[yage]

How is your Codex out of warranty? The manual states North America customers receive five years.

 

[music_man]

wow! oh perfect. i thought for some reason it was 90 days. that is very good news. thank you

 

[ToddRaymond]

They just prefer you fill out and send in the warranty card within the first 30 days, in order register with them. Judging by the wording used in the manual, this is mandatory for the full five years to be valid, but I suspect they'd be willing to work with you to sort all that out.

 

[music_man]

I did do that so i am cool. i do not think it is even broken. it must have encountered some glitch or errata under very specific circumstances i may never repeat. this. happens with almost any microprocessor intel always states in fine print there may be errata and they are not responsible for it. ever get a bsod or mac stops responding and have no idea why. on a chip with trillions of transistors a lot more common than on one with just mere thousands lol. or i could be completely wrong and it could be a bad xformer,capacitor,diiode...... i really don't think so though. if that is the case it will be completely out of whack within 30 days if the first issue was a day ago. those components i mentioned go down fast. the ess chip with a glitch i might have hit may never happen again to me. especially since it was a stream. well, i hope so. since even though they take care of you, you have to send it in. i have nothing else that will fit there. i did manage to get the codex to what i would say is reference quality but obviously i would put a better dac if i had room. this was just what the doctor ordered at just the right time. the size is perfect for my needs in my bedroom's sitting room. really all the real estate is consumed by a 72" tv. that was stupid of me. i like tv but i love audio. i wish i could put the qx-5 twenty here. i am not even using it right now. i am sure you all feel real sorry for me lol. well, the good news is the codex can really be something. i would say stereophile a+. it all boils down to the usb. for the 100th time their use of that board was a lousy choice. the noise and data go in there and pollute the whole dac. of course it is 30x the price of the codex to fix this top tier. i did not pay for most of it though. just engineering samples given to me by other engineers. some people mind clutter haha. well, the bottom line is if that does not repeat itself within 30 days i can assume the codex is not broken. just have to wait. the whole way that occurred i bet it was data in the ess chip. it was not upstream because i plugged right in the qx-5 twenty and fine. then plugged back codex and still locked up. then unpowered codex 20 sec and fine .
 
if any one wants to know the usb buffers,lps and cables i think i mentioned but happy to say. just realize if you have to buy it looking at 50 grand. if you can do that, i would say for sure just buy a better dac. i have no choice due to size limitations. i would rather the psu on an amp stand on the carpet with cats all over it than the dac. shaking a dac is not a good thing.
 
meanwhile, happy it recovered. thank you guys.

 

[music_man]

i was in a stores high end room today. like over 100 grand of stuf. the dac was a codex! it is most certainly great so long as you supply a clean signal. they did not have this issue because they were using a totl aurender. as for my codex i think that was a one time thing. hit the wrong data i guess. just like a pc gets a bsod for no known reason.
with super clean usb it is very close to the qx-5 twenty. yes, it has a beter chip and all around electronics but they come from the same house. to a lot of people $1,800 is not a cheap dac either. in reality it is but this thing is a little marvel if fed right.

 

[omchompchomp]

That's great to hear. I have a pono player and it sounds really sweet but didn't have enough power for some of my headphones balanced. I now have a Codex with over 500hrs and driving all my headphones balanced it sounds so musical.

 

[music_man]

there are two things about the codex. feed it clean usb and use it balanced. 500 hours is perfect. that is where mine saw no further improvement. the pono is also wonderful. i mean some players are much fancier looking now but cannot beat the sq. how they get that sq in something so small is beyond me and i am an engineer. ayre really knows how to design circuits. step into their full size equipment and the sky is the limit. still, the codex can be reference quality with the right usb signal and cables. you do not even have to go crazy with usb. you can just get an aurender. i know the aurender has a $10 smps but it seems to provide a usb signal like a pc with 5 components inbetween. i prefer using jriver. the screen on the aurender is just to small for me to navigate at my age. it is still a one box marvel so i have to hand it to them. i imagine other non pc music servers as well. getting a pc ready for serious audio is a pita. those that use it to play games are certainly not geting the best audio. fidelizer can fix some of that though.

 

[ToddRaymond]

  [...] silver is not better in my opinion. it just gives a brighter sound if you like that.

I'm curious as to your thoughts on the Audioquest Diamond USB cable you've been using, since its conductors are made using pure silver.

Also, been meaning to ask, which speakers are you using in your bedroom setup?  (The ones connected to your AX-5 Twenty.)  Thanks!

I've been contemplating my upgrade path, as funds slowly but surely take shape.  I currently have a V-1xe, and a local guy is selling his K-1xe w/ phono stage.  I haven't heard the newer '5' series stuff since the Twenty upgrade.  It will cost me considerably more cash (and take a couple extra years to come up with the money) to acquire a KX-5 and VX-5 (Twenty), versus going the former flagship route.

 

[cygnusx]

Go listen to the Twenty components.  Ayre Twenty components sound amazing.  If you have the funds, it will be worth it.  I finally got my AX-5 Twenty setup and it's simply amazing.  I haven't tried the AQ Diamond, but I'm using the AQ Coffee from an Aurender to the Ayre Codex and it sounds awesome.  I have no itch to change to the AQ Diamond, then again, I don't have a "dirty" USB problem like @music_man with his PC as the source.  

 

[music_man]

if you are using an aurender you don't really need the diamond. i really like the diamond usb cables. then aq jitterbug>regen powered by js2. i have odin speaker cables and anaconda vx power cords. it all evens out nicely between the copper and silver. if your system is very bright i would not use silver anything. if it is neutral i would mix copper and silver. if it is dark i would use silver speaker cables. plus i use isolation on all my components including floating turntable plinths on the speakers. i use acoustic treatment. the kind with the tall and short squares. the speakers are the sonus faber extrema 2. look on their site on the bottom right under products. under special editions. i have a old rel sub from the richard lord era. i feel the new rels made in china, company sold to investment firms 3 times are very lousy. the closest thing to the old rels is mj acoustics. real mosfet/jfet bipolar amps and pulp cones. none of that class d 1000 watt stuff. the system is completely bastardized by all being on a huge dresser but best i can do. speakers would sound 100% better properly placed on their stands. the stands are in the basement unfortunately. oh, i also have the rel blue cable. only good thing they make now lol. the ax-5 twenty is wonderful if you do not need much power. i especially like the volume control. however the best stereo is the one you can listen to now. not in three years. i understand i was very lucky to get this. i also understand many people have a budget. that is fine. a lot of the cables for one thing are engineering samples and not paid out of pocket.
 
as i keep saying, feed the codex clean usb and use good balanced cables it will be a refere\nce class device. as i witnessed in a stores high end room. i thought i was crazy to feel this way but apparently not. it is a serious machine if you treat it right. out of the box it is still hi-fi and by no means mid-fi. given that the gap narrowly closed to the qx-5 twenty even though it has a better dac chip and over all (more) and better electronics. it really is along the same lines with more features. if you relish those features it is the one for you. still, the codex properly fed and output is less money in many instances. on a budget i would recommend the iusb3.0 with their upgrade wallwart. in fact that wallwart to the js-2 is a small upgrade by uptones own admission. which is amazing considering the difference in componentry. 
 
one thing i want to say the speakers are very nice but i find the brake on the rear panel to be rather stupid. it works if for instance you put it too close to a wall but for best performance it should be on all the way. which makes me wonder why they added that on a speaker that is designed to be  a flagship. most people would properly position these. i do have them far enough from the wall to open it all the way at least. you see their measurements but in room in goes down to about 28hz -6db then the sub takes over down to 15hz -6db. their latest sub that can go that low is absolutely huge. another reason i prefer the rel's of yore or now mj acoustics.
 
one other thing. if you are investing in an ax-5 twenty make sure it can power your speakers. it is an outstanding amp but it's limatation is it's wattage. i would still choose quality over quanty but you will not be playing loud if you have inefficient, demanding speakers.

 

[latestyle]

If anyone is contemplating selling off his/her Codex, pls PM me 

 

[cygnusx]

Look on usaudiomart.com. I think I saw a few being sold.

 

[music_man]

i don't know who would sell one other than they need the money. 100% honest opinion you have to spend like 5 grand to get better. with high end usb and high end balanced cables maybe you have to spend like 15 grand. it is seriously that good. i can't compete it with the qx-5 twenty because that is much more than just a dac. plus a very big deal ethernet in. so i am by no means saying the codex is "as good". for sound quality you can get them close enough you would have to do a double blind.
until there is some real upgrade from any manufacturer it is staying here. interestingly i have chord dave a/b right now and vastly prefer the codex. that is biased though because i do not like the chord sound. even mcintosh,bryston,nad,benchmark,mytek etc i will take the codex. if someone is selling one to "upgrade" i would be interested what they feel is an upgrade. of course that can just be personal though. some may hate the codex. in fact i could see how someone might prefer the teac ud-503 which is also right here.

 

[latestyle]

Look on usaudiomart.com. I think I saw a few being sold.

Thanks! Alas, I JUST missed out on it, was sold for $1150 which is a great deal.

 

[latestyle]

Codex cognoscenti - any recommendations on balanced headphone cable solution to use the Codex with Sony Z1R? I'm going to try using this combo at my office, where I spend a vast (too vast) amount of time. Thanks!