Bill, I will try to address your concern on stage size etc.... I hope not to ruffle any feathers. AS most know, I've been an Ayre mark since I heard their great gear at two of my top dealers.
I've owned the AX7, 7e, AX5, AX5/20, QX5/20 and have had the phono stage in as well as the HF power conditioner at times. I have so many friends using Ayre gear as I help many pair down audio decisions for fun. I'm even getting many in the portable IEM community to take notice of the Codex for the desktop solution over the Chord Hugo 2, which has entrenched itself in that community. Ayre can't be everything to everyone. No one can.
I'm very active in digital, only because of the MS. I can't get up and change records anymore, so my Basis TT system with home made ultrasonic cleaner is gonzo!!!! Jim Davis is enjoying the heck out of it though.
....he's a good friend I know from the Vandersteen side of my audio passion right now. Sorry to digress
I'll focus on DAC's and servers. Servers are so very important. If you don't want to stream, you need a digital course adn servers are paramount. I own Steve Nugents (Empirical Audio) (Masterlu, please have me delete if this bothers anyone) former personal server. It's a heavily rebuilt Mac mini with a Paul Hynes LPS. Hand made silver connection cables etc... It's a sick sick unit. I also love the Aurender servers. Many like Lumin as well as the cast of others. Most of the servers have the same limitations though. Same thing with DAC's. it's the various type of jitter. I have a new server being built and yes, I'm having a brand new desgin of a quad DAC being built in to see if it will be world class as that's what I'm striving for now. The server being built to my ears, is the best I've heard. They have figured out a way to defrag the memory to cut jitter big time. They do many other jitter reducing steps to try adn eliminate the timing errors. That's what robs music of it's natural and flowing feel that analog gives you (if it's good analog
).
Without eliminating those things, the soundstage will never open up like it should and how it was probably recorded. Many factors, as we know, play into all of this.
Everyone has to compromise during design. I personally need accurate tone when listening or I don't love what I hear. I've hear or had in the house, the DCS stack, newest MBL stack, Trinity, LH Davinci mk2, TotalDac (finally), Brinkman as well as sooo many other's at all price ranges. They all have their sound signatures.
The QX5 does have a smaller soundstage than my last DAC, the Empirical Audio ODSE/SE. It's not even close, but I also feel the Ayre has more meat on the mid bones. Both are great adn I'd own them happily. What Ayre gives you is control. You have to pay for that as each connection is expensive and the headphone amp is also a big upgrade over the Codex and not cheap. We pay for it all. Teh built in streaming isn't cheap either and it sounds very good compared to my streaming using my server that Steve built. I don't love the interface, but I care more about the SQ, while others MUST have Roon. We all make choices that we can still love.
Yes, you can get a DAC that has a much larger stage or one that seems to give better bass or or that is more musical or one that has...... You will give up a lot of micro and macro detail, which to me, is where emotions lie. Teh Ayre is a very detailed DAC without giving up the music and great tone. Pace, timing and rhythm are also important and some of the DAC's costing much more will give you better, but for under 10k the QX5 is outstanding and still beats (to my ear) most of the others under 10k that I've heard (many).
Guys, sorry for the long rant and all. Going though a bit of an MS stretch with cognitive issues that are my norm, lol. Bear with me and feel free to ask questions for clarification. I hope I haven't down played anyone's equipment as I was just trying to say that everyone presents a bit differently and that you need to chose which compromises you can and will deal with. Pete