Chord Dave or Ayre QX5 Twenty DAC???

rshad000, 
I bought the Dave over the Ayre and I am still happy I did. The Ayre is smooth and clean and you can listen for a long time with no fatigue. Excellent DAC for sure. I personally did not like the look of the Ayre and it just does not look as clean and classy as the rest of my equipment. The Dave gives you more of everything...more detail, bigger soundstage, often eerie vocals that I love. It is definitely more engaging. Still love my vinyl set up more, but when I listen to digital, the Dave is special & different than my other DAC's. Not better or worse than vinyl, different. My High Fidelity Reveal magnetic cables also seemed to take it to another level. I also preferred using the Aurender and Aurender App over Roon. Just seems to sound better. The Aurender works flawlessly. I was so tired of MacBook Pro and Amarra issues, especially with every update. 

Glad you are enjoying the Dave.  Now that I've upgraded my speakers to the Vandersteen Quatro CT (painted not the wood), I've noticed even more detail and dynamics from the QX5/20.  It's still not quite as dynamic as my old Empirical Audio OSDE/SE, but it's much more musical.  The bass on it is sick.  When I got it, I still had the Treo's and the bass was so much better than I had heard through the Treo's.  With the built in subs in the Quatro's, the Ayre is killer.  There was one passage of an orchestra (sorry, I have a lot of 24/192 music of all genre's so I just listen, but I don't know who I was listening to) that had tympani. I never heard it through the Treo's as it's really low.  It was there in spades (this is the second song I listened to that I heard tympani drums were I either never heard it or it was faint).  You could hear each drum and the tone and you could here each head stroke and the sound differences.  We were amazed at this.  I will be using that passage with other equipment when I try things out.  

I have heard the Brinkmann once and was very impressed.  I think that will also be in the discussion for folks.   It's funny as we all like totally different things.  I think the Dave sounds great as I've said and I'd own one if I didn't have what I have.  I wanted everything the Ayre put into it, but I love the look.  It's a perfect match for my AX5/20, lol.  I don't think the Dave is ugly by any means, but for me, I like the Ayre look better.  I know many who like the look of the Chord products better.  Glad that you listened and got what you liked best.  That's what it's all about. :)

@musicfx Any update on your impressions of the DAVE/ Aurender combo? How does DAVE DAC compare to DAC in the A10? thx

Scott, with the Dave DAC, you can listen to it for hours, wide soundstage, amazing often eerie vocals & detail. When I try the Aurender, I have to go back to the Dave. The Dave is great with all resolutions of music. You do not need MQA with it. I changed the power cable on my amp to a HF Reveal and the Aurender DAC sounds much much better. I have another DAC / music player (more musical, more analog, less analytical, less detail than the Dave) which is more expensive than the Dave by almost double and the Aurender sounds very similar to it in A/B comparisons when using Tidal at low to mid volume levels. The Dave and the Aurender work flawlessly together. 

Thanks for the update MusicFx. That's encouraging to hear. I already have the A10 but I know the DAC section could be improved upon. Juts curious as to why you sold your DAVE DAC (a comment you made in another thread)?