Chord Dave or Ayre QX5 Twenty DAC???

i’ve owned the Trinity dac and still own the Lampizator Golden Gate, which i’ve recently had upgraded to the newest 512dsd dac, plus the superclocks and the newest RTRpcm dac. last November i had a chance to do an extended demo of the SGM server, which is a super hot-rodded HQ Player optimized server. this was a big step up over my CAPSv4 server. then a month ago i had the chance to compare the GG on the SGM to 2 other dacs in my system, the Nagra HD dac with the optional power supply and output transformers, and the new Aqua Formula RTR pcm dac.

loved the liquidity of the Nagra HD with the SGM, but the Aqua Formula ($14k USD list price) on the SGM was best in my system. the Formula is a space machine, very detailed, yet very mcro-dynamic and natural sounding with excellent timbre and textures.

for me the biggest issue is it reminds me of my vinyl in terms of texture and detail more than other digital i’ve had.

so I’ve purchased the SGM server and the Aqua Formula dac.

btw; I have a 30 tb NAS with about 15 terabytes of music, half dsd and half pcm. i use HQ Player in the SGM server to upsample all my dsd to 384 dxd on the Formula dac. i love what the SGM server and Formula do on dsd.

just thought i’d add this info as an additional data point.

thanks Charles. the Formula is very natural sounding I agree.

a question. the Aqua Formula has only been out for a short time. there is another Aqua dac which has tubes, the La Scala. the Formula is solid state.

are you sure it was the Aqua Formula and not the La Scala that you heard?

I've not heard the La Scala.

Charles,

google is our friend. :)

you are correct, sir. it was the Formula.

http//wellpleasedav.com/blog/2016/3/31/axpona

wardl, understand that my preference includes the SGM music server, i’ve not listened to the Aqua Formula without it. but; with the SGM for my particular system i prefer the Aqua Formula to my much loved fully updated (actually new) Lampizator Golden Gate. where the DHT GG brings wonderful rich and colorful highlighting to vocals and lots of music, it does not do space or texture like the Formula. it is not as low in noise. in my system i prefer the presentation of the Formula. it is more ’of a piece’ with my vinyl and my system’s full range solidity. and the Formula is very natural and has wonderful tone and body.

likely there are many systems and listeners which would prefer my Lampizator Golden Gate to the Formula. it's a system and taste matching question.

my guess is that the Formula with the SGM server would be equal to the MSB DAC V Diamond, but maybe not the Select II. and the reason is the SMG’s optimization of HQ Player which will allow the RTR pcm dac of the Formula to still do dsd at a very high level.

I owned the Trinity dac which I view as better than the MSB V. and I think the SGM + Formula is equal to the Trinity dac in my system.

I hope that helps.

ctsooner,

it seems you have your Mike’s mixed up.

i’m Mike Lavigne, live in the Seattle area, and i have the room in a barn listed here on Audiogon. I’m just a listener, not a dealer.

likely you have me confused with Mike Bovaird, of Audioshark and Suncoast Audio.

not sure if Mr. Bovaird has had a Trinity dac in his system, but he could have.

OTOH if you are ever in the neighborhood you are welcome to stop by for a listen......but i’m 3000 miles from Sarasota. :)