Chord Dave or Ayre QX5 Twenty DAC???

Glad you are enjoying the Dave.  Now that I've upgraded my speakers to the Vandersteen Quatro CT (painted not the wood), I've noticed even more detail and dynamics from the QX5/20.  It's still not quite as dynamic as my old Empirical Audio OSDE/SE, but it's much more musical.  The bass on it is sick.  When I got it, I still had the Treo's and the bass was so much better than I had heard through the Treo's.  With the built in subs in the Quatro's, the Ayre is killer.  There was one passage of an orchestra (sorry, I have a lot of 24/192 music of all genre's so I just listen, but I don't know who I was listening to) that had tympani. I never heard it through the Treo's as it's really low.  It was there in spades (this is the second song I listened to that I heard tympani drums were I either never heard it or it was faint).  You could hear each drum and the tone and you could here each head stroke and the sound differences.  We were amazed at this.  I will be using that passage with other equipment when I try things out.  

I have heard the Brinkmann once and was very impressed.  I think that will also be in the discussion for folks.   It's funny as we all like totally different things.  I think the Dave sounds great as I've said and I'd own one if I didn't have what I have.  I wanted everything the Ayre put into it, but I love the look.  It's a perfect match for my AX5/20, lol.  I don't think the Dave is ugly by any means, but for me, I like the Ayre look better.  I know many who like the look of the Chord products better.  Glad that you listened and got what you liked best.  That's what it's all about. :)

@musicfx Any update on your impressions of the DAVE/ Aurender combo? How does DAVE DAC compare to DAC in the A10? thx

Scott, with the Dave DAC, you can listen to it for hours, wide soundstage, amazing often eerie vocals & detail. When I try the Aurender, I have to go back to the Dave. The Dave is great with all resolutions of music. You do not need MQA with it. I changed the power cable on my amp to a HF Reveal and the Aurender DAC sounds much much better. I have another DAC / music player (more musical, more analog, less analytical, less detail than the Dave) which is more expensive than the Dave by almost double and the Aurender sounds very similar to it in A/B comparisons when using Tidal at low to mid volume levels. The Dave and the Aurender work flawlessly together. 

Thanks for the update MusicFx. That's encouraging to hear. I already have the A10 but I know the DAC section could be improved upon. Juts curious as to why you sold your DAVE DAC (a comment you made in another thread)? 

Scott, I tried a T+A PDP 3000 CD/DAC in my system. SACD’s and CD’s NEVER sounded better. It was alive, crazy, you would forget to breathe when listening to it. It was the sound I wanted. I had problems with using the Aurender with it. I had to power the Aurender down and restart it for the PDP 3000 to recognize it. It worked well with my MacBookPro. After it was gone, I missed that sound. I then changed the DAVE & my CD transport for T+A’s newest music player, the MP 3100hv to match my T+A amp. CD’s, especially SACD’s sound great, but not as great as the PDP 3000, but much better than my previous set up.  The MP 3100 works well with the Aurender. With MQA on the Aurender the sound is very similar to the MP3100 with slightly less dynamics.  There was a huge difference with the DAVE & I always switched back to the DAVE. DAVE sounded great with every level of resolution. The MP 3100hv has more dynamics, better bass & is more analog sounding than the DAVE. The DAVE has a bigger soundstage, has more detail, is clearer and has a darker background. Also, the Aurender iPad app is superior to T+A’s. I am  very happy with my system now, however, I miss the big soundstage, massive detail and more than anything, the almost eerie like vocals of the DAVE (& the great headphone amp on the DAVE). My T+A amp has a headphone amp but the DAVE’s is FAR superior. If I had to do it all over again, I would of kept the DAVE, changed the Aurender to the N10 and tried some different cables.