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LMR

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  1. Thanks, russtafarian, for the comprehensive review between the two. This is what I'm looking for. It seems Ayre is very good and I think, would be worth my trouble getting a demo unit to try in my system. It seems the magazine allowed too little time for the device to be fully broken in. I asked many people who own qb9 and qb9 DSD, and all reported that at least 300Hrs must be allowed for the device to bloom, and 500Hrs should be the mark where no further improvement can be expected from any further burn in. I talked with the dealer and think we may be able to arrange something and I can borrow a show unit (with a lot of hours on it) to try at home. If it sounds good in my setup I think I will get it and if I like qb9, there may be no need to audition Dac2 anymore. EDIT: beetlemania, I remember reading somewhere that you own the original qb9 and had it upgraded to qb9 dsd a while ago. I couldn't find that thread (and cant remember if it's even posted here), so can you please tell me how much better the dsd upgrade is, especially when playing non-dsd files?
  2. Thanks for your input. Let me clarify a bit more. - The unit tested by the magazine is the Ayre qb9 DSD version. When I referred to it, I just called it the qb9, so that may lead to confusion. - Though I’d love to, but I couldn’t try any dac at home, because here, there is no such thing as a loaner program, so the audition has to be done at the store. Too bad that in my area, it’s really difficult to find Ayre product and Ayre dealer in my area and surrounding area doesn’t have Benchmark and Mytek, so direct comparison is not possible. I can audition Ayre at Ayre’s dealer and Benchmark and Mytek at their dealer, but as you guys might already know, each of them always sounds good on its own. So without a direct comparison on the same system, I would have no idea how one fares against the others. - I want to believe that qb9 dsd is a good dac, since it was designed from ground up to work exclusively as a USB dac without any other unnecessary features, and judging from the sale price which is significantly higher than the other two who can do so much more, I want to believe that Ayre should have something good up its sleeves. Actually, I’m really not sure how much I can trust the magazine, since it said it let all units run for 200 hrs to burn them it, but based on Ayre’s manual from the website, the unit needs 100 – 500 hrs to fully burn in. I’m not sure if it is fair to judge qb9’s performance with a mere 200 hrs on it. This is why I posted the thread, because to experience it myself in my own system, I would have to buy it, and while a store is generous enough to refund within 7 days of purchase, it would be no way that I can have that 500 hrs burn in without 7 days, even I leave the unit operate for 24/7. Comments from you guys would be a good starting point for me. If any of you have any experience with qb9 dsd with these other dacs, please let me know if you agree with what the reviewer said.
  3. I'm looking for upgrading my digital source and now considering these 3 candidates: 1. Ayre qb9 dsd 2. Mytek stereo 192 dsd 3. Benchmark Dac2 Ayre is the most expensive and Mytek is the least. My main objective is to use it solely with a Mac mini but having those extra inputs and features, of course, doesn't hurt. My point is I don't know if Ayre is that much better comparing with Dac2 and, especially, Mytek, which is almost half its price and can do a lot more things. I just read a review of qb9 dsd in my local audiophile magazine (Korean magazine). The magazine pit almost all major DSD dacs against each other, including these 3 in my list, and based on the reviewer's opinion, Ayre fell short of delivering satisfactory sonic performance. The reviewer described Ayre as sounds dry, aggressive and lack of dimension and depth. Dac that gained most favorable score in term of sound quality is Benchmark Dac2. Mytek won best price VS performance award. Ayre ranked lowest with worst price VS performance score. They said Meridian Explorer, dac that's almost 1/10 its price, easily outperformed qb9 in 44 and 24 bit playback. To be more specific, the reviewer compared all units fairly by allowing them to run for 200 hours to ensure that all units are fully broken in (all units were fresh out of the box), and all units were placed on the same rack using the same interconnect, and playing the same song. To be frank, I was about to pull the trigger on the qb9, but after reading this review, I really need to reconsider it. So I want to hear what you guys think. Is Ayre that bad? I also searched this forum and found http://www.computeraudiophile.com/f6-dac-digital-analog-conversion/meridian-explorer-dac-par-ayre-qb9-15548/ many folks there agreed that qb9 is on-par with the Explorer! If we can conclude that qb9 dsd is not worth the money, which one do you think is a better dac, Mytek and Dac2?
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