Chord Electronics Qutest DAC - Official Thread

[Sound Eq]

They are definitely 50 Ohm connectors. Even Chord MScaler uses 50 Ohm BNC connectors. So if I had Chord DAC and Mscaler, I would make sure I use 50 Ohm BNC cables with 50 Ohm connectors, not 75 Ohm cables, between them to avoid signal reflections.

75vs50Ohm by drjlo2, on Flickr

ChordQutestBack by drjlo2, on Flickr


MscalerBack by drjlo2, on Flickr

why is chord so silent in this thread, why can they not simply just answer such question, 50ohm or 75ohm, this frustrates me, I feel there is no interaction here at all from chord opposite other threads , as I was going to move to BNC now I have to guess what it is.

anyhow, I am a bit a newbie in connections, so how can `i connect my macbook pro to qutest using BNC and what is a good BNC cable that will not cost an arm and a leg

in addition i would like to know why there are 1v, 2v and 3v modes on qutest, at least explain why such options are available and what choosing any mode would do to sound , all i get is answers and speculations why does chord @Rob Watts not chime in and explain to us the marvel of this miracle mystery device, I paid big money for this and expect to at least get straight answers, otherwise I could have chosen a cheaper company from whom I do not expect any support or answers

manuals do not mention anything, so am I supposed to start a guessing game myself, some companies think we all were born with an engineering gene and that we are supposed to telepathically know what chord intended

sorry but i am frustrated as all I see is just people guessing things and giving their recs, why not get straight answers from chord

finally thanks for the manual that says nothing

finally for all those who say iso regen, from my experience, there was no improvement at all using it, heck the iso regen did literally nothing, and I have the best headphones ( he1000v2 and meze empyrean ) , so guys save your money from buying iso regen. Sorry but paid to get improvement and got nothing from adding few things that got recommended here,

my system is macbook pro 2018--qutest-ifi ican pro---- headphones . ( yes bought usb curious cable )

 

[Nik74]

It’s holiday season and everyone needs a break even Chord!

 

[Sound Eq]

It’s holiday season and everyone needs a break even Chord!

yes you are right, so let's wait and see, i am hopeful to get straight answers whenever they have time.

but i like the guessing games to stop for such important info bout bnc ohm and to be answered by chord

i envy the rme adi-2 dac owners for the amazing manual, thanks zreview for letting me get frustrated

 

[Arniesb]

why is chord so silent in this thread, why can they not simply just answer such question, 50ohm or 75ohm, this frustrates me, I feel there is no interaction here at all from chord opposite other threads , as I was going to move to BNC now I have to guess what it is.

anyhow, I am a bit a newbie in connections, so how can `i connect my macbook pro to qutest using BNC and what is a good BNC cable that will not cost an arm and a leg

in addition i would like to know why there are 1v, 2v and 3v modes on qutest, at least explain why such options are available and what choosing any mode would do to sound , all i get is answers and speculations why does chord @Rob Watts not chime in and explain to us the marvel of this miracle mystery device, I paid big money for this and expect to at least get straight answers, otherwise I could have chosen a cheaper company from whom I do not expect any support or answers

manuals do not mention anything, so am I supposed to start a guessing game myself, some companies think we all were born with an engineering gene and that we are supposed to telepathically know what chord intended

sorry but i am frustrated as all I see is just people guessing things and giving their recs, why not get straight answers from chord

finally thanks for the manual that says nothing

finally for all those who say iso regen, from my experience, there was no improvement at all using it, heck the iso regen did literally nothing, and I have the best headphones ( he1000v2 and meze empyrean ) , so guys save your money from buying iso regen. Sorry but paid to get improvement and got nothing from adding few things that got recommended here,

my system is macbook pro 2018--qutest-ifi ican pro---- headphones . ( yes bought usb curious cable )

Curious have ground wire separated so any usb stuff will bring less difference. 2nd you have laptop and laptops is much less noisy than pc. Last thing how long did it take to evaluate iso regen? Did you just blind tested it and hoped for immediate huge difference?

 

[Sound Eq]

Curious have ground wire separated so any usb stuff will bring less difference. 2nd you have laptop and laptops is much less noisy than pc. Last thing how long did it take to evaluate iso regen? Did you just blind tested it and hoped for immediate huge difference?

well for a week now i have been trying blind tests and non blind tests, nada zero effect on iso regen, also the switch on or off on iso regen did not do anything at all

well I have an alienware 15r3 and the same thing no effect on iso regen. I am not using a pc, so maybe pcs benefit from iso regen but on both alienware and macbook pro no effect at all

i am using audirvana as a player on both windows laptop and mac

 

[Arniesb]

well for a week now i have been trying blind tests and non blind tests, nada zero effect on iso regen, also the switch on or off on iso regen did not do anything at all

well I have an alienware 15r3 and the same thing no effect on iso regen. I am not using a pc, so maybe pcs benefit from iso regen but on both alienware and macbook pro no effect at all

i am using audirvana as a player on both windows laptop and mac

Honestly i think Curious just with separated line is doing all the work needed. My ifi nano usb clean noise when using cheaper usb cables, but when using Wireworld platinum7 which also have signal line separated it actually dont reduce anymore noise cause wireworld is already dead quiet.
Instead it adds authority, but reduce resolution significantly... probably all because copper usb cable goes 1st from source instead of my wireworld silver one.
Well thanks for your impressions i think week is more than enough to evaluate iso regen. You saved me the buy cause i was eyeing it too, cheers.

 

[Sound Eq]

Honestly i think Curious just with separated line is doing all the work needed. My ifi nano usb clean noise when using cheaper usb cables, but when using Wireworld platinum7 which also have signal line separated it actually dont reduce anymore noise cause wireworld already dead quiet.
Instead it adds authority, but reduce resolution significantly... probably all because copper usb cable goes 1st from source instead of my wireworld silver one.
Well thanks for your impressions i think week is more than enough to evaluate iso regen. You saved me the buy cause i was eyeing it too, cheers.

i think your answer could be an explanation, with curious alone i hear a difference than using cheap usb cables but let me tell you this, its only a tiny fraction better than this usb cable, which is cheap but really worth it

https://www.aliexpress.com/store/pr...365d-4a59-a562-3da31ab2223c&priceBeautifyAB=0

the curious cable sounds bit more full and detailed, and sounds really good by itself

as for aucharm it sounds as well good but with more details in the highs which could be a bit too much for some recordings

aucharm and iso regen no effect as well

 

[Triode User]

why is chord so silent in this thread, why can they not simply just answer such question, 50ohm or 75ohm, this frustrates me, I feel there is no interaction here at all from chord opposite other threads , as I was going to move to BNC now I have to guess what it is.

anyhow, I am a bit a newbie in connections, so how can `i connect my macbook pro to qutest using BNC and what is a good BNC cable that will not cost an arm and a leg

in addition i would like to know why there are 1v, 2v and 3v modes on qutest, at least explain why such options are available and what choosing any mode would do to sound , all i get is answers and speculations why does chord @Rob Watts not chime in and explain to us the marvel of this miracle mystery device, I paid big money for this and expect to at least get straight answers, otherwise I could have chosen a cheaper company from whom I do not expect any support or answers

manuals do not mention anything, so am I supposed to start a guessing game myself, some companies think we all were born with an engineering gene and that we are supposed to telepathically know what chord intended

sorry but i am frustrated as all I see is just people guessing things and giving their recs, why not get straight answers from chord

finally thanks for the manual that says nothing

finally for all those who say iso regen, from my experience, there was no improvement at all using it, heck the iso regen did literally nothing, and I have the best headphones ( he1000v2 and meze empyrean ) , so guys save your money from buying iso regen. Sorry but paid to get improvement and got nothing from adding few things that got recommended here,

my system is macbook pro 2018--qutest-ifi ican pro---- headphones . ( yes bought usb curious cable )

As has been said, this is the holiday season. Please do not get grumpy with people enjoying their holidays.

Some answers though (these are not guesses).

You cannot connect the Qutest to a MacBook Pro via BNC because the MacBook Pro does not have a suitable output. You can use USB though.

Quest has switchable output voltages to cater for different amplifiers with different input sensitivities. I suggest you start with the 1v and if that does not give you a viable volume range with your amplifier then go up to the 2v and if that is too quiet at all volume control positions then move on to the 3v. If you hear distortion with the higher outputs from the Qutest then you are getting clipping and you will need to go back to a lower output voltage.

 

[Sound Eq]

As has been said, this is the holiday season. Please do not get grumpy with people enjoying their holidays.

Some answers though (these are not guesses).

You cannot connect the Qutest to a MacBook Pro via BNC because the MacBook Pro does not have a suitable output. You can use USB though.

Quest has switchable output voltages to cater for different amplifiers with different input sensitivities. I suggest you start with the 1v and if that does not give you a viable volume range with your amplifier then go up to the 2v and if that is too quiet at all volume control positions then move on to the 3v. If you hear distortion with the higher outputs from the Qutest then you are getting clipping and you will need to go back to a lower output voltage.

its all zreview fault for talking bout the manual of the adi dac/amp

wishing u and chord happy holidays

 

[Arniesb]

i think your answer could be an explanation, with curious alone i hear a difference than using cheap usb cables but let me tell you this, its only a tiny fraction better than this usb cable, which is cheap but really worth it

https://www.aliexpress.com/store/pr...365d-4a59-a562-3da31ab2223c&priceBeautifyAB=0

lol i have this along with AQ forest. It is much better than former, but no match To my wireworld. Wireworld is more quiet to me than Aucharm and it is more realistic sounding than Aucharm... Aucharm seems like it have some distortion simmilar to tube sound like there is something missing... . Qutest have decent usb implementation so there sould be much less noise than in my topping dx7 which have bad usb implementation in comparison to 2qute i tried few times.
I was about to buy Qutest too cause i always like 2qute sound, but decided to wait a little bit, maybe there could be some products release at ces or something...

 

[Sound Eq]

lol i have this along with AQ forest. It is much better than former, but no match To my wireworld. Wireworld is more quiet to me than Aucharm and it is more realistic sounding than Aucharm... Aucharm seems like it have some distortion simmilar to tube sound like there is something missing... . Qutest have decent usb implementation so there sould be much less noise than in my topping dx7 which have bad usb implementation in comparison to 2qute i tried few times.
I was about to buy Qutest too cause i always like 2qute sound, but decided to wait little bit, maybe there could be some producs release at ces or something...

oh so u dont have the qutest, time to get grumpy again, just kiddin

qutest is a great dac no doubt, better than using hugo 2 as dac which i compared

did i mention how much i despise coldplay for their recording quality, dam listening to their albums just is a nightmare, even nikki minaj makes better quality recordings, dam coldplay as much i like your songs as much i dislike u , if anyone wants to dislike his gear just listen to coldplay

enjoy the holidays

 

[Arniesb]

oh so u dont have the qutest, time to get grumpy again, just kiddin

qutest is a great dac no doubt, better than using hugo 2 as dac which i compared

enjoy the holidays

Enjoy u too thanks for your impressions about regen. Cheers.

 

[TomWoB]

@ Jon L: stay cool !

I have (only) a 2qute, but if I compare pictures, it looks like that the same BNC connectors are used ... and if I check the board of my 2qute, very close to the BNC connector I can find a 85X resistor, which is a 75 Ohm resistor:



So, this seems to be fine, we have a "75 Ohm closing resistor". So the question is, how relevant is a (maybe) 50 Ohm connector with a 75 Ohm resistor ... I don't know. But I think the closing resistor is "much more relevant" than the connector. I made a tabular:



The tabular shows, how much reflections we have with a 75 Ohm cable on X Ohms end (DAC) !
E.g. we have a 1V signal running to a 70 Ohm end -> 0.034 x 1V = 34mV will be reflected and running back to the source (first = 1x reflection, minus means subtracted from 1V). In case of source has (also) a 70 Ohm end -> 0.001V = 1mV are running back to the DAC again (second = 2x reflection = 0.034 x 0.034).

So, in case of we use a 75 Ohm cable and the (maybe!!!) 50 Ohm connector with a 75 Ohm resistor creates maybe together a "70 Ohm end", we have the situation described in the example above. BTW, if source has a perfect 75 Ohm end, nothing is running back to the DAC, because second reflection will be 0.000 !

... and I still hope, the BNC connector itself has also 75 Ohm !
... and I'm usind BNC and I'm still relaxed, because BNC sounds great

Regards Tom

 

[Rob Watts]

why is chord so silent in this thread, why can they not simply just answer such question, 50ohm or 75ohm, this frustrates me, I feel there is no interaction here at all from chord opposite other threads , as I was going to move to BNC now I have to guess what it is.

anyhow, I am a bit a newbie in connections, so how can `i connect my macbook pro to qutest using BNC and what is a good BNC cable that will not cost an arm and a leg

in addition i would like to know why there are 1v, 2v and 3v modes on qutest, at least explain why such options are available and what choosing any mode would do to sound , all i get is answers and speculations why does chord @Rob Watts not chime in and explain to us the marvel of this miracle mystery device, I paid big money for this and expect to at least get straight answers, otherwise I could have chosen a cheaper company from whom I do not expect any support or answers

manuals do not mention anything, so am I supposed to start a guessing game myself, some companies think we all were born with an engineering gene and that we are supposed to telepathically know what chord intended

sorry but i am frustrated as all I see is just people guessing things and giving their recs, why not get straight answers from chord

finally thanks for the manual that says nothing

finally for all those who say iso regen, from my experience, there was no improvement at all using it, heck the iso regen did literally nothing, and I have the best headphones ( he1000v2 and meze empyrean ) , so guys save your money from buying iso regen. Sorry but paid to get improvement and got nothing from adding few things that got recommended here,

my system is macbook pro 2018--qutest-ifi ican pro---- headphones . ( yes bought usb curious cable )

@Triode User answered the voltage question perfectly (and he is on holiday too):

As has been said, this is the holiday season. Please do not get grumpy with people enjoying their holidays.

Some answers though (these are not guesses).

You cannot connect the Qutest to a MacBook Pro via BNC because the MacBook Pro does not have a suitable output. You can use USB though.

Quest has switchable output voltages to cater for different amplifiers with different input sensitivities. I suggest you start with the 1v and if that does not give you a viable volume range with your amplifier then go up to the 2v and if that is too quiet at all volume control positions then move on to the 3v. If you hear distortion with the higher outputs from the Qutest then you are getting clipping and you will need to go back to a lower output voltage.

As too the BNC connector issue, Chord have got back to me and confirmed that the data sheet for the PCB connector states 75 ohms. However, they are confirming from the supplier that it is indeed 75 ohms; but no answer yet as it is indeed the holiday season. The size difference would be explained by a different relative permittivity or dielectric constant of the insulation material. Note that you must use 75 ohm cable, as the M scaler sources are exactly 75 ohms, and the termination impedance is 75 ohms. This massively outweighs any other consideration.

It’s holiday season and everyone needs a break even Chord!

Exactly.

 

[Zzt231gr]

Ι already solved the 75Ω riddle with a photo!

Then why does my Canare 75Ω plug fits?