astarock

My personal conclusion with amarra and qb-9 = nothing. For reference sake, here is my setup; Shunyata Hydra 8 + python power cable Macmini(no ssd yet) with drobo gen.2 connected through firewire Bis audio USB cable to Ayre qb-9(2 days loan) Shunyata Altair IC to Rotel pre-amp to Rotel 2-ch power amp Shunyata Andromeda Speaker cables to Vienna acoustics Beethoven concert grand speakers After listening to amarra mini with this setup, with one of my friend, i can honestly say i did not hear a difference when i toggle on and off. And before that, i tried the same setup with a Devilsound DAC and same thing happens when i tried amarra, on or off = no difference. The only time that amarra served me his when i tried bypassing my pre-amp so the dac was directry connected the the power-amp. Since the Dac can't served as a pre-amp, the only solution is then amarra. It's sounded way better, imaging and dynamics, but then, it's hard to tell if that came from amarra or the fact that i eleminated one device from the equation. As for Jay's question about with usb port sounded best on the macmini, don't know with gen. macmini you got, but in my case, last gen(DDR3 memory), tried the 5 of them and, again with the help of my friend, pinpointed the ones the sounded better. Seen from the back of the mac mini, it's the 3 last(skip the 2 from the left) that gived the best sound.

Hi to all! It's been a while that i'v been reading on this forum for my quest of bulding my music server. What a great place to find answer and great people. But now i'm on a dilemma cause i'm fixed on 2 great dac and although i have listened only to one of them, i have a big question mark on the other. Prensently i have at home a last generation Macmini connected to a Devilsound dac, borrow it from my friend(Thanks if you reading this!), and it's been great so far. Much better than when i had my Macmini connected to my Rotel home theater receiver via Toslink. Recently, i had the chance to try the QB-9 from AYRE Acoustic and all i have to say is WOW!! To all respect the devilsound deserve for it's price, it is no match for the AYRE. It was allready burn-in and i connected it with an OK USB cable from BIS, not the best but far better than generic ones. the sound was more laid back, relax, and huge soundstage. By then my mind was fixed on the QB-9. I allready known from reading here that the Berkeley Alpha DAC was one of the best for computer music configuration but hated the faq that i was lacking usb input. But then some days ago, i'v read somewere that someone prefered the Berkeley DAC to the Ayre with his Macmini connected with guess what, a toslink optical cable. Now don't get me wrong here, your not supposed to believe everything that is being told on the internet but i still wonder if this is possible? People around here will surely tell me that price wise with my Macmini, the AYRE wins hand down, but money here is no object. Personaly, Firewire is dead, and for now i think USB is not my cup of tea since it does not support 24/192, as for today. The nex DAC that i'll get gonna be at least a 10 year purchase. So in the mean time if someone had the chance to hear the berkely from the optical input, i would greatly apreciate his experience. Thanks!