Interesting to read of people's experience in getting the QB-9 upgraded. My dealer Tom Unger at Gifted Listener Audio in Centreville, VA told me back in late 2013 to wait a while before having my unit sent in due to the backlog that existed at the time. I gave my QB-9 to Tom to ship it into Ayre last September finally and the unit came back in less than a month.
The upgrade to the chipset plus DSD status was a noticeable improvement. I also at the same time upgraded the DAC card in my Classe CP-800, which I did myself (took about a half hour to do it with care). I've enjoyed comparing the two DACs since then. I would give the Ayre a slight edge overall in musicality. The CP-800 has to do a lot of other things in addition to converting digital to analog, so this is understandable.
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Primary System (Always in flux):
Analog Source: Rega RP10
Phono Preamp: Bryston BP2/PS3
Digital Software: Roon, Tidal Streaming
Digital Music Server: Melco N1A/2
Digital Sources: Totaldac d1-twelve SE MkII (factory upgraded from MKI) with "live power" 4 output power supply, Oppo UDP-205
Preamplifier: Rogue Audio RP-9 (factory upgraded from RP-7)
Amplifier: Vandersteen M5-HPA
Speakers: Vandersteen Quatro Wood CT w/IsoAcoustics Gaia 1 feet
Cabling: WW Platinum Starlight 7 digital wires, Totaldac Gigafilter USB filter, AQ Sky XLR, AQ Fire RCA
Speaker Cables: AudioQuest Oak spades ---> bi-wire spades
Power Cables: Esprit PC (for DAC), 2 WW Platinum Electra PC (Preamp/Phono Preamp), AQ NRG10 (Melco N1A/2), AQ Blizzard (Quatro Wood CT built-in subs)
Power Conditioning: 2 AQ Niagara 1000, 3 Oyaide R1 outlets
Sound Treatments: 23 ASC Tube Traps and 10 Panels
Last edited by ylee; 05-08-2016 at 02:38 AM.
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