Chord Electronics Qutest DAC - Official Thread

[Nik74]

But I have not heard the latest from dCS

I have heard the dCS top stack twice, once through Wilson Alexandria and once through Wilson Sasha speakers. It was quite an experience, both times I was left bewildered at the technical prowess of that presentation and at the fact that despite the wow factor, it didn’t feel like a musical experience, I was not moved or immersed emotionally yet I should have. Dave in all settings has managed to immerse and involve me in a musical event , even with music not to my taste. The one time I didn’t enjoy a Dave set up was through the KEF flagship recently. It could have been the sub optimal room or maybe I don’t like huge speaker set ups.

Enjoy your time in the tropics

 

[Zzt231gr]

I ll give it a go this eve after work
Not sure which output to use though
, 5v/2.1A or 5v/1A ...?

Waiting for your news!Is it pilot pro2?

2.1A for sure!

 

[Nik74]

Yes , it is the one that Rob Watts uses.

 

[GreenBow]

Bought Qutest today. Outstanding sound. I`m so excited to listen to my music at a new level.

@Rob Watts , sorry if it`s not the time this question asked. I assume it`s safe to leave Qutest on 24/7. But I`m using it with my laptop and frequently laptop is not on the table. Is it safe to just plug/unplug Qutest USB cable from a laptop without turning Qutest off? Should I turn it off before unplugging USB, or it would be ok just to change input to empty input? Or this doesn't matter at all?

Haha, how is day two? They are amazing aren't they. I have Hugo 2, which is effectively the same DAC as Qutest, bar the obvious. A year later and I still can not get over it. Heheh -

 

[Nik74]

@Zzt231gr I m powering the Qutest from the Pilot 2 right now. I ve listened to it with the stock ps for about an hour first and now for the last 20 mins I have switched to the Pilot 2. Sitting here wondering why I didn't do it all this time...Take what I ll say with a pinch of salt as this today could be a particularly good eve in terms of mains quality anyway. I find the sound of the Pilot quite different. It almost feels like I ve changed the driver tube on my amp! The mids are more present and holographic, more liquid and textured. I wanna say brighter but in a good way , there s no sibilance. I do wonder how it will sound in an SS set up though as for my voluptious sounding valve amplifiers some of the lower mids sound a bit more contained- which is not bad as that part of the spectrum had a bit extra ''padding''-. Initial impressions all these but I will experiement further.

 

[Ragnar-BY]

Haha, how is day two? They are amazing aren't they. I have Hugo 2, which is effectively the same DAC as Qutest, bar the obvious. A year later and I still can not get over it. Heheh -

Day two is even better Love this feeling, when you notice new details in old tracks. Qutest gave me a lot of those moments.

 

[dac64]

Anyone?

With the power add, rbcd format has slightly more decays, better separation between instructments. Quietest background too!

 

[dac64]

I m powering the Qutest from the Pilot 2 had a bit extra ''padding''-...

I stick to the stock power supply. Aĺl my gears are SS.

Btw, I have many dedicated lines, about seven.

 

[Christer]

I have heard the dCS top stack twice, once through Wilson Alexandria and once through Wilson Sasha speakers. It was quite an experience, both times I was left bewildered at the technical prowess of that presentation and at the fact that despite the wow factor, it didn’t feel like a musical experience, I was not moved or immersed emotionally yet I should have. Dave in all settings has managed to immerse and involve me in a musical event , even with music not to my taste. The one time I didn’t enjoy a Dave set up was through the KEF flagship recently. It could have been the sub optimal room or maybe I don’t like huge speaker set ups.

Enjoy your time in the tropics

Hello Nick74,
and thanks for your response.
Interesting obvservations.
Not having heard the latest dCS makes it impossible for me to say more.
But I do like huge speakers setups in suitably BIG rooms.

Just fresh out of this morning's Yoga Nidra in 16/44.1 quality I can say that I feel good.

And although it should not really have been part of my Yoga Nidra experience as such, I could not help thinking a couple of times, " wow the instructor's voice sounds very realistic and naturally warm as it did live when I learnt this from him".
Not the usual 16 bit digital hardness and artifacts,I have always been hearing before, but naturally warm.
And the same applies to most of the 16/44.1 music albums I can now listen to with much more satisfaction than before.
One very clear step closer to the real thing imo.
"To m-scale or not to m-scale" is not really a question for me any longer. Es muss sein.
Cheers Controversial Christer

 

[maxh22]

Hello Nick74,
and thanks for your response.
Interesting obvservations.
Not having heard the latest dCS makes it impossible for me to say more.
But I do like huge speakers setups in suitably BIG rooms.

Just fresh out of this morning's Yoga Nidra in 16/44.1 quality I can say that I feel good.

And although it should not really have been part of my Yoga Nidra experience as such, I could not help thinking a couple of times, " wow the instructor's voice sounds very realistic and naturally warm as it did live when I learnt this from him".
Not the usual 16 bit digital hardness and artifacts,I have always been hearing before, but naturally warm.
And the same applies to most of the 16/44.1 music albums I can now listen to with much more satisfaction than before.
One very clear step closer to the real thing imo.
"To m-scale or not to m-scale" is not really a question for me any longer. Es muss sein.
Cheers Controversial Christer

So Christer, do you feel the Qutest M Scaled now equals or exceeds the musicality of Vinyl that you were accustomed to before?

 

[tgipier]

I been debating on going for a qutest or waiting for a bit longer so I can snipe a good deal on a DAVE. It really comes out how well the DAVE looks and how absolutely everyone loves it and thinks it literally the best dac on the market. Kinda debating on Qutest plus HMS vs DAVE right now. Ofcourse... DAVE with HMS is true end game.

 

[Zzt231gr]

@Zzt231gr I m powering the Qutest from the Pilot 2 right now. I ve listened to it with the stock ps for about an hour first and now for the last 20 mins I have switched to the Pilot 2. Sitting here wondering why I didn't do it all this time...Take what I ll say with a pinch of salt as this today could be a particularly good eve in terms of mains quality anyway. I find the sound of the Pilot quite different. It almost feels like I ve changed the driver tube on my amp! The mids are more present and holographic, more liquid and textured. I wanna say brighter but in a good way , there s no sibilance. I do wonder how it will sound in an SS set up though as for my voluptious sounding valve amplifiers some of the lower mids sound a bit more contained- which is not bad as that part of the spectrum had a bit extra ''padding''-. Initial impressions all these but I will experiement further.

So,it is not the fatiguing brightness,right?Sounds more natural?

I stick to the stock power supply.

The reason?

 

[Nik74]

So,it is not the fatiguing brightness,right?Sounds more natural?

I am very sensitive to brightness and can safely say not fatiguing. I stayed up listening to music later than I should cause I enjoying it so much. A lot of classical sounded more natural and vivid to my ears. After 4 hours I switched off only cause I had to sleep.

Conversely on Tuesday night I switched from optical to usb to hear some 24/96 hi res stuff from Qobuz - because my chrome cast suffers drop outs with hi res from Qobuz which is very annoying - and I couldn’t handle the sound! It was exactly that fatiguing brightness that adds detail but irritated me within 10 mins. So much that I opted for streaming at 16/44 to use the optical connection. Mentioning this to give you en example of how much I avoid brightness.

Back to the Pilot , I ll need to experiment more but as a first encounter I think it was a great buy

 

[Zzt231gr]

I am very sensitive to brightness and can safely say not fatiguing. I stayed up listening to music later than I should cause I enjoying it so much. A lot of classical sounded more natural and vivid to my ears. After 4 hours I switched off only cause I had to sleep.

Conversely on Tuesday night I switched from optical to usb to hear some 24/96 hi res stuff from Qobuz - because my chrome cast suffers drop outs with hi res from Qobuz which is very annoying - and I couldn’t handle the sound! It was exactly that fatiguing brightness that adds detail but irritated me within 10 mins. So much that I opted for streaming at 16/44 to use the optical connection. Mentioning this to give you en example of how much I avoid brightness.

Back to the Pilot , I ll need to experiment more but as a first encounter I think it was a great buy

I am eagerly waiting for more news!Can you power Qutest while charging?Duration time?

 

[Nik74]

Another thing to note is that in the time I used it for the charge went from 98% to 89%, not bad for nearly 4 hours