Make sure to consult Qutest's warranty. I know that for Hugo 2 and TT2 one can only use Chord's power supply, or else it voids warranty.
Chord Electronics Qutest DAC - Official Thread
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HumanMedia
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5v as that is what it is rated for. 3v might not even work. Amps is irrelevant as long as it exceeds the minimum the device requires as it will draw what it needs. Don’t go above it’s rated voltage, don’t go below it’s rated amps.
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No difference. The Qutest will take only as much current as it needs. The 5V is the important part. I seem to recall Qutest uses about 0.6A. It's in this thread somewhere.
uzi2
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It will draw the current it requires, so either is safe, but 1A is sufficient. I use the 3A for my Pi4.
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hakunamakaka
1000+ Head-Fier
Anyone using laptop as a source for music via usb to qutest I can recommend to add USB D/D converter. While I felt an improvement with qutest against my budget dac, Usb d/d converter made it even better, qutest now gives better control in bass, doesn’t sound bright at all and layering is even more better. I bought the cheapest denafrips iris and it was well worth it. I was non believer in such things for data transmission, but it is what it is. I think laptop usb introduces noise to this dac and guys replacing psu on qutest tackles the same issue.
I hate to flog an old horse but I dig out my old mojo which saw very little light of day after I brought the qutest out these few days and connected it to my tube amp, the mojo although not as wide and detailed as the qutest certainly help its own being warmer, lusher and made the human voice sounded more pleasing, the qutest's vocals were thinner and has less body, has anyone noticed this or is it because I am going deaf in my old age
TechnoJazz
New Head-Fier
Hello!
This is my first post on this forum, even though I have been reading it with attention.
After some consideration I decided to buy the Chord Qutest. I immediately loved the sound of the Qutest but I also found a couple of issues that are really annoying and I would like to know if anyone noticed them too. Please forgive me if this was already mentioned but I could not find detailed info about it.
I am using the USB connection to a Raspberry PI4.0B with Volumio but I also tried it connected to my laptop via USB and JRiver and these issues happens equally. On the PI4.0B I also tried MoOde with the same results:
1. When starting playing DSD files there is a click noise. If I let the album run, the following files do not click. But if I manually select file after file (even within the same album) the DSD files will also click in the beginning.
2.Apart from the clicks If I play a DSD file it plays the music for the very beginning. While playing this file, if I select another DSD file from another album, it also plays the song from the very beginning.
However, if I am playing a 24/192 file, for example, and I click on a DSD file it cuts part of the first note, like if it was fading up. It is only noticeable if the track starts with an attack sound like a drum sound, for example.
I really appreciate your comments based on your knowledge and experience. I really like the Chor Qutest but if this is the normal behavior I find it not acceptable and I will need to find an alternative.
Thank you
This is my first post on this forum, even though I have been reading it with attention.
After some consideration I decided to buy the Chord Qutest. I immediately loved the sound of the Qutest but I also found a couple of issues that are really annoying and I would like to know if anyone noticed them too. Please forgive me if this was already mentioned but I could not find detailed info about it.
I am using the USB connection to a Raspberry PI4.0B with Volumio but I also tried it connected to my laptop via USB and JRiver and these issues happens equally. On the PI4.0B I also tried MoOde with the same results:
1. When starting playing DSD files there is a click noise. If I let the album run, the following files do not click. But if I manually select file after file (even within the same album) the DSD files will also click in the beginning.
2.Apart from the clicks If I play a DSD file it plays the music for the very beginning. While playing this file, if I select another DSD file from another album, it also plays the song from the very beginning.
However, if I am playing a 24/192 file, for example, and I click on a DSD file it cuts part of the first note, like if it was fading up. It is only noticeable if the track starts with an attack sound like a drum sound, for example.
I really appreciate your comments based on your knowledge and experience. I really like the Chor Qutest but if this is the normal behavior I find it not acceptable and I will need to find an alternative.
Thank you
GreenBow
Headphoneus Supremus
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@TechnoJazz
Can you run from optical from the Pi to Qutest. ... I am sure I read somewhere that this issue only happens over USB.
Having said that, this issue is fixed when using Windows driver. It must be the operating system of the Pi. [The issue was present over USB with the Mojo, which was before the Qutest.]
Does your music player have a setting for insterting 'one second (or half a second) of silence to allow for hardware synchronisation?'. That is what the issue is; hardware synchronisation.
I woudl say look at your media player settings. Or use optical. Or maybe even try a USB to optical converter, so Qutest receives optical.
Can you run from optical from the Pi to Qutest. ... I am sure I read somewhere that this issue only happens over USB.
Having said that, this issue is fixed when using Windows driver. It must be the operating system of the Pi. [The issue was present over USB with the Mojo, which was before the Qutest.]
Does your music player have a setting for insterting 'one second (or half a second) of silence to allow for hardware synchronisation?'. That is what the issue is; hardware synchronisation.
I woudl say look at your media player settings. Or use optical. Or maybe even try a USB to optical converter, so Qutest receives optical.
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TechnoJazz
New Head-Fier
@GreenBow
Thank you for replying.
I can't run Optical from the RPI4 (only USB) and the Qutest only accept DSD in USB, in optical it is limited to 96kHz.
Volumio or MoOde on the RPI4 do not have that setting for hardware synchronization but JRiver in Windows has that setting and both issues happen as with the RPI4, so I think that is not fixed with that setting.
And related with #1 - the clicks with DSD files?
If these are known issues from previous models and still without a solution on the Qutest I will consider to return it.
Perhaps someone has more info about this?
Thank you for replying.
I can't run Optical from the RPI4 (only USB) and the Qutest only accept DSD in USB, in optical it is limited to 96kHz.
Volumio or MoOde on the RPI4 do not have that setting for hardware synchronization but JRiver in Windows has that setting and both issues happen as with the RPI4, so I think that is not fixed with that setting.
And related with #1 - the clicks with DSD files?
If these are known issues from previous models and still without a solution on the Qutest I will consider to return it.
Perhaps someone has more info about this?
Newbie Audiophile here.
Bought a used a Chord Qutest a couple of weeks ago. And today I was A/B testing my old modi 2 dac with the qutest. Thing is that my amp, a Feliks Espressivo mk2 has 3 sets of RCA pairs in the back so you can plug up to 3 different sources in.
After having some fun testing music, i went to unplug my old modi 2, sat back down and I found the sound coming out of my Qutest DAC coming out with very low volume and very distorted. After troubleshooting my amp, cables and switching back to my old modi 2, it turned out that the dac that was damaged and not my amp. To me it feels like the RCA outputs of my dac are somehow damaged because the unit itself works normally, turns on, boots correctly and the sight glass' color will change according to what file is being played
I think it's worth mentioning that while unplugging the modi 2's rca interconnect, the pins touched the golden plated rca port on my amp for my qutest. Also, when I was A/B testing and whad the modi 2 selected, I could hear the qutest output while it was still selected in windows, not sure if it was the dacs or my amp picking up inputs from other rca ports. Is there anyway I could repair this or fix it? really sucks to have 1500$ blown away after two weeks of use with the qutest and now have to revert to a modius I have laying around
Bought a used a Chord Qutest a couple of weeks ago. And today I was A/B testing my old modi 2 dac with the qutest. Thing is that my amp, a Feliks Espressivo mk2 has 3 sets of RCA pairs in the back so you can plug up to 3 different sources in.
After having some fun testing music, i went to unplug my old modi 2, sat back down and I found the sound coming out of my Qutest DAC coming out with very low volume and very distorted. After troubleshooting my amp, cables and switching back to my old modi 2, it turned out that the dac that was damaged and not my amp. To me it feels like the RCA outputs of my dac are somehow damaged because the unit itself works normally, turns on, boots correctly and the sight glass' color will change according to what file is being played
I think it's worth mentioning that while unplugging the modi 2's rca interconnect, the pins touched the golden plated rca port on my amp for my qutest. Also, when I was A/B testing and whad the modi 2 selected, I could hear the qutest output while it was still selected in windows, not sure if it was the dacs or my amp picking up inputs from other rca ports. Is there anyway I could repair this or fix it? really sucks to have 1500$ blown away after two weeks of use with the qutest and now have to revert to a modius I have laying around
wrote a set of impressions of my qutest here: https://www.audiodiscourse.com/2021/06/chord-qutest-impressions.html
Does turning it off and then back on fix the issue?
No, tried using the default power supply ( I've been using an ifi iPowerX 5v, no issues till today), using a macbook as source, different sets of rca cables, different rca ports on my feliks amp, voltage startup at 1v,2v and 3v, leaving it alone for hours and tried using a schiit magnius for an amp. At this point I'm convinced that either my feliks amp either fried the rca ports on my qutest or I somehow managed to touch something metallic with the rca interconnects being connected to the dac. If it was my amp frying the rca ports then I don't know what the store where I bought it from can do about it. Oh by the way, fiddling with the volume past 12' o clock I can hear some sort of hissing, can best describe it as swiping your finger across your skin, other dacs I have laying around don't do this on this amp.
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Does the iPower make a difference when you connect it against the power supply that came with the unit?
