Ayre SPDIF DAC

I heard the DX-5 at RMAF. The Ayre rep said that the DX-5 should beat the QB-9 due to an improved output stage.

it's also supposed to run $8K-$10K (pricing yet to be finalized)...Soundstage's reporting on RMAF singled it out as a product to watch out for...here is the link to their commentary: http://www.soundstagenetwork.com/avtour2009/rmaf_ss01.html

Interesting. Ayre has openly loathed spdif in the past. Probably just seeing all the sales opportunities they are missing. In any event, maybe they will now start offering a spdif input on their cdp's going forward.

Umm, where has it been announced that Ayre now has a spdif DAC? The QB-9 is, clearly, USB only and the newly announced DX-5 also has USB only input (per the Soundstage blurb). Reading the other forums, it's obvious that Charles Hansen thinks Gordon Rankin's asynchronous USB is "best" way to go.

The Ayre DAC that was in Stereophile was the USB DAC. The machine on the link Cmalak provided is for the new bluray/universal player. I heard that Ayre was coming out with a dac with spdif input-just like the new usb dac just w/o usb and w/spdif. Heard it was +/-$3,000US and employed the new digital upgrade. I haven't found any other info. Thanks for everyones inputs.