[dac64]

you take a look of matrix Xsabre pro?

it has CNC aluminium case also.....

You didn't get what I meant! which is more important, the chassis or the electronics within?

Btw, if one looking to experience the full potential 1M tapes, chord dac is to buy!

 

[jwbrent]

Hans Beekhuyzen just reviewed the Pro-ject stream box S2 ultra on his YouTube channel, looks worth checking out as an option.

The Pro-ject looks interesting and is pretty much exactly what I need. I spoke to a dealer and Sumiko is shipping them in November with an $849 US retail. Pro-ject makes an LPS that aesthetically matches, but I’m not quite sure what the price is, perhaps around $200.

 

[agedbest]

You didn't get what I meant! which is more important, the chassis or the electronics within?

Btw, if one looking to experience the full potential 1M tapes, chord dac is to buy!

sorry, but i can't reply to your intentional thinking and you didn't write, i can reply to what you wrote only...

if you need 1M taps experience ....you can buy Dave just now
if you add the price of qutest+btw you not so far from a dave used price
with more future, and audio linear power inside it
there are alot on the market

if you like chord DAC, is the way to go

 

[Nik74]

@agedbest It's great that you have a DAC that you are excited about, it is such a wonderful feeling when that happens in our hobby.
A lot of us in this little corner feel similarly about the Qutest. It measures great and sounds superb !

I am wondering about two things though: have you actually ever auditioned the Qutest?
If not, in the context of this thread, your opinions about its performance are assumptions that even though you have every right to , don’t really add much to this discussion. To me at least, your post would be of relevance if a comparison between the two dacs was backed by sonic impressions.It is the sound and the music that matters most at the end of the day or so I d hope...
In the absence of your first hand impressions of the Qutest it is perhaps a bit out of place to insist about the Matrix DAC here, to my perception at least.
It might be more prolific and fun if you shared your enthusiasm about the x-sabre pro in its dedicated thread, there is at least one in this forum.

Enjoy the music

 

[AlexB73]

I don't understand why people without any technical knowledge and engineering education like to blame Qutest DAC for inbox power supply.
And they do it even without listening of this DAC!!!
Rob Watts have been designing DACs for decades. Even his old Deltec/DPA DAC are respected by audiophiles even today.
If he made decision to use this power supply with Qutest DAC it wasn't done by chance.
I bought MCRU linear power supply to my Chod 2qute DAC. It was a big mistake. It ruined well balanced sound of my 2qute.
As result I sold MCRU linear power on eBay for half of the price.

 

[VintageFlanker]

It measures great and sounds superb !

About that,

Unfortunately, the only Qutest measurements I saw were few days ago in both Hi-fi News and Hi-fi World November releases. Different methods, different numbers...
Is anybody may link or talk about Qutest "great" measurements, I would be grateful!

 

[Chop-Top]

if you need 1M taps experience ....you can buy Dave just now

@agedbest Check the Dave specs. Believe it has way lower than 1M Taps. More like 164k

 

[dac64]

sorry, but i can't reply to your intentional thinking and you didn't write, i can reply to what you wrote only...

if you need 1M taps experience ....you can buy Dave just now
if you add the price of qutest+btw you not so far from a dave used price
with more future, and audio linear power inside it
there are alot on the market

if you like chord DAC, is the way to go

Someone said under hugo tt 2 thread :

"It was something I was going to post recently, and was thinking that the M-Scaler has put Chord back on top. Meaning I really was not being vindictive to Chord. However I still worried about posting of the competitive DACs.

I was going to say something like this, a couple of weeks ago. Even the Hugo 2 and MScaler may outperform the two other DACS that are considered better than the DAVE. Especially when you consider price. Hugo 2 £1800, MScaler £4000.

Reviewed recently by What HiFi, the new Nagra HD DAC/MPS review Tested at £23600
https://www.whathifi.com/nagra/hd-dacmps/review

and secondly
dCS Rossini DAC/ Rossini Master Clockreview £22610
https://www.whathifi.com/dcs/rossini-dac-rossini-master-clock/review"

 

[agedbest]

@agedbest It's great that you have a DAC that you are excited about, it is such a wonderful feeling when that happens in our hobby.
A lot of us in this little corner feel similarly about the Qutest. It measures great and sounds superb !

I am wondering about two things though: have you actually ever auditioned the Qutest?
If not, in the context of this thread, your opinions about its performance are assumptions that even though you have every right to , don’t really add much to this discussion. To me at least, your post would be of relevance if a comparison between the two dacs was backed by sonic impressions.It is the sound and the music that matters most at the end of the day or so I d hope...
In the absence of your first hand impressions of the Qutest it is perhaps a bit out of place to insist about the Matrix DAC here, to my perception at least.
It might be more prolific and fun if you shared your enthusiasm about the x-sabre pro in its dedicated thread, there is at least one in this forum.

Enjoy the music

yes, i tried qutest before, and matrix about an hour later
i was not impressed with chord dac signature
and i prefered matrix ....expecially with DSD file or upsampling file
difference with PCM 16bit and 24bit file not so distinguish, but better over the full range, very detailed, clear sound, natural, dynamic, deep.
qutest defend themselves well on the high range, but less on the low range.
qutest remains a good dac but it would have been much better to provide it with a better power source. also the retailer thinking it would be better to spend some pounds over the power source and not in a luxury packing box.

last but not the least... it is more ecletic, with a good power amplifier, 7 digital filter, upgradable firmware, more input and output, and a solid remote.

when i tried qutest it was protected by a power conditioner....so in its best form....matrix nope.

 

[AlexB73]

I don't see any issue with Qutest base.
It is detailed, textured and deep enough.
But I have 15 inch base driver speakers. I don't need to bloating base by source or amplifier.
I listen classical music, jazz and a little old good rock.
I don't listen electric bass modern music.

 

[kovacs]

I own the Chord Qutest for a few months now, I have no issues with the bass either. It’s not an aspect of it’s sound signature that draws attention to itself but I never find it lacking, it always sounds natural and well balanced to me. I use a tube amp with standmounts and a dedicated REL subwoofer. The warm filter can definitely help with poor and bright recordings with little bass to give the sound more body and make it less fatiguing to your ears, but overall I find the Chord Qutest to be more forgiving with poor and harsh sounding recordings than my other DACs or players. I tend to leave it on the white ( neutral ) filter most of the time and never use any of the HF roll-off filters since my tube amp does that on it’s own anyway. I tried a dedicated power supply and it sounded way worse so I’m using the included one which sounds great, but it does look and feel very cheap. I’m sure a different power supply will change the sound, but you will need a pretty high end one for better sound it seems. The Qutest was one of my best buys ever, but it has also showed me flaws and problems in my system that I didn’t notice before. My system now sound better than ever and I can’t stop buying and listening music.

 

[gad1]

If a Qutest purchased in and used in the USA needs
a warranty repair are their Chord warranty facilities
in the US or does it have to be shipped to England?

thanks-

 

[jwbrent]

If a Qutest purchased in and used in the USA needs
a warranty repair are their Chord warranty facilities
in the US or does it have to be shipped to England?

thanks-

I believe a Chord product needing repair—warranty or not—ships back to the US distributor, and they ship it back to England. Your dealer should take care of this for you. I’ve never read about any repair center in the US. If anyone knows anything different, please respond.

The fortunate thing about the Qutest is there’s not much to go wrong within the warranty period, maybe ten years or so down the road, but nothing in the short term. Since the unit does not have a power switch and is meant to be left on 24/7, I could see the LEDs used for the balls and porthole burning out in the long term.

 

[nephilim32]

This is a pretty extreme post . I use the Qutest run through my Furman Linear AC Powerline conditioner with the stock PSU and it is dead silient. The only hiss or micrphonic noises I hear are due to my recordings themselves.
The Qutest is excellently built in every capacity.

When people are discussing ‘noise’ from power sources or power supplies or indeed generally with digital domain audio devices we are normally referring to RF noise. This does not produce hiss or microphonic noise etc, instead it tends to introduce a harshness or false sense of detail into the music.

Sure . I understand that . RF noise can occur in a variety of ways especially with improper shielding of caps and other circuit components . All I was saying is that the only anomalies I hear or (noise) are found in Music sources. However, you are right!

 

[nephilim32]

Sorry, you are using with powerline conditioner?!?!?
try it without your contiditioner....and then you can told us how it works..if you do not listen difference without , you're very lucky

Oh I already know . The power line conditioner makes a huge difference. I should have left that out of my point. Not fair, cause without it what you are saying may be true for most people depending on the quality of their electrical wiring coming out of the AC Wall wart . The building i live in was built in 1965 .i would estimate that there is about 10db of noise when you plug any piece of audio equipment to my wall warts .

Maybe I would suggest to people to try a quality linear power supply before buying a different PSU depending on your audio set up needs.