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RE: John Atkinson's review of the Ayre QX-5 Twenty

Posted by Charles Hansen on September 2, 2017 at 22:27:53:
>> I was using Roon on a Mac
mini that was first connected to the QX-5 via USB, then sending the same
data over the network. <<

Hi John,

There is an interesting point to these comparisons - try as we might, we still haven't figured out how to make the DAC completely invulnerable to to quality of the source device. In this case you were comparing the USB with a Mac Mini against an Ethernet connection. The Ethernet connection also has a computer - in this case it is a small ARM processor running a stripped-down version of Linux with special Ayre- designedclocks and power supplies.

In the system at the Ayre factory the USB input using a Melco server sounds better than the Ethernet input - but in that case the modem is at least 200' away and the network has about 20 computers and servers with a lot of traffic and old CAT 5 wiring.

The best way to get a handle on how good your computer set is working is to compare it to a CD/SACD transport (preferably with a linear power supply). The QX-5 Twenty has a patent-pending asynchronous S/PDIF circuit that completely eliminates the jitter S/PDIF always generates. If you unplug all of your computer equipment - and don't forget the Wi-Fi router - (including the AC mains power so that the switching power supplies are not dumping garbage onto the AC mains), you can get a baseline level of performance, preferably using a Toslink input as then any RFI from the transport can't get into the input. With a linear power supply (and turning off the transport's display, if possible) you will be hearing the digital audio data without any computer generated noise whatsoever.

Then you can see how close your computer setup approaches the relatively RFI-free S/PDIF connection. (You may remember when John Bicht was importing the MicroMega CD players from France and he would run around your house and unplug all of the things with a microprocessor built in - digital clocks, computers and so forth. Nowadays they are in your microwave oven, your dishwasher, your refigerator, your sprinkler timer, your garage-door opener, and on and on and on and on.)

Hope this helps,
Charles Hansen