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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
gareneau
110 posts
 
Frankly, Beetlemania, I don’t hear a wow factor in your appraisal of the upgrade. I’m not intending to sound overly negative but for $1,500 I’d have thought there would be a more noticeable improvement. 
marktrav
24 posts
 
@beetlemania Thanks! I did find your post on Audiophilestyle as well as the back and forth with Ryan. I've been pretty happy with my DSD as it was very close to the sound of my VdH Frog. However, a new tweak to the table and the Frog has gotten through the 100-hour break-in and I was starting to notice the QB-9 not being as engaging as before, though it is still extremely good. I'm putting the Twenty on my list. (And no, I don't ever expect digital to sound as good as vinyl, especially in my system.)
jafant
18,824 posts
 
beetlemania

Thank You for the update. I will concur in that the Twenty Series is incredible to report the very least. Any difference or sonic improvement is not subtle.

Merry Christmas!
Post removed 
beetlemania
834 posts
 

@gareneau 

How long have you had your QB-9? I don’t see your posts talking about it. The Twenty is a new circuit and with different parts so I’m glad you can hear a difference.


I put the Twenty upgrade at “nice” rather than “wow”. I’m really happy with my system and the Twenty upgrade made a nice difference, snapping the sonic picture ever more into focus to use an analogy. It’s kinda the icing on the cake, bringing a refined sound all around. It was worth the coin to me even if my system is still short of the very best $ystem I’ve heard. At this point, my modified Thiels are my weak link. You can’t have everything at their price point and bass definition (passive radiator rather than sealed) and extension (8” woofer) can’t match $$$peakers even if otherwise very good (and my modded Thiels *do* pretty much match the best I’ve heard in terms of resolution and transparency).


@marktrav 

In my system, I thought the original QB-9 was close to vinyl if playing 24 bit files, in some ways better (bass and silent backgrounds), in some ways worse (relative loss of textures and midrange warmth). The DSD version playing 24 bit files pretty well matched the sonic strengths of vinyl while adding the tomb silent background of digital. I may or may not compare the Twenty version to my vinyl rig - I rarely play vinyl after I got the DSD version.


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