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Ayre USB DAC


Hopstretch

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  • 3 weeks later...
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'stretch, my Stereophile just came today and I just read the article. I agree it's a generally good review, especially explaining the tech stuff without getting too complicated. However, I didn't get an idea of the sound signature of the damn thing from the review, which always annoys me. Also, the reviewer basically says, oh yeah and it sounds the same as the Bel Canto. I agree with you that it's a rave, but Stereophile just makes me go :palm:. Except when I see my NAD C372 on the recommended list--just like you said. ;)

Also, the DAC looks TEH SEXY TIME in black.

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I agree with you there, Dinny. He's all, like, "hi-rez is teh awesome, OMG my eyes are opened!" but doesn't really ever get down to a review of the sound like he would with any other "conventional" component. Most egregiously, he has the top-of-the-line Ayre disc player as his reference and can't be arsed to give us the obvious assessment of how the computer-based system compares to that. :palm:

I think it comes back to the fact that most of these old-line audio guys still find this sort of stuff a bit of a mind fuck and they don't really know where to slot it into their personal frame of reference. So its OK to compare two PC playback chains but we don't want to get into whether this is a good as a real hi-fi source.

Whatever, they made it an A+ recommended component, which ought to sell a few. ;)

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  • 4 weeks later...
Chris Connaker's review is out.

I think he cops out a bit by not really articulating the Alpha DAC/dCS comparisons, but I understand why.

Connaker's review is pretty good. But I agree that he should have expanded on the above, especially w/r/t the Alpha. That seems like a fair comparison. At least Connaker was able to get past the fact that this is (gasp!) a USB DAC--as one would expect given the context in which he is reviewing. Too many reviewers are reviewing it as a DAC that can't be compared to others that use more "traditional" digital inputs.

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