Integrated Amp Reviews

You're spot on, unitygain. We've been in the digital game for a long time, so we're very aware of the need to be able to keep up. Over a decade ago, we released the QB-9 as a 16 bit, 96kHz-capable player. Even back then, we knew we would need to design products that can keep up with the changes in technology. We designed that product to have modules so that we could upgrade individual parts of the product as technology shifted without forcing those that own Ayre products to have to replace the entire unit. That's always been one of the core principles at Ayre; we're not about forcing people to throw away their system and replace it every few years. Since its inception, the QB-9 saw a 24 bit 192kHz upgrade, DSD-playback added (along with a very large analog upgrade), and a 384 kHz/2x DSD upgrade. And we're still not done.

The 8 series is no different. With separate modules for the digital section, the Ethernet section, the USB section, the audio sections, and even the volume control and head phones sections of the circuit, we can keep up with formats or introduce new technologies we discover with a simple board swap. That will help ensure the product is relevant years down the road. Those that own Ayre know what lengths we go to in order to keep anything we've made sounding its best. I can assure you that has not changed for us.

I'll refer you here:

https://www.diyaudio.com/forums/multi-way/204857-test-voltage-power-speakers.html

At first, I used a 50 MHz bandwidth oscilloscope - Tektronix, if it matters - in "peak hold" mode to see what the peak Voltages were. Of course, with music this is hard to translate directly to average power since the peak to average ratio isn't well defined as it is with a sine wave. But, the peaks really were not that high. I sampled over a five minute period or thereabouts.

Since the amplifier is capable of at least 200 watts average power, with 80 VDC complementary supply rails, I really don't think that there was much chance of clipping. The oscilloscope test confirmed that.

Beyond that, the DAC I was using at the time (Wavelength Audio Proton) was capable of about 1.1 Vrms maximum output:

https://www.stereophile.com/content/wavelength-audio-proton-usb-da-converter-measurements

If you want to take it further, with a sine wave that translates to about 3.1 Vp-p. Since the DAC chip in the Proton uses a 3.3 VDC supply Voltage, that's consistent. Much above that level and the DAC chip itself clips, as Mr. Atkinson found.

With a unity gain buffer "preamp" and the measured and calculated gain of the amplifier (18.3), that meant that the maximum output Voltage available from the amplifier was just about 20 Vrms. Or, if you want to use the peak value, that's about 56 Vp-p. I'm not sure that an amplifier with 80 VDC supply rails is clipping at 28 V peak levels. Possible but not likely.

That's with source material that is 0 dBfs. Lower is, well, lower.

In addition, in actual use, we never have the volume control to maximum. You'll just have to take me at my word about that.

So, that's a form of sanity check on the measurements. From the numbers, we'd be hitting 67 Watts into the 2Ci's (nominal 6 Ohm load impedance) if the source material was recorded/mastered at 0 dBfs and the volume control is at maximum. Which it never is.

In the end, I found the method linked to above was way easier to deal with. At a couple hundred Hertz, my Fluke 87-iii can pretty accurately read the RMS Voltage. Close enough, anyway.

That "careful" enough for you?

(Edited because the links weren't showing up as links.)

All of our products that have Ethernet already support Wi-Fi, so you're good to go on that front. We've tossed the idea of Bluetooth around a bit. Charley hated it, but he also hated Wi-Fi and conceded we needed a way to support it. We're looking at ways to implement Bluetooth that will not impact the rest of the unit negatively and makes it stand out from other Bluetooth offerings out there. Once we're happy with a solution, there's little reason for us not to begin implementing it.

True, yet similar feature-set to the Gold Note IS-1000 and Devialet Expert lines, which – however – also include network connections. Still, there are a lot of good reasons to have off board phono stages instead (lower noise, the ability to run and tube-roll a tube-based unit, the capacity to have balanced inputs for balanced tables, the capacity to run multiple arms, among others), and I've frankly never heard a built-in phono stage sound as good as a well-selected off board stage matched thoughtfully to one's table and cartridge.

I used off board stages with both of the above devices, for instance, and this was always a pleasurable improvement functionally and sonically. Ayre seems to account for this, and I look forward to hearing their upcoming standalone phono stage. This isn't to say the ML 5805 won't also be great, but it suits a different set of compromises and priorities. I hope someone like Hi-Fi Choice or Hi-Fi News runs a comparison feature including the Ayre, Levinson, Naim, Auralic, Cambridge, Gold Note, and other recent DAC-equipped integrateds, but – clearly – the best way is to try them and also closely consider the excellent measurements and reviews that Stereophile puts out.

Frankly, I wish John Atkinson wrote more about the ways that voices sound so good through the Ayre (smooth, sweet, fine-grained, silky?), discussed the actual quality rather than quantity of bass (leading edge dynamics, wetness, texture, decay, etc.), and compared it to equipment less vastly different in terms of configurability, space consumption, and pricing. II'll look forward to KM's assessment next month, though I wish the Ayre were reviewed with a view of other units that also stream and are in this price range to help listeners make informed decisions. (A recent Lavorgna shoot-out between all-in-one integrateds in Audiostream had few, if any, real comparables to the Ayre; Lyd & Bild compared it to the Gryphon Diablo 120 and McIntosh MA9000.)