New review of the QX5 Twenty by Micheal Lavorgna
 

of Audiostream. Just a great guy and I feel he nailed the review. I didn't expect him to put it up against his own Total Dac dual, but he did and the QX5 was right there with it in the end. Enjoy the read:

Ayre Acoustics QX-5 Twenty Digital Hub | AudioStream

:tresbon::music::thumbsup::smoking:

Yep, great review though he didn't note the same harshness I did so perhaps I need to borrow my dealer's unit again to see if it has improved with another two months of break-in time.

Bill, I heard some harshness for the first few hundred hours. No all the time, but enough. Right now I'm playing some Jackson Browne cuts and listening to his sibilance and I'm not getting any of the harshness. Also just had Monk on and the piano just sounded correct. No harshness at all. I'd get the DAC back into the system and let it burn in for about 24 hours or so before listening. It needs warm up, just like the amps do. That's why these have the standby mode as it comes up to full speed in 30 minutes or so. Let's us know your thoughts.

New review of the QX5 Twenty by Micheal Lavorgna
 

It can be a little hard sounding if not broken in and warmed up. If you power down the unit it needs a few hours to get back up to speed.

I had a Threshold pre and they suggested it be given continuous power for one week before it was up to full speed!

If you didn't see my mini-review, I let it cook for a day before even listening to it and had it for most of a week:

My QX-5 Twenty mini-review

Saw the review. You are a much better written than I am, lol.

I enjoy Michael's writing and he's a great guy to communicate with.

Yes Michael is a great guy and the industry is better for him being in it.

Bill, I made a post on the other thread you have going on the site. It may just be your system, but you're still the only one I know who's either heard or own the QX5 that is hearing what you are hearing. Things are what they are sometimes, that's all.

I replied on the other post, it may be because virtually all my listening was with 16/44.1 Red Book CDs, not HD files and no streams at all.

Don't think that matters, my Ayre DX-5 sounds great with 16/44.1 or hires, the recording itself is more of an influence. (IMO)

But it is an easy choice, if you don't get the same system synergy with the QX-5 compared to the Wadia S7i, the Wadia should stay.

I won't sell my 381i either, as Wadia are not making any disc spinners anymore they will become classics :-)