[music_man]

edit: i was wrong. the ess9018k2m does indeed have a programmable filter space. it is locked as the only filter on the codex which is their minimum phase. same as qx-5. it is not on an fpga but it is there which is all that matters to me. the clock is in fact an outboard chip. since the ess9018k2m does not run asynchronous. it is one crystal vs. two in the qx-5 and not from moran. less quality than the qx-5 but it is there. plus their entire host of innovative features. starting with the fully balanced zero feedback architecture. it beats most $5,000 dacs and comes pretty close to the dave but that is not surprising as i mentioned dave is very overpriced. it beats the directstream as i had stated. others agree. just read through head-fi. so, i am unlikely to find a better dac that is marginally larger. i guess i can rest assured that it will just have to do. it took hours to figure out this information but perhaps i am just stupid or inept at using google. so that's that. looks like the codex is staying put. with very good cables and associated equipment it sounds extremely good. i have no faults there. i figured i could get better and i could. for starters the qx-5. the only issue is i do not have room for it. so this shall suffice. not that is a slouch by any means. the prat,soundstage,placement,shimmer everything.... it is all there. better? sure but not in this size box. quite frankly i do not know how they did this. 
 
also, if i am looking at $9,000+++ dacs I do not want one with an off the shelf chip regardless of how it sounds. if i were ayre i would not have the big ess logo there. yes, it sounds amazing but you can do even better with in house production. hence the diamond dac v or vivaldi for instance. of course those are much more money than the qx-5 but $9,000 is not cheap either. the codex remains a great value. easily beating many $5,000+ dacs. I know i have done my share of bashing the qx-5 but do not need a $15 chip in a $9,000 dac regardless of how it sounds. plus justifying that i have no room for it but anyways for that sound quality i would be looking elsewhere personally. i do have the diamond dac v downstairs in the dedicated listening room. you can put the whole thing on an fpga at that price point as far as i am concerned. i do not want closed ended at this price. i do not state that the qx-5 does not sound good. contrary. it sounds great. so if that is what anyone wants i see no reason not to get one besides my personal hangups. ie, the entire dac on an fpga. meanwhile the codex is a serious contender since it can hang with $5,000+ dacs in many cases putting it pretty high up there. not one of the best dacs in the world but neither is the qx-5 imo. if you need the features great. otherwise the codex is a much bigger bargain.

 

[acap13]

I know $9000 isnt by any mean cheap for a dac. but assuming qx-5 is a DAC duty only is not true.even Ayre doesnt market them as so. It is actually a digital hub with i.e Dacs,pre out,headphone stage(including balanced). Unless it is only a dac without volume knob,i would just care-less. The only dac(without volume knob and headphone stage) Ayre manufactured is qb-9dsd for about $3500.

 

[acap13]

Almost everything are in house designed by Ayre(MP filter,ayrelink,zero feedback , discrete componenet, etc.) except for Dac chips(but who cares right) when the implementation does matter overall.

 

[music_man]

for that money I would rather see programmable for future upgrades. that's the only reason. otherwise the 9038pro is one heck of a good chip.
 
I also agree the qx-5 is a digital hub/preamp dac. Actually a good value quite frankly. I just need a dac and it must be very compact. I could fit dave sideways but honestly it is not so incredible for the price. the qx-5 is much better. this is not just me being a troll. many people feel dave can be beat by a lot of 2 grand dacs. the codex sounds different but not worse i would say. please let's not argue that though because plenty of people agree. if one of you does not you are certainly entitled to your opinion. so the qx-5 i would not be using half the features and it is too big physically for my shelf but i do admit it sounds awesome. it loks like the codex is the best there is in that form factor. i really do like it but better would always be welcome. just can't fit it.
 
edit you know what? i am not entirely sure there is a field programmable filter slot on the 9018. it can be loaded at the factory. as i said i would guess ayre did not order enough to get this service. so comes to mind they may be using a sharc dsp chip to store the filter, ayre lock and other goodies. that would make sense as that chip is very cheap. many $1,000 dacs use this approach. some offer selectable filters via a front oled screen. however none are probably better than ayres filter so they require but one. their clock is obviously a seperate chip but without getting to fancy that is also very cheap. unless they have programmed that on the sharc(if that is what they are using) as well. most likely that is it. think of it as a baby fpga. only baby in the regard it does not have nearly as much memory or processing power. it would not be needed in this application though as there is a 9018 present. in fact with the 9038 present i do not see why they would ned a fpga either. a fpga is to custom program the entire dac. many good dacs use off the shelf converters though and so does the qx-5. the sq lies not solely in the dac chip of course. i am just trying to guess what is in this without opening it.
anyways it sounds plenty good as i have said to my ears beating some $7,000 dacs. which some indecently are entirely fpga based. hugo,dave,direcstream. somehow they did it right at a good price to boot.

 

[alpha421]

Does anybody know if there's a external HDD stand/base that fits the thickness of the Codex?  If not, I'm thinking of 3D printing one, but not sure if it'll withstand the heat this little guy gives off.

 

[music_man]

the wd mybook? i am not sure about the heat though but codex on top maybe okay since heat rises.
 
so this is it. the codex is beating much more expensive dacs.even ones with full fpga. sure the qx-5 is better but i cannot fit it and will not use most of the features. to sound like a broken record. the point is if the codex can hang with things like directstream and dave quite frankly it is in good enough company. the qx-5 is much more than just a dac too. i am happy with it. i figured better was in store but until there is a better one in this form factor this is it for me. done. I also compared it to the mytek Manhattan v1 and feel the codex is still better. ayre really pulled it off.
 
i do apologize that i rambled on so much in this thread. if you own or are looking to buy a codex it is in fact a world class component. one thing i can tell you for sure is you will be hard pressed to do better under $6,000usd.

 

[BlackstoneJD]

Denial! You know you want a QX-5 Twenty Music Man. Stop trying to convince yourself otherwise. Get the dremel out and carve out some room! lol

 

[cygnusx]

Does the QX-5 come with a remote? Hang it down from the ceiling

 

[music_man]

yeah, no kidding guys,,,,,,

 

[music_man]

The price is alright. besides the fitment. I kind of wannted fpga for the high end dac. however ayre certainly does the ess right. so i don't know. obviously it is not the ess but the better electronics in the ax-5. you guys are right though i want the darn thing but nowhere reasonable to put it. to be honest though as i said and others agree..... the dave is a high end fpga dac and i would consider the codex it's peer. perhaps mytek manhattan ii in a smaller case has the 9038pro. doubt it is the ayre sound though. ayre is like a mechanic that tunes 50 more horsepower out of an engine with just a wrench. i am really stuch with the codex it looks like. no worries though it is a serious machine.
 
i was trying to figure out where their clock,filter and other goodies. i am now reasonably sure they are using something like a sharc. which is sort of a mini fpga but not for the decoder itself. neither does the ax5, as you all know it has the 9038 pro. however on the ax-5 i think the other stuff is stored on an fpga but again not a custom decoder. does not matter because just goes to show about dave. 16 grand and it has trouble beating 2 grand dacs. this has ben said by many others. so fpga is not everything. let ess build them because that is their forte. apparently many that attempt to program an fpga, it is not.
 
yes, i want the ax-5. i have no room for it. not sure what is that good in a box say 10"x14"x4" maximum. any ideas? of course i just need a plain dac. meanwhile the codex is no slouch at all. until the ax-5 came out my salesman thought it was the best dac period.

 

[music_man]

i think i figured this out. for the codex there is one programmable curve location so that is where ayre's is. the clock must be ess own regulator. however i do remember some mention of a crystal but not the double moran in the qx-5 of course. anyways, the codex sounds very good. hitting way higher than it's belt. beating some $7,000+ dacs. it will have to do for me. i just want to kick myself that my limitation is just space. i cannot block the speakers obviously. i am sorry i have made such a big deal out of this in public.
 
 
edit: well, screw it i got the qx-5 twenty. i put it up high on a shelf mounted to the wall. not ideal but at least i have it. the sound is sublime. it is better than the codex obviously. i stil maintain it is not quite as good as the diamond dac v but close.
 
another musing. ayre says correctly that the dac chip has little to do with a dacs sound it is the output circutry. therefore you would think the qb-9 dsd sounds much better than the codex. many people including myself fell the codex sounds better or equal at the least. i am really not sure what all is in the codex but it is certainly good. you do not need a lot of space to make a good dac. if you look at the inside of the dave it is a pretty small pcb. biggest part is the clock modual. the dcs stuff takes up much more real estate since each section is modular and in it's own case within the outer case. many other dacs are not very large but the codex has got to be the smallest one that is very good. i supose i will get around to opening it since there are no pictures on the internet which i find very odd. maybe too new since there are also no pictures of the innards of the qx-5 twenty but plenty of pics of the qb-9/dsd.
 
anyways the qx-5 twenty is obviously better than the codex and i am listening to it now but it needs a lot more break in.
 
the codex has issues with usb. probably the driver. if you turn off power to it as in a power loss you must unplug  the power and usb cables and reconnect. it also will sometimes lose signal plus the pops and clicks. i gather ayre did not really care about this product. being way below their average price point. it is a glorified pono imo. glad i have the qx-5 twenty which is what i expect from them. even though same drivers, no issues yet.

 

[austinpop]

Hey guys -
 
Have any of you tried the Sbooster Vbus2 or equivalent to suppress the 5V Vbus line to the Codex? It's supposed to add another layer of isolation for self-powered DACs.
 
I thought I read here that the Codex does not need the 5V input on the USB, but when I tried the Vbus2 in my setup, the Ayre was not recognized by the streamer upstream (Aries Mini).
 
So my guess is the Codex needs that 5V after all.

 

[austinpop]

  Hey guys -
 
Have any of you tried the Sbooster Vbus2 or equivalent to suppress the 5V Vbus line to the Codex? It's supposed to add another layer of isolation for self-powered DACs.
 
I thought I read here that the Codex does not need the 5V input on the USB, but when I tried the Vbus2 in my setup, the Ayre was not recognized by the streamer upstream (Aries Mini).
 
So my guess is the Codex needs that 5V after all.

 
Well, this is very interesting, and somewhat surprising to me. Alex conveyed the following, direct from the developers (this is paraphrased):

1. The Codex, unlike the QB9, does not self-power the USB side of the device. The Codex USB section is bus powered, so it will always draw current, which will be slightly sample rate dependent.
2. The max current draw they've measured is about 300mA.

 

[music_man]

so it is not isolated. Lies from ayre originally and thing is just a total waste of money imo.It sounds good for it's price but it is finicky and has issues. i do not think ayre really cares about it as it is just their cheapio way to get more sales from a different market segment. i would really not be surprised if they are jobbing this out to china. don't doubt it until you have proof otherwise. quite frankly the qx-5 twenty sucks too at it's price point. i am done with ayre. just very overpriced stuff. that is my opinion. i am not flaming or trolling just my personal feeling. i think there is much better than ayre and even for less money. People should not have had problems with this thing and originally alex said it was not bus powered. i do not trust the company and not keen on any of their products. have also sold the ax-5 twenty. price is a joke for that output level. i am done with them but if anyone else loves them that is great. we are all entitled to our own opinions. personally, they put a bad taste in my mouth. just way overpriced imo.

 

[MLGrado]

  so it is not isolated. Lies from ayre originally and thing is just a total waste of money imo.It sounds good for it's price but it is finicky and has issues. i do not think ayre really cares about it as it is just their cheapio way to get more sales from a different market segment. i would really not be surprised if they are jobbing this out to china. don't doubt it until you have proof otherwise. quite frankly the qx-5 twenty sucks too at it's price point. i am done with ayre. just very overpriced stuff. that is my opinion. i am not flaming or trolling just my personal feeling. i think there is much better than ayre and even for less money. People should not have had problems with this thing and originally alex said it was not bus powered. i do not trust the company and not keen on any of their products. have also sold the ax-5 twenty. price is a joke for that output level. i am done with them but if anyone else loves them that is great. we are all entitled to our own opinions. personally, they put a bad taste in my mouth. just way overpriced imo.

 
It is a funny thing how our emotions affect what we 'hear'.  
 
Were you not earlier spewing accolades over how great the Codex sounds, and how it sounds way better than its price point? Better than DAC's costing upwards of 7 grand?  And now it and the other Ayre products are all over-priced crap?  
 
I am confused here....