[Audio_Empire]

I just had an opportunity to compare, in my own system, several current
USB DACs. One was the new DragonFly by Audioquest, the next was the Ayre
Acoustics QB-9 and the third was the PS Audio PerfectWave II.

Anybody who thinks that DACs all sound the same, is either deluding
himself (or herself) or simply can't hear. I realize that there have
been a number of fairly high-profile "studies" performed whereby the
results of ABX tests show "conclusively" that all DACs sound alike. But
using the same computer to feed all three DACs from the computer's USB
ports (all three are Asynchronous USB using the same TI USB receiver
chip) and carefully matching levels, I have found that they all sound
different, and while all are good, the Ayre QB-9, even though it's only
24/96 KHz (as is the DragonFly) is head and shoulders above the other
two. The DragonFly is an excellent product, but the Ayre simply has more
"there" there. For the first time, I was able to notice that on a jazz
album that I have had in vinyl form, CD, and SACD and now via a 24/96
download from HDTRacks, and have been listening to (in one form or
another) for probably close to 30 years, the pianist is playing a
Fender-Rhodes electric piano (or something very similar) and not the
Brazilian "tinpanola" that I always assumed he was playing. I couldn't
tell the difference with with the vinyl record, the CD or the SACD and
couldn't tell it from any of the DACs i've had on hand until I played
the 24/96 FLAC file through the Ayre Acoustics QB-9. Now I can hear
quite readily and easily that the piano is a mechanical-electric one!

I have heard other differences too that are either glossed over by
lesser DACs or not audible on vinyl. Clearly the Ayre Acoustics QB-9 is
the best DAC this audiophile has ever heard.

Quite a revelation for me.

Audio_Empire