Ayre Codex - to keep or not to keep

Wow, you did it right!  Congrats!

As you requested, I am keeping my Bricasti M1 SE DAC in my main audio system and keeping the Ayre Codex DAC for my 2-chanel home theatre system.

Last week, at my retailer, I heard the Ayre QX-5 Twenty DAC running direct to a power amp and then an Ayre AX-5 twenty integrated Amp. My retailer highly recommends the use of a pre-amp. Bricasti people believe that going direct to a power amp sounds better. The demo used Wilson speakers ($$$) and I have Sonus Faber Olympica II speakers. To be honest, the Ayre QX-5 Twenty DAC sounds very good but I do not know if it is that much better than my Bricasti. My system sounds excellent. How much better can it sound and do I really need to spend the money?   The Ayre QX-5 Twenty DAC is an excellent choice but I am okay with the Bricasti M1 SE DAC.

I tested my Prism Sound Callia DAC ($2,595) in my main audio system and it was okay but the Bricasti was much better as it should be because of its high price. My Bricasti has bass, warmth and presence that the Callia did not have. Bricasti feels that the removal of a pre-amp makes the sound more natural. We decided to remove the R141 (circuit) from my Hypex NCore NC400 bridged mono blocks, thus lowering gain by 14 dB, requiring 14 dB higher M1 volume setting for same playback level. The sound quality result depends on the equipment used, the listening room and your experiences. And, yes, I know that everyone has a different opinion on this topic because of the many variables.

The Callia DAC was replaced with the Ayre Codex DAC in my 2-channel home theatre system. The Codex is still breaking in so I cannot comment but it sounds very good and getting better. This is an amazing small box that is an outstanding DAC. The Codex DAC sounded very good in my main audio system and I was very impressed. However, the Bricasti had more feeling and should sound better based on its higher price.

Visiting an audio retailer is very dangerous, especially for me, and they like to show off their audio toys. After I heard the Ayre QX-5 Twenty DAC, I returned home and listened to my system. It sounds terrific and I have decided to make no changes. The Ayre Codex DAC is an outstanding piece of equipment and compares very favorable to pieces costing much more.  

So, as was requested above by nycjlee, I highly recommend the Ayre Codex DAC.

I can't get mine to play audio with Blu Rays.  Any suggestions?

Are using an Oppo player as a transport to play the blu ray? Please tell us more about the components your using the inputs and outputs. 

The Ayre Codex was one of the more problem ridden audio products I ever brought. I purchased my new unit (a 230-volt unit in my country) in February this year from the authorized distributor of Ayre in my country. Shortly thereafter I found that it has serious issue hooking up to my RHA MA750 in-ear-monitor. It was as if the sound coming from the unit was disjointed and covered with a serious noise or haze. I emailed Ayre but never got a reply. That said, the unit works perfectly with my two other full sized headphones, so I dismissed the issue as an isolated incidence just not working with a particular phone.

Two months later, the unit just goes away on its own and failed to be power on. I took it back to the authorized distributor and they did the repair. However, when I took back the unit, I found the volume knob which incidentally was designed to select input sources, etc., failed to response when dialed. So, I took it back to the authorized distributor the second time for another repair. Everything seems fine again afterwards.

The unit has another power on failure three months thereafter, so for yet another time I took it back to the authorized distributor for repair. This time round, I inquired the technician doing the repair work of the reasons for the past failures and his repair work carried out, but he was not willing to release further information other than that the previous failures were due to some internal components being dislodged. This time round of repair, he did some additional soldering work to reinforce the unit for proof against future failure.

I have not dropped the unit, opened the unit nor inflicted any damage which I could discern. My old Rotel amp brought when I first began my audio journey have served me for 20 years without failure before I sold the unit. So, my best guess is somehow I got myself a Codex unit with some sub-standard soldering work. The unit does seem to work faultlessly after the third repair. However, the sequence of failures has caused me to have lost confidence, and likely I will put up an auction for sale at a low starting price in the near future.

I choose the Ayre Codex in the first place partly because I listen to headphones and it has balanced headphone out. Had I given the opportunity to choose again with hindsight, I would have gone for one of the PS audio unit, possibly the now discontinued PS audio NuWave DSD or the newer Stellar DAC. To these untrained years, the PS units have more upfront presentation but share the tonality akin to the Ayre Codex. The PS units may be a little less resolving than the Ayre Codex but seems to have better corporeality to its imaging, and comes with a cheaper price tag too.