[Danygo]

Does the iPower make a difference when you connect it against the power supply that came with the unit?

Nope

 

[Danygo]

I think I'll have to switch to another DAC if I were to get a replacement.

 

[domi]

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

I didn't have the low/distorted volume issue but I had the same "sound coming from the Qutest even when it's not selected" issue with my Qutest and a Feliks Echo 2. It only happened with the Feliks, my other amps (Schiit Asgard 3 back then and ZMF Pendant OG now) worked without issues. It seems like Feliks amps are not disabling the input when the input is muted or not selected.

Do you have another amp that you can try the Qutest with?

 

[Danygo]

I didn't have the low/distorted volume issue but I had the same "sound coming from the Qutest even when it's not selected" issue with my Qutest and a Feliks Echo 2. It only happened with the Feliks, my other amps (Schiit Asgard 3 back then and ZMF Pendant OG now) worked without issues. It seems like Feliks amps are not disabling the input when the input is muted or not selected.

Do you have another amp that you can try the Qutest with?

I have a magnius and a magni 2 laying around, but the distortion and low volume is present, if not worse on those amps than the feliks. I just found out that a warranty transfer between owners is possible, since I bought it used from ebay. Maybe I'll have to go with that since so far it looks like a hardware issue

 

[technobear]

I have a magnius and a magni 2 laying around, but the distortion and low volume is present, if not worse on those amps than the feliks. I just found out that a warranty transfer between owners is possible, since I bought it used from ebay. Maybe I'll have to go with that since so far it looks like a hardware issue

This doesn't sound like a problem with the Qutest. If you are feeding the Qutest a signal then it will play it and output analogue sound. It won't stop just because the amp hasn't selected it. How would it know? From what you have written, it sounds like all your amps have poor input crosstalk.

 

[ctrlm]

Is it safe for Qutest to use 5V 3A out from PSU (Allo Shanti) or is it better to use 5V 1A out?
Thanks.

Perfectly safe. Unlike voltage, higher than needed amperage is irrelevant as the Chord or any other electronic device will only draw the amps it needs.

 

[GreenBow]

@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?

I have Windows and JRiver.

The issue of losing the first half second, should not happen with Windows. I have added and removed the hardware sync second with JRiver. ..... The only thing I can think of is that you have not installed the right USB driver from Chord's website.

The clicks I think are from the same issue. From what I am told, without hardware sync, you get clicks, pops, and beeps.

However I know nothing of DSD, so I can't advise with that. I think your best bet is email Chord, or @ Rob Watts here on head-fi. (Without space between @ and Rob Watts.)

 

[TechnoJazz]

I have Windows and JRiver.

The issue of losing the first half second, should not happen with Windows. I have added and removed the hardware sync second with JRiver. ..... The only thing I can think of is that you have not installed the right USB driver from Chord's website.

The clicks I think are from the same issue. From what I am told, without hardware sync, you get clicks, pops, and beeps.

However I know nothing of DSD, so I can't advise with that. I think your best bet is email Chord, or @ Rob Watts here on head-fi. (Without space between @ and Rob Watts.)

I am sorry, but I got confused. Are you saying that the issues I mentioned, mostly related with DSD are solved in Windows/JRiver? Or you only used PCM files?

Nevertheless I want to use a streamer and not the desktop JRiver.

 

[OG10]

Hello Gents,

What is the easiest and most economic way of getting Air Play 2 added to the Qutest?

 

[mammal]

What is the easiest and most economic way of getting Air Play 2 added to the Qutest?

I know of two options, adding a Raspberry Pi 4 with software called shairport-sync, or buy some officially licensed implementation, like Bluesound Node 2i

 

[mdcworks]

Hello Gents,

What is the easiest and most economic way of getting Air Play 2 added to the Qutest?

Easiest is to buy a second hand apple AirPort express and use its optical out to qutest

 

[GreenBow]

I am sorry, but I got confused. Are you saying that the issues I mentioned, mostly related with DSD are solved in Windows/JRiver? Or you only used PCM files?

Nevertheless I want to use a streamer and not the desktop JRiver.

I don't have any DSD files.

(I think I read that Chord DACs convert DSD to PCM. I am not sure though, so check that.)

If you have Windows and install the Chord driver, the issue should be gone. (At the least, you can add a second of silence for hardware sync.)


I think your issue is because you use can't use a Windows driver with a non-Windows based streamer. However I can't say that is what the issue is, because I don't know. That is why I said email chord or address a post to Rob Watts.


It is strange though because a lot of people use streamers, but I have never heard of this issue before. Maybe it's because you are using DSD and USB, but I don't know.


Alternatively, you could ask in the Hugo 2 thread, TT2 thread, DAVE thread, or Mojo thread. Since I see DSD mentioned sometimes, then someone is likely to be able to help you. The other Chord DACs I mentioned work on the same principle, so you can ask in those threads.

 

[HumanMedia]

Hello Gents,

What is the easiest and most economic way of getting Air Play 2 added to the Qutest?

My streamer (opticalRendu) has an AirPlay app you download and use. I’m guessing other streamers do too.

 

[HumanMedia]

@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?

I noticed this with my streamer when playing a DSD track when a PCM track was already playing and vice versa. In my players settings I put in a delay of 2000 milliseconds when swapping data types. I also put the same value in for when it plays different sampling rates of PCM even though I didn’t notice it there. Haven’t noticed it since.

 

[mynamesjeff]

Hey everyone, sorry if this has been answered before but what is everyones recommendation for a portable powerbank for the qutest? Is it recommended at all? Too many choices have left me all confused