Chord Dave or Ayre QX5 Twenty DAC???

Tough decision, I really liked the Ayre QX5/20, the T+A DAC 8 DSD and the T+A MP 2000R MKll but decided to go with the Chord Dave and an Aurender A10. There are better DAC's but this is my max price range. I will buy in about 10 days unless I hear something else that will work as well. 

Congrats.  Enjoy - I expect that you will be very happy with that setup.

CStooner. Mike is da bomb. He has great stuff.

If you are near Sarasota, look him up and his superb demo room. Call first.

It was not my report. it was a Customer who flew in croos country to make up his own mind.

He brought his own cables and tried some of Mike’s. Tastes will vary, and so does system synergy. The test was done with blindfolds, so the gentleman and his wife picked what suited them best.

There is no "tube thing" to deal with with Lampizator as they last a very, very long time. Only tube loss I ever had was a pair of dead vintage tubes rated at 10% (sold for display, not for audio) and they lasted for nearly a year until one failed! This is not a tube amp that puts a huge load on tubes.

The point is taste and synergy matter and there is a lot of quality Dacs out there to choose from.

Here is some feedback from a recent Golden Atlantic buyer:

1. Any feedback to share?
   Haven’t heard the GA yet, though a pal of a pal will soon get one.

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1. arthurs

Sure! Tonally balanced but nice tight low end, lit from within very liquid sound in my system. Best DAC I’ve ever owned by a long shot.

The Aurender/Dave combo will sound and work great - guaranteed!  

Music, what type of music do you listen to most of the time?  Have you listened to the Dave and QX5 yet?  If not, you probably want to try and get both into your system.  I spoke with a few guys in the last couple of days about this thread.  A few own the QX5 and one oned the Dave, but switched to the QX5 for the better bass as well as the flexibility as a digital hub and for Roon end point which I don't think Dave is.

I don't think I could ever purchase a product worth more than a couple of thousand without getting it into my own system to audition first, lol.  Good luck.  Tons of great products to play with, that's for sure.  Happy for you no matter what you ultimately end up with.