I too ordered one and am looking at upgrading server from my rebuilt Mac Mini. the more I think about things, I don't know if I need a high end server/streamer or if I should just get a NAS or a good hard drive. I'm trying to figure out the best SQ...I can't afford the Aurender W-20, but it's a great sounding server/streamer as is the Music Vault Diamond Ultra, but would the QX-5/Twenty sound just as good hooked up to a NAS or HD? If I had the QNAP 471 NAS, I could load up Roon Core and use it headless with an iPad just like any other server.

Blackstone, did you speak with Alex about this? I spoke with him about the Melco and he said that he likes that, but there are other options out there. I would hate to have to much redundancy and maybe I can save a lot of money and just get a top NAS set up or the Melco (although you can't use Roon with a Melco).

thoughts?

I'm going to try the QX-5 Twenty/NAS/ROON first and see how that sounds and works, then I will demo the Aurender in my system to see/hear the difference. In addition to flawless operation of accessing your music, I'm told the Aurender does improve the sound quality too. I was looking at the N10(?)... Just below the W20.

I recently had a chance to listen to this, and frankly I found ti hard to believe I was listening to a Red Book CD and not something higher resolution.

Excellent reproduction of voices, retains all directional cues and I suspect for anyone with no analog sources completely would obviate the need for a pre.

Bill, what did you listen to? With NAS running Roon and if so, which NAS and how was it hooked up? I spoke with Neal Von Berg about his Music Vault yesterday. I have a close friend who owns the top of the line MV and feels it's better than the W-20. I can see that honestly, as I have heard their older ones and liked them better than the Aurender at the time (right when Aurender was coming into this country). There are home made (by professionals) servers out there that also sound better than the W-20. I have LOVED the W-20 since day one and I've been fortunate to hear it in a few systems that are worthy.

I lean towards the Music Vault only because it's an all in one. The blue ray ripper is tied into dbpoweramp and rips bit perfectly in about 2minutes per disc. It can store the half dozen blue ray discs the wife would want so those will be gone from the room also. It has a very high end A/D converter built in so that I can record all the albums and then sell off the Basis TT, Rhea and albums to pay for the MV in the first place. It's all balanced and I can use the AES connection for a perfect hook up to the QX-5 and stay completely balanced throughout. Wire world builds a special balanced cable that has the 4 pin on the server side and the 3 pin on the Ayre side. It's their cast solid silver cable that sounds terrific. Cast silver to me, sounds the best by far and is never too hot, which I am very sensitive to.

I'm not 100% sold though. If I can get much better SQ from the Ayre and either the Melco NAS (can't run Roon) or a QNAP 471 NAS then I'll go that route for 4k less and I could use that 4k for college for the kids, LOL... So many questions.

Glad that I will get to see and hear it in person on the 30th at Audio Connections in Verona, NJ.

Bill, thanks for the answer in advance. Really appreciate it.

It was a vanilla RB CD being played from optical disc from a DX-5 DSD to the QX-5 Twenty.

My gut says if the QX-5 Twenty sounds that good with RB, it will sound incredible with other sources as well.

I was impressed enough that I'm thinking of the possibility of selling my Wadia S7i and using my Oppo BDP-105 as a transport for the QX-5 Twenty, but as always digital is such a personal thing that I can't say it would be right for you.

What I found most favorable was the sound was always detailed and pure but without any induced fatigue; I still recall listening to (admittedly, two decades ago) Theta DACS which resolved impressive detail but just made me too tired to listen to after a few minutes.

.

.

The first ones shipped to dealers yesterday. Audio Connection in Verona, NJ will have Alex from Ayre next Saturday for the Northeast premier. Anyone else going? If so, say hi to me, I'll be using my rollator to get around (walker with wheels). I have a separate thread on nearly any board about it as I love meeting guys I know from the boards.

As for what I'll do, I will NOT be using USB. Even though the usb was rebuilt on the Mac as well as the clock etc... I will be upgrading to make it easier to use the system headless and to get much much more hard drive space. Steve only installed about 300 plus GB of space. Since all I need is a hard drive to store all my stuff and a noise free ethernet connection for the Ayre, I'll figure out where I go and now I do it.

Are you saying the dealer demo units are shipping?

Yes, Blackstone, they shipped late last week I believe. That's why this Saturday will be so cool. Can't wait.