Chord Electronics Qutest DAC - Official Thread
Jul 31, 2021 at 1:55 PM Post #5,566 of 7,006
I just received a Qutest and also, based on recommendations here I added a Curious USB cable. I'm trying to stream using Roon from a rasberry pi through USB to the Qutest. When I use the cable it came with all works well and Roon sees the endpoint just fine, but when I plug in the Curious cable it doesn't see it. The Curious cable works fine when I plug it into my MacBook Pro and qutest and roon sees that combo right away. Any thoughts on why this may happen?
 
Jul 31, 2021 at 3:14 PM Post #5,567 of 7,006
I have just received my Chord Qutest, it is replacing the RME ADI-2 DAC FS. It's my first external DAC, and I will be pairing it with the Diana Phi + Formula S & Powerman. Looking forward to enjoying my music over the weekend with the Qutest doing its thing :)

Ooh, I've also got one question. My XI Audio Formula S input sensitivity is rated at 1000mV, does this mean I should set the output of the Qutest to 1v instead of 2/3v?
Congratulations! If you are replacing your RME ADI-2 Dac than it's not your first external DAC. :scream: Maybe you mean you weren't using the RME with a separate AMP? I think a lot of us here use the RME as an external DAC. The built in amplifier is okay but certainly not at the level of most external amps.

I just received my Chord Qutest today as well. I am comparing it with my RME ADI-2 FS DAC and Multibit Gumby. It doesn't sound like either of them, that's for sure. I'll be interested to see how I like it over time. I'll be interested to hear how you like it after you get some time with it. I don't have any plans to get rid of my other DACs at this point as they are all quite different from one another.
 
Jul 31, 2021 at 3:21 PM Post #5,568 of 7,006
I just received a Qutest and also, based on recommendations here I added a Curious USB cable. I'm trying to stream using Roon from a rasberry pi through USB to the Qutest. When I use the cable it came with all works well and Roon sees the endpoint just fine, but when I plug in the Curious cable it doesn't see it. The Curious cable works fine when I plug it into my MacBook Pro and qutest and roon sees that combo right away. Any thoughts on why this may happen?
Congrats on getting the Qutest. That seems like a strange problem, have you tried rebooting the PI with everything connected first? I sometimes need a reboot a device to get Roon to see my endpoints, especially if I updated or restarted the core.
 
Jul 31, 2021 at 5:05 PM Post #5,569 of 7,006
I have two questions.

First of all, some time ago I got a heavily distorted sound from my setup. I suspect it came from the Qutest as I was trying out if a battery powered Qutest would sound better than the provided SMPS. So I switched power supply a couple of times. Does this sound familiar to anyone? Shutting everything off and on again and it was ok, but having experienced it a couple of times makes me think that something worse might occur in the near future.

Second question. My setup is now as following: iPad or Raspberry Pi -> Qutest -> Amp -> speakers or headphone. I want the absolute best power for my digital frontend so I’m playing with the thought of buying a NuPrime LPS that can power both the Qutest and the iPad or Raspi. Is that recommended? I know there’s already been said a lot about the use of LPS’s on this forum but I’m wondering if anyone has used any of these two-component serving powersupplies? I believe Silent Angel has one too in the same price category, also very nice looking device and at least gives the opportunity to switch the Qutest off somehow :).
 
Jul 31, 2021 at 7:22 PM Post #5,570 of 7,006
Congratulations! If you are replacing your RME ADI-2 Dac than it's not your first external DAC. :scream: Maybe you mean you weren't using the RME with a separate AMP? I think a lot of us here use the RME as an external DAC. The built in amplifier is okay but certainly not at the level of most external amps.

I just received my Chord Qutest today as well. I am comparing it with my RME ADI-2 FS DAC and Multibit Gumby. It doesn't sound like either of them, that's for sure. I'll be interested to see how I like it over time. I'll be interested to hear how you like it after you get some time with it. I don't have any plans to get rid of my other DACs at this point as they are all quite different from one another.
hahaha! yes that's what I meant, first time with a seperate amp :D
Congratulations to you too on acquiring the Qutest!
 
Aug 1, 2021 at 10:21 PM Post #5,571 of 7,006
I have just received my Chord Qutest, it is replacing the RME ADI-2 DAC FS. It's my first external DAC, and I will be pairing it with the Diana Phi + Formula S & Powerman. Looking forward to enjoying my music over the weekend with the Qutest doing its thing :)

Ooh, I've also got one question. My XI Audio Formula S input sensitivity is rated at 1000mV, does this mean I should set the output of the Qutest to 1v instead of 2/3v?
I hope you are keeping the RME ADI2 for a while, the Qutest is a different presentation, not necessarily a better dac, there really is room for both in my case.
 
Aug 2, 2021 at 6:33 AM Post #5,572 of 7,006
I hope you are keeping the RME ADI2 for a while, the Qutest is a different presentation, not necessarily a better dac, there really is room for both in my case.
I've sold the RME, and yeah I agree.. it's worth to keep both. However, I find the Qutest to synergize better with the Diana Phi.
 
Aug 2, 2021 at 3:34 PM Post #5,573 of 7,006
Ooh, I've also got one question. My XI Audio Formula S input sensitivity is rated at 1000mV, does this mean I should set the output of the Qutest to 1v instead of 2/3v?

Sagra is suppose to be the real pairing of Formula S. This DAC offer 1,4V at rca out and 4V with xlr out.

3V from qutest is totally fine.
 
Aug 7, 2021 at 3:07 PM Post #5,576 of 7,006
the UltraCap supplied wallwort is rubish... feed it with a decent power supply... noise spreads trough the ground plane... the alternating circuit that switches caps banks every few seconds must have a common ground linking both banks... so, we are talking about the power supply of the power supply...
 
Aug 10, 2021 at 6:22 AM Post #5,577 of 7,006
I'm thinking about exchanging my Hugo 2 for a Qutest, as I basically always use the Hugo 2 in desktop mode connected to an external amp. It's use as a portable device with Bluetooth is irrelevant to me. I also prefer the form factor of the Qutest.

Is there a general consensus on whether there's any kind of difference in timbre/tonality between Hugo 2 and Qutest? I know they use the same DAC, but I've read differing and conflicting reports about the tonal relationship between these units.
 
Aug 10, 2021 at 12:32 PM Post #5,578 of 7,006
I've seen a number of posts (both here and on the Hugo 2 thread) suggesting that Qutest ==> external amp beats Hugo 2 ==> external amp.

But I also see discussions regarding 'why?' Main theories appear to be 'different output stage' and 'better USB galvanic isolation'.

And since I never connect my H2 to USB (always S/PDIF or Optical), I don't care about USB. Which leads me to the question:

Is there a significant sound quality difference between H2 and Qutest when receiving optical or coax input?

TIA! (cross-posting to Hugo 2 thread as well)

(I guess this is just a slightly different version of @Nostoi 's question above -- sorry for the redundancy).
 
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Aug 10, 2021 at 3:58 PM Post #5,579 of 7,006
Can a Qutest kindly owner do me a little favour? Would you mind measuring the distance between the two feet on the bottom of the unit please, as seen below? Thank you kindly. :relaxed:

ChordQutestBottom_LI.jpg
 

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