. I have an Oppo BluRay, AppleTV3 and cable box on this. The DAC handles all the audio in my room, passing video to the TV.

Just talked to Ayre here at the Munich show. The company has had a "beta" version of the ESS chip for a little while.

Also, this new DAC will be RoonReady and is quite a step up from the QB-9. This looks to be a real winner, at least on paper and based on my lengthy conversation with them today.

Just talked to Ayre here at the Munich show. The company has had a "beta" version of the ESS chip for a little while.

 

Also, this new DAC will be RoonReady and is quite a step up from the QB-9. This looks to be a real winner, at least on paper and based on my lengthy conversation with them today.

Thanks for the update. Were you able to confirm the price or when they start shipping? Also, did they have a live demo? Any comments regarding SQ?

Thanks for the update. Were you able to confirm the price or when they start shipping? Also, did they have a live demo? Any comments regarding SQ?

Price is $89xx I believe. Will ship in June. Static demo at this show, so no listening.

To clarify the $ 8950 I mentioned earlier: my information came directly from Ayre

Cheers

Just talked to Ayre here at the Munich show. The company has had a "beta" version of the ESS chip for a little while.

 

Also, this new DAC will be RoonReady and is quite a step up from the QB-9. This looks to be a real winner, at least on paper and based on my lengthy conversation with them today.

Any format specs? DSD128 limit like the Codex?

Just talked to Ayre here at the Munich show. The company has had a "beta" version of the ESS chip for a little while.

 

Also, this new DAC will be RoonReady and is quite a step up from the QB-9. This looks to be a real winner, at least on paper and based on my lengthy conversation with them today.

Thanks Chris! I suspect this DAC will be a winner for those in this price range.

And the wars between DSD/DVDA, and Sony's subsequent mind blowingly poor marketing of SACD and desire for strong copy protection are just some examples of such.

Actually the desire for strong copy protection was common to all of the record labels, not just Sony Music. Who could forget the audible watermarks added to the DVD Audio discs from Warner Music? And Universal Music's comments that they were most interested in the Single Layer SACD format due to its copy protection.

Interesting times indeed.

Any format specs? DSD128 limit like the Codex?

Yes, that is the question. Features? Specs?

I'd like to know about the QX-5's Ethernet input. Did they license a module from someone? Is it just DLNA?

I'd like to know about the QX-5's Ethernet input. Did they license a module from someone? Is it just DLNA?

Converse digital.

Converse digital.

Thanks Chris.

Well the Conversdigital module is DLNA, limited to 24/192 (and AirPlay to 44.1), so no new ground broken on that front. Still, nice that they worked it in. I know Charlie really wanted to be sure that their new DACs had at least some Ethernet connectivity.

Hope you are enjoying Munich. Wish I could have made it there this year.

--Alex C.

Thanks Chris.

 

Well the Conversdigital module is DLNA, limited to 24/192 (and AirPlay to 44.1), so no new ground broken on that front. Still, nice that they worked it in. I know Charlie really wanted to be sure that their new DACs had at least some Ethernet connectivity.

 

Hope you are enjoying Munich. Wish I could have made it there this year.

--Alex C.

It will be RoonReady very soon as well.

Munich is a trip. Best audio show in the world.