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See Ayre QB-9 Twenty Upgrade Announcement

“Ayre QB-9 Twenty Upgrade” copied from an Ayre email announcement.

“The QB-9 was one of the most successful Ayre products ever. There are thousands of them out in the world, and to many owners, the QB-9 is still their favorite piece of audio gear. As part of our commitment to providing a lifetime of enjoyment from Ayre products, we are releasing an update for the QB-9 with the newest technology from the 8 series. The "Twenty" update for the QB-9 brings it back to the cutting edge of technology, giving QB-9 owners the excitement of discovering their music library all over again!

New QB-9 Twenty Features:  We have made a number of innovations since the release of the QB-9. Here is what has been improved with the Twenty update:

  • Diamond output circuit improves musicality and bass response.
  • A new JFET differential stage lowers the noise floor.
  • AyreLock power supply regulation for better rendering of fine musical detail.
  • New AC noise filtering for improved resolution.
  • Custom Ayre Asynchronous USB technology further reducing electrical noise in the system.
  • New ESS DAC chip for improved signal to noise ratio and spacial detail.
  • Six layer board design for optimal circuit isolation.
  • Proprietary reclocking to eliminate USB domain jitter.
  • PCM play back up to 384 kHz
  • Native DSD capability up to DSD256 (4x)
  • HDCD decoding

Retail Available QB-9 Twenty Upgrade. $1,500 August”.

This new Ayre QB-9 Twenty Upgrade looks very interesting. I wonder how it sounds.


hgeifman
hgeifman OP
2,110 posts
 
@vepitesk, I understand that spending $1,500 for the Ayre upgrade is expensive based on your purchase price. 

Please call Ayre, again, and ask them is them if they just repair the humming transformer. Of course, they want to sell you the upgrade but you only need them to repair your humming Ayre QB-9 DSD DAC. They should be able to make this repair. Please keep us posted.
beetlemania
834 posts
 
I have an a QB-9 that was the "second generation" (first generation only went to 24/96 files, mine could handle 24/192) and had it upgraded to "DSD". I don't hear any hum regardless of how close I get to the unit. I'm also running a stock NUC as a server. When I bought it, I intended to get a fanless case. But I can only hear the fan when I get close, not from the listening position even without any music playing. Could well be that I'm not as sensitive to extraneous noises compared to you?

I am in the queue for the Twenty upgrade. I've been really happy with the SQ improvements when Ayre releases upgrades.



vepiteski
9 posts
 
Thanks all for your comments. I am now quite sure that my humming transfo is defective. My issue is related to https://forum.audiogon.com/discussions/ayre-qb9-dsd-buzzThe guy from which I bought my unit had it upgraded to DSD capabilities, as in the above link.

Ayre themselves deny the issue ("...a QB-9 with your serial number has an internal transformer for Buss Power. And they do tend to hum a little...")
I will contact my local Authorized Dealer to have a check. My belief is that the hum is not "normal little hum" but rather a buzz as described in the above forum link.
In any case, thank you all for your comments that encourage me to have my unit serviced.
hgeifman OP
2,110 posts
 
@vepitesk, as you posted above, did you take your local Ayre QB-9 DSD DAC to your Ayre retailer to discuss the hum issue? They should be able to get this resolved. 

Please let us know what happened. Thanks.
vepiteski
9 posts
 
@hgeifman  My dealer does not offer to address my issue, but told me to contact Ayre directly.

In the mean time, I use a pillow cleverly positioned within my closed furniture shelf with total success to muffle the annoying hum. As everyone knows, a temporary workaround may well become a permanent solution especially so when really satisfactory!
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