In Reply to: Ayre USB DAC posted by Bob Stern on January 29, 2009 at 01:30:40:
>> Charles, can you disclose at this time your expected release date and approximate price? <<
We are working hard to finish up all of the last minute details. It will look a bit different than the prototype we had at CES -- a bit lower and sleeker, with a larger "window" for the display. We are also trying out a new analog circuit just to see how that sounds compared to the prototype that had something similar to the CX-7e circuit.
I would say two more weeks to nail down everything. Then we drop the checkered flag to say "Go!" and it takes a minimum of eight more weeks after that to have the custom chassis made, get the empty PCB's made, stuff them, assemble the units, test them, burn them in, et cetera. So that would put us into early March before they are actually in the showrooms.
We usually don't know the price until about two weeks before we ship them. The biggest unknown is the labor cost to stuff the PCB's. That's why we're saying "under $2500".
Only a USB input. All other digital inputs are, unfortunately, broken. They unnecessarily add jitter (and expense). In this case we are building a single purpose, high performance machine that will be reasonably priced. It will be perhaps the best way to get the music out of your computer for under $10,000.
None of our equipment has a polarity switch. The only place where it makes sense is a preamp, because that is the only place that you can change all of your sources. Unfortunately, changing polarity in the analog domain without degrading the performance is extremely expensive. And the last time that I did a test, I played about a dozen different discs and they all sounded better with the correct absolute polarity. So I'm not personally a fan of the feature myself. Our goal is to build killer sounding stuff that is easy to use. Sit down, press "Play" and relax. YMMV. We can't be all things to all people.
Same thing with a volume control. If you want to save money, the volume control should be combined with the amp to make an integrated. Then you can add all the sources you want. A good volume control isn't cheap, and adding one to this product would probably drive the cost up 50%. We'll lose 10% of potential sales because some people want a single-source system, but that's better than losing 50% of potential sales because someone is paying through the nose for a killer volume control that they don't need.
Hope this helps.
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Follow Ups
- RE: Ayre USB DAC - Charles Hansen 15:55:13 01/29/09 (59)
- "CX-7e circuit"? - Jon L 10:42:53 01/30/09 (2)
- "CX-7e circuit" was in Prototype - proth@allenmatkins.com 11:38:45 01/30/09 (1)
- Bingo! [nt] - Charles Hansen 14:31:32 01/30/09 (0)
- RE: Ayre USB DAC - Question for Charles Hansen - romandoc 09:22:24 01/30/09 (6)
- RE: Ayre USB DAC - Question for Charles Hansen - Charles Hansen 14:27:07 01/30/09 (2)
- I think I'll keep my CX-7 - Rufipennis 19:42:55 01/30/09 (1)
- RE: I think I'll keep my CX-7 - Charles Hansen 19:51:47 01/30/09 (0)
- answer - Gordon Rankin 10:54:33 01/30/09 (2)
- RE: answer - xsparky 12:16:37 01/30/09 (1)
- Best bet is buy a mac - Gordon Rankin 14:04:54 01/30/09 (0)
- RE: Ayre USB DAC - Jack G 08:09:42 01/30/09 (35)
- Can't win 'em all - Charles Hansen 14:30:58 01/30/09 (34)
- RE: Can't win 'em all - barondla 18:56:59 01/30/09 (23)
- RE: Can't win 'em all - Charles Hansen 19:14:06 01/30/09 (22)
- RE: Can't win 'em all - panhead 19:36:12 01/30/09 (0)
- RE: Can't win 'em all - barondla 19:27:26 01/30/09 (19)
- You have idenitified a potentially desirable product - Charles Hansen 19:43:00 01/30/09 (18)
- Somebody is going to have to design it - Jack G 04:49:14 01/31/09 (17)
- Precisely... - Bar81 07:52:30 01/31/09 (1)
- RE: Precisely... - Todd Krieger 00:04:48 02/01/09 (0)
- PC audio IS mainstream audio. - rick_m 07:48:47 01/31/09 (14)
- RE: PC audio IS mainstream audio. - Charles Hansen 09:05:06 01/31/09 (13)
- RE: PC audio IS mainstream audio. - rick_m 10:37:25 01/31/09 (1)
- RE: PC audio IS mainstream audio. - Charles Hansen 11:31:41 01/31/09 (0)
- RE: PC audio IS mainstream audio. - Tony Lauck 10:16:22 01/31/09 (4)
- RE: PC audio IS mainstream audio. - Charles Hansen 11:12:55 01/31/09 (3)
- There are no quiet computers. - Al Sekela 10:33:18 02/01/09 (2)
- RE: There are no quiet computers in Al's world ;-) - AbeCollins 12:30:24 02/01/09 (1)
- All digital circuits produce RF noise. - Al Sekela 10:11:44 02/02/09 (0)
- I have to agree with rick_m - AbeCollins 09:43:53 01/31/09 (5)
- RE: You'll get yours. - Travis 10:21:04 01/31/09 (1)
- RE: You'll get yours. - AbeCollins 09:59:42 02/01/09 (0)
- CDP versus HD/server Decision Thoughts - hikejohn 10:13:14 01/31/09 (2)
- RE: CDP versus HD/server Decision Thoughts - AbeCollins 11:08:44 02/01/09 (1)
- RE: CDP versus HD/server Decision Thoughts - Travis 13:54:21 02/01/09 (0)
- I forgot to address I2S - Charles Hansen 19:26:18 01/30/09 (0)
- Not a problem - Jack G 16:50:58 01/30/09 (9)
- Just out of curiosity... - Charles Hansen 19:20:17 01/30/09 (8)
- Or a better SPDIF solution - Gordon Rankin 11:49:46 01/31/09 (1)
- Question on S/PDIF input - Charles Hansen 15:31:54 01/31/09 (0)
- RE: Question on S/PDIF input - Bob Welsh 14:25:11 11/09/09 (0)
- RE: Just out of curiosity... - Jack G 19:58:46 01/30/09 (3)
- Another dumb question - Charles Hansen 21:06:05 01/30/09 (2)
- ??????? - Jack G 04:27:31 01/31/09 (1)
- RE: ??????? - Charles Hansen 09:08:50 01/31/09 (0)
- RE: Just out of curiosity... - panhead 19:39:18 01/30/09 (1)
- That is the crux of the problem - Charles Hansen 19:49:26 01/30/09 (0)
- RE: Ayre USB DAC - Bar81 06:16:19 01/30/09 (1)
- RE: Ayre USB DAC - Charles Hansen 14:14:30 01/30/09 (0)
- RE: Ayre USB DAC - laznos 05:45:23 01/30/09 (5)
- Other computer audio transmission methods - Charles Hansen 14:12:21 01/30/09 (4)
- RE: Other computer audio transmission methods - xsparky 17:14:12 01/31/09 (1)
- RE: Other computer audio transmission methods - Charles Hansen 21:46:35 01/31/09 (0)
- RE: Other computer audio transmission methods - laznos 14:57:56 01/30/09 (1)
- RE: Other computer audio transmission methods - AbeCollins 12:08:15 02/01/09 (0)
- RE: Ayre USB DAC - hikejohn 18:42:19 01/29/09 (1)
- RE: Ayre USB DAC - Charles Hansen 14:07:48 01/30/09 (0)
- RE: Ayre USB DAC - hikejohn 18:40:19 01/29/09 (1)
- RE: Ayre USB DAC - Charles Hansen 13:45:37 01/30/09 (0)
- RE: Ayre USB DAC - Todd Krieger 18:37:18 01/29/09 (0)