Doesn't hold a candle to it, then again as you noted they're not even close in price or feature set - so it's not exactly a fair comparison. As far as a USB only DAC goes, the Ayre right now doesn't have any tough competition - USB only is a pretty niche market at the moment thou.

I've spent a great deal of time auditioning DACs in the last several months and I keep coming back to the Alpha one. Feature wise it's unbeatable, even more so in the realm of being future-proof. I'm really curious as to what McIntosh will do with a DAC upgrade in the next year or so, but as of right now the Alpha is it. If you have a dealer near by and are in the market, you really should check one out.

Another interesting DAC with a great bang to buck ratio is the Neko D100. I am currently in a 30 day home trial and am impressed. It is very musical and has an extremely low noise floor, in the Sabre DAC league. I wrote a report.
Computer Audio Asylum - Neko D100 Dac vrs Lynx L22 - DBB - July 13, 2009 at 19:22:30

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David, a/k/a David10024

PC server - Lynx L22 card;Technics Sp10 w/ Grado Reference; Sony NV9100ES SACD; C712; MC402; D'Apolito designed speakers: Modified Super Aria Seas Milenium Tweeter, 2 Accuton ceramic mids, 2 Cabasse 8"woofers
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Since you've got a PC server as well, you might be interested in the Lavry DA11 - I use this for my headphone setup, and some some limited stereo conversion applications. I wrote a review of it here:
http://audioaficionado.org/headphone...11-review.html

They do a trial as well, so if you're not in a rush and want to see what else is out there I'd recommend giving it a try - even if you don't use the headphone amp it's a DAC unlike any other - given what you enjoyed in the Neko I think you might find the Lavry favorable.

Thanks for the link and the review, haven't heard of that unit before and it looks to use some solid design principles.

Stereophile has a review of the Ayre QB-9 USB DAC in the October issue. The review is positive but seems to conclude that it is on a par with the Bel Canto DAC 3. I have heard the Bel Canto in my system, but I thought the $700 Lynx L22 card was superior. Lately I have been using the Neko D100 dac which has improved upon the Lynx. If this kind of indirect reasoning is valid it seems the the Ayre, is spite of all the buzz, has some stiff competition.

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David, a/k/a David10024

PC server - Lynx L22 card;Technics Sp10 w/ Grado Reference; Sony NV9100ES SACD; C712; MC402; D'Apolito designed speakers: Modified Super Aria Seas Milenium Tweeter, 2 Accuton ceramic mids, 2 Cabasse 8"woofers
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I absolutely think that Ayre would do well if they released a XR type DAC with digital pre etc. In the same way I think they would do well if they realised a XR CD player with digital in and maybe digital pre out. There is enough variables in the market I believe for it to work with the pre amps they have , it has worked well for MAC and would really tap Wadia on the shoulder.

I have had the QB-9 in my system for almost a week. I haven't had much time to put hours on it but the listening I have been doing has me second guessing choosing the DAC over the 5xemp. It is way to early to make a judgement on the DAC but it is lacking mid bass and upper mid range. Seems like there are gaps between the bass and the midrange and the top end. I will give it some time before seriously judging the sound while hoping for the best.

I was having a glitch in my system which was causing it to sound very lean. I have corrected the issue and I have to say the QB-9 is very detailed and a pleasure to listen to now.

After 100+ hours and a lot more variety on my hard drive I can say that the QB-9 has lived up to my expectations. I am running it with windows XP and Foobar through my EVO 707 pre and EVO 400 mono's to 800D's. The QB-9 gives me everything I liked about having the c-5xe mp in my system and the convenience of having my whole music library on display at once. I forgot how much great music I had hidden away on all those cd's. Now all is needed is a larger selection of HiRes music.

I wish that Ayre would come out with a DAC that has more than just the USB input. It sounds like it does the job if you keep your files on a computer.

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AMP's: D'Agostino Momentum's
Pre Amp: Mcintosh C-1000 & C-1000P
Sources: McIntosh MCD-1100 & MS-300, Olive 4HD, SonoS, Pro-Ject 6 PerspeX
Speakers: MBL 111F
Cables: Transparent Ultra MM2 & Reference MM2 & Powerlink MM2x

The french review " Revue du Son et du Home Cinema" which is the reference in France for high end HiFi and HT just destroyed this unit in a comparative Dac test.
They tested the MBL power dac Gold 4, the CI Audio VDA-2 + VAC-1, the Benchmark Dac 1 HDR, the Cambridge Audio Dac Magic, the Music Hall Dac 25.2, The PS Audio Digital Link III, the 3D lab Dac Master MK2, and the Ayre QB_9 USB of course.
Usually they love Ayre electronics so I was a bit ( 20 bit ? ) surprised to read that thay found the Ayre had a problem and they recommend to Ayre to go back to work to make a better product !
They found it harsh, with an unprecise stereo image. A global lack of sonic coherence. Overall score was 3 on a 5 scale, which is very bad in this review.

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Jérôme

They have convinced themselves that man, the worst transgressor of all the species, is the crown of creation. All other creatures were created merely to provide him with food, pelts, to be tormented, exterminated. In relation to them, all people are Nazis; for the animals, it is an eternal Treblinka. Isaac Bashevis Singer