Chord Electronics Qutest DAC - Official Thread

[Triode User]

Hello sir!
Did you make the different PSU comparusons yet?

Sbooster forgot to send the correct mini USB plug! The plug is arriving today also with the Sbooster Mk2 Ultra upgrade to try . . . .

 

[Zzt231gr]

Sbooster forgot to send the correct mini USB plug! The plug is arriving today also with the Sbooster Mk2 Ultra upgrade to try . . . .

My MCRU is also tooooo late....

 

[zjred]

To my ears, the key difference between the power options is in the bass. A battery (Anker 3A powerbank) gives tighter bass. Sbooster with Ultra MK2 gives a thicker bottom end.

The differences are noticeable, but not day and night. The stock plug sounds ok if you want to save money. Sbooster gives you a power switch though.

 

[RobertSM]

Sorry if I'm a little late to the party so to speak. I've owned qutest for less than 24 hours.

I always value recommendations from veteran owners.

Is this the power supply that qutest owners like as an upgrade?

https://www.sbooster.com/botw-pp-eco-5v-6v/chord-qutest

Thanks!

 

[Triode User]

Sorry if I'm a little late to the party so to speak. I've owned qutest for less than 24 hours.

I always value recommendations from veteran owners.

Is this the power supply that qutest owners like as an upgrade?

https://www.sbooster.com/botw-pp-eco-5v-6v/chord-qutest

Thanks!

I just got the sbooster and Ultra upgrade this morning to compare to the MCRU power supply and also probably to the Uptone LPS-1.2

 

[GreenBow]

Sbooster forgot to send the correct mini USB plug! The plug is arriving today also with the Sbooster Mk2 Ultra upgrade to try . . . .

Haha, so loads of people anxious to hear the results of you evaluation.

 

[dac64]

Sorry if I'm a little late to the party so to speak. I've owned qutest for less than 24 hours.

I always value recommendations from veteran owners.

Is this the power supply that qutest owners like as an upgrade?

https://www.sbooster.com/botw-pp-eco-5v-6v/chord-qutest

Thanks!

Listen to the stock for sometimes, I preferred it to poweradd (battery) on my setup. And maybe you were able to pick up a used third-parties power supply along the way.

 

[David M H]

Listen to the stock for sometimes, I preferred it to poweradd (battery) on my setup. And maybe you were able to pick up a used third-parties power supply along the way.

+1 to this.

I felt that the sound using the stock PSU was very close to using a battery, so I've not looked into LPS or alteratives. After a while on battery I decided it was possibly missing a tiny bit of edge, which I enjoyed when switching back to stock. But the sound was so close it could have just been psychoacoustic.

 

[vinylvalet]

The main problem with the stock power supply is not so much the resulting sound quality of the Qutest but the amount of noise it injects back into your AC distribution. That noise is clearly audible when playing LPs. Various power conditioning/filtering/isolation schemes didn't help. Adding a $49 ifi iPower 5V wall wart eliminated that noise completely. Back to a perfectly silent background during LP playback.

 

[GreenBow]

The main problem with the stock power supply is not so much the resulting sound quality of the Qutest but the amount of noise it injects back into your AC distribution. That noise is clearly audible when playing LPs. Various power conditioning/filtering/isolation schemes didn't help. Adding a $49 ifi iPower 5V wall wart eliminated that noise completely. Back to a perfectly silent background during LP playback.

Please what was the effect of the noise, so I can spot if I have it?

 

[vinylvalet]

As it's audible, t's either there or it isn't. If you hear background noise with volume turned up, no LP playing, you unplug the Qutest wall wart and the noise is decreased or, in my case, goes away completely, then you'll know. There can also be inaudible, high frequency noise injected back into the AC by the Qutest wall wart which can effect the SQ more subtly but I haven't tested for that.

 

[GreenBow]

As it's audible, t's either there or it isn't. If you hear background noise with volume turned up, no LP playing, you unplug the Qutest wall wart and the noise is decreased or, in my case, goes away completely, then you'll know. There can also be inaudible, high frequency noise injected back into the AC by the Qutest wall wart which can effect the SQ more subtly but I haven't tested for that.

Many thanks. I do remember when I used an amp in my system, that my amplifer was silent. However I never had a Qutest then. I can't remember either what DAC I was using; it might have been Mojo or Hugo 2.

There have been changes, and at the moment I drive speakers directly from the RCA output of TT2. I will do some checking with the Qutest though, at it's here and handy to test.

(I have heard some mention of the Hugo 2 charger dumping noise back in to the mains. I think it would have the same charger as the Qutest. I never looked at them side by side yhough.)

I do use filtered mains banks and have my DAC power on a different filter mains bank than my analogue. That was a more recent thing though and could have had them mixed before. I never noticed any noise though. I will for sure test. Thanks again.

Worth noting though, that I did not always use mains filtered mains socket banks. If there was noise coming from my Hugo 2 PSU, then there is a chance I would heave heard it.

Am very interested now to test this.

 

[HumanMedia]

Worth noting that most of the noise we are talking about is not noticeable when there is no signal (music not playing volume right up) it is only noticeable when there is a signal and music playing as the noise modulates a signal. No signal, nothing audible to affect. It’s audible effect is a more forward lower treble, or a brashness or a harshness in the treble. Sometimes this can be perceived as sounding better “I heard things I’ve never heard before” , which may be because it is pushing parts of the frequency range that shouldnt be pushed and will ultimately be fatiguing and unnatural over a range of music.

IME the iFi Power supply was comparable to the stock supply but slightly inferior, bass was poorer. The UpTone LPS 1.2 also sounds bad with the Qutest. The BOBW v1 sounded ok but bass was too much somehow.

 

[uzi2]

An evening with Pi 4 and Gentle Giant

I have been experimenting with Raspberry Pi 4 as a test for the Allo Usbridge Signature, making sure that HQPlayer works well on the system. I am using a Pi4 running DietPi and NAA connected via USB to Qutest - Cambridge Azur - KEF R500 . HQPlayer desktop running on a remote PC - Sinc-M - LNS15 - max 768k -stock power supplies for Qutest and Pi

At startup of Pi it is very harsh, but soon mellows (guessing that loads of stuff causing interference and quiet when finished). It could be my ears tuning in or the Pi shutting up, but as the evening goes on the sound appears to improve (more wine maybe), but then Stephen Wilson's Three Piece Suite - it sounds so much better, I turn the volume up and really enjoy it.
Not a scientific test, I know - more alcohol and better source will always win. Now to experiment with battery power for the Pi, before committing to the USBridge...

 

[blueninjasix]

An evening with Pi 4 and Gentle Giant

I have been experimenting with Raspberry Pi 4 as a test for the Allo Usbridge Signature, making sure that HQPlayer works well on the system. I am using a Pi4 running DietPi and NAA connected via USB to Qutest - Cambridge Azur - KEF R500 . HQPlayer desktop running on a remote PC - Sinc-M - LNS15 - max 768k -stock power supplies for Qutest and Pi

At startup of Pi it is very harsh, but soon mellows (guessing that loads of stuff causing interference and quiet when finished). It could be my ears tuning in or the Pi shutting up, but as the evening goes on the sound appears to improve (more wine maybe), but then Stephen Wilson's Three Piece Suite - it sounds so much better, I turn the volume up and really enjoy it.
Not a scientific test, I know - more alcohol and better source will always win. Now to experiment with battery power for the Pi, before committing to the USBridge...

I started my streaming adventure with USBridge Sig (and Shanti LPS) but I'm moving in the opposite direction to you and prefering Pi4. It's difficult to get the Sig to play nicely with Chord dacs unless you revert to software with an old Linux kernel like 4.14.92. Current software uses 4.19.115 but this tends to cause pops and crackles. I've had some success updating to the latest 5.4.42. I'm currently running the Pi4 with the latest 64 bit beta software from Raspberry Pi Foundation together with HQPlayer's Network Audio Daemon also in 64 bit. I underclock the Pi4 and it runs perfectly using the similar settings you describe Sinc-L, LNS15 and 768k with a claimed 2 million taps!