Chord Dave or Ayre QX5 Twenty DAC???


Down to two choices in DAC's, the Chord Dave or the Ayre QX-5 Twenty. Comes down to best sound or versatility and cost. Speakers are Wilson Audio Sasha's and amp is T+A 2500R. Love the versatility of the Ayre but the sound of the Chord Dave is phenomenal, not sure if the Ayre could compare. Not sure if the Chord would still sound as good without spending mass amounts on a power regenerator and power cable. 
musicfx
Edgy quality for the Ayre?  How many hours did it have on it?  The only time I've heard that word IRT the Ayre is when it didn't have about 500 hours on it. It does take that long to break in, but when it does, it's as musical as most any DAC regardless of cost.  

Not saying you didn't hear what you did as we all hear differently and like different devices, but you really caught me off guard when you used the word edgy.  

As I've said above, most DAC's are highly dependent on the quality of what they are fed (just like everything else, right).  I once was in an audition of a few DAC's and the music they were using was pop/rock and highly compressed.  Almost like AM radio, lol.  The tube gear we listened to made the music sound it's best as it rolled off a bit on the upper octaves, however when you put on well recorded music, it was the other DAC's that sounded best.  We also played with the cables and found that the overall best cables were the TotalDac cable and the AQ Diamond (we only used USB this day).  I have loved both of those cables in my system.  AQ being the most neutral of the two and the Totaldac is just a tad more open, but not quite as neutral in the mids where is gives a bit of a creamier texture.  It was cool going back and forth between the two.  

I realize that we don't all have perfect recordings, lol.  Things always depend on what you listen to and how you listen.  

The other major thing IRT digital and new DAC's is how will you set them up?  How will you feed them?  I have found that personally, I like the ethernet connection best.  I am slowly putting together an optical wire converter to network and feed my Ayre via it's ethernet connection.  I've heard it this way a few times and to my ears it had beaten every DAC I've had in the system that was USB only.  Many of us have or are doing this and feel the same way.  There are a few threads detailing these connections on Audiogon and other sites as well.  

I've never heard any DAC sound great when run without a true preamp.  Even at the lower price points, you really need a good preamp to get the most out of your components.  That's one of the few things IRT audio that most agree on.

The other thing is that most of the DAC's being discussed in this thread are outstanding and leaps and bounds better than anything we could get just a few years ago.  I assume that the DAC's will keep getting better and better as the newer chips become available.  

Concur.  The one word I would never use to describe the Ayre is edgy - it's super smooth.

It continues to amaze me how many people still think that the preamp is not the lynchpin of any good system - running direct will never be better than running a top flight preamp.  However, I wouldn't go so far as to say that that is the case even in lower end systems - there are many cases in which running direct is better than using a poor preamp assuming the DAC is properly designed for running direct.  I found my older Wadia to sound better direct except with top preamps - of course you had to keep it above 75 for the volume if running direct so as not to lose resolution.

Definitely on the high end, it's been a pleasant surprise how much improvement has occurred in the last couple of years.  It wasn't until my latest source setup that I finally became convinced that digital has *fully* arrived  - I'm good, period. 

i’ve owned the Trinity dac and still own the Lampizator Golden Gate, which i’ve recently had upgraded to the newest 512dsd dac, plus the superclocks and the newest RTRpcm dac. last November i had a chance to do an extended demo of the SGM server, which is a super hot-rodded HQ Player optimized server. this was a big step up over my CAPSv4 server. then a month ago i had the chance to compare the GG on the SGM to 2 other dacs in my system, the Nagra HD dac with the optional power supply and output transformers, and the new Aqua Formula RTR pcm dac.

loved the liquidity of the Nagra HD with the SGM, but the Aqua Formula ($14k USD list price) on the SGM was best in my system. the Formula is a space machine, very detailed, yet very mcro-dynamic and natural sounding with excellent timbre and textures.

for me the biggest issue is it reminds me of my vinyl in terms of texture and detail more than other digital i’ve had.

so I’ve purchased the SGM server and the Aqua Formula dac.

btw; I have a 30 tb NAS with about 15 terabytes of music, half dsd and half pcm. i use HQ Player in the SGM server to upsample all my dsd to 384 dxd on the Formula dac. i love what the SGM server and Formula do on dsd.

just thought i’d add this info as an additional data point.

Hello Mike,
Congratulations on getting the Aqua Formula DAC.  I had the opportunity to hear this DAC during an extended listening session last year and thought it was superb due primarily to its natural character.  I can appreciate your happiness with it. The best compliment I can bestow on an audio component is to say it just simply makes music.  Easier said than done,  the Formula did this. 
Charles