Chord Dave or Ayre QX5 Twenty DAC???

Lampizator Atlantic and the Modwright Sony HAP. Now that's a very interesting top tier product comparison for certain. You could not possibly go wrong with either of these.The Totaldac would be a worthy competitor.
Charles

Totaldac was brought up earlier and he said why pay that much when you can get the QX5/20 for so much less.  It's great to bring up used DAC's, however they are not always available and he stated that he wanted new.  Don't blame him a bit either. He also stated that Roon is very important to him, so he needs a DAC that will be a Roon endpoint, which the Ayre is.  Are the other DAC's folks are suggesting also Roon endpoints? I"m sure some are, just am not up on all the DAC's that are.

Just because we all like a component, he's asking for some specifics for his situation.  Lot's of great choices for sure.  Not sure if he wants to deal with the tube thing or not.  I also noticed that most of the friends I have or posters I've seen post on Lampizator or other tube DAC's talk about changing out the stock tubes or other ones.  Unless you are a tube roller, you probably don't want to bother going there, lol.  I"ve done my share over the years with CJ, Audio Research, Aesthetix, Jadis, Quicksilver, DIY preamp, Audible Illusions, Cary, Marantz, Counterpoint and a few others.  It was always a pain in the butt for me, lol.  I never fully got the enjoyment out of it that others seem to.  The only tube gear left is the Aestheix Rhea that I've decided to sell even though it just came back with a new, updated power section and tubes.  

I decided I like the Ayre so much, that I'm finally giving up the analog and will sell it all.  Like I posted earlier, I also LOVE the new Brinkman DAC too.  I will eventually get one in the house to A/B vs the Ayre.

I like comparisons, but with companies offering more than one DAC product, the comparison is a bit confusing. May I ask for some specifics? Like the model from said company in comparisons?

Ps audio top dac player is very good .
The Lampizator is very natural sounding,  and can get pricy depending on Vacuum tube choices. Your budget will determine .impossible to put any dac under 10k as  best way to many Sonic differences.

I had both the Chord Dave and Ayre Qx5-twenty for audition and I found the Dave to be the most pleasing through my Pass Labs Int60 /Magico S1MkII speakers.   I did test the Dave bypassing my Preamp and it had a big drop in SQ with thin bass so perhaps this is what the other poster heard.   The Ayre had a very edgy quality to it which I found detracting.
Now I just need to get the funds for the Dave.