[Steve Wilcox]

Yeah, thanks. Glad to know it’s not just me!
I’m loving it so far. Increased depth is the main thing I’ve noticed. Whether it’s placebo or not, frankly I don’t care haha. It’s a well built product for the most part, made in the UK, and has a very unique design + measures extremely well. I’m very happy with it.

I’m using it with a JDS atom amp+ as I wanted a super clean, powerful amp that didn’t change the sound of the Qutest much. Will look into an Anni or something in a couple of years

Next purchase will likely be a Verite Open down the road

I'm sure you won't be disappointed with the ZMF Verites. I have the closed version, via Qutest and Pathos Aurium tube hybrid amp and I couldn't be happier. If you haven't considered the closed version, you might want to do so. Forget everything you'd expect from a closed back can. You're really giving up nothing against open backs and have the bonus of better isolation. There are, I understand, differences in the sound signature but these seem to be a matter of preference rather than one being better than the other.

 

[musicasmedicine]

Hi guys,

is it safe to turn off the Qutest through the surge protector switch every night?

thanks!

 

[GreenBow]

OK, one more time:

How does the sound of the Qutest compare to the sound of Hugo 2 when BOTH are NOT driven by USB?

Meaning I don't care about performance when playing from USB inputs, nor about how much sound quality improves when switching from USB input to Optical or Coax.

Probaly already sorted, but I have not checked in on the Qutest thread for two months-ish.

The Hugo 2 and Qutest sound identical in timbre and tonality. There is one slight difference between the DACs, in that the Hugo 2 has a better output stage. The Qutest has the Mojo output stage. The Hugo 2 has a more refined output stage because it drives headphones directly. It needs to be clearer at lower output voltage, for headphone listening. Typically headphone voltage is less that 2v, and less than 1v.

Whereas Qutest output voltage is set to 2v usually.

(I heard this info from Rob Watts.)

This is my opinion. Please do not think there is a vast difference between Hugo 2 and Qutest, when used with a speaker amplifier that is. On a quick A-B, I could not hear any difference.

 

[Cekootje]

I found battery came out relatively poorly powering the Qutest compared to some other power supplies. To my ears the Qutest really does benefit from good power from the sublime (Sean Jacobs DC4) to the Farad Super3 which I thought a good balance of cost vs sound quality (and which was much better than battery to my ears). Of course all batteries are not equal and also it is worth mentioning that some people have good success with huge battery low impedance banks going into a regulator stage to power the Qutest (and indeed the Dave).

I’ll ask again before my question gets stranded
You say “all batteries are not equal”, so what difference can batteries make then?

 

[ToxicRisk]

Hi,
I'm looking for a new DAC for my headphones desktop setup.

I still hesitate to going full balanced or stay unbalanced.
Because I'm very interested into the Qutest or the Bifrost 2.
One is xlr the other is RCA.

The amp will be for xlr the Little Dot Mk3 SE.
And I've no idea for the rca setup, I want tube amp for my setup.

Any advise?

 

[The Jester]

I’ll ask again before my question gets stranded
You say “all batteries are not equal”, so what difference can batteries make then?

The only “native” 5v batteries are the 1.25v rechargeable ones in series to add up to 5v, depends what’s inside the various powerbanks and they usually have fairly cheap regulated 5v output from a 6 or7.2v internal battery, as they are mainly designed as a “recharger” rather than powering equipment, so the regulation circuit could be quieter or just as noisy as the standard power adapter, even with a 12v battery driving 12v equipment the output impedance of the battery may not allow “instant” increases in current that digital circuits demand, even so we’re talking subtle differences rather than night and day ….

 

[theaudiologist1]

qutest or hugo?

 

[Nostoi]

qutest or hugo?

Linguine or ravioli, depends on the broader ingredients and what you're going to serve with it.

 

[theaudiologist1]

Linguine or ravioli, depends on the broader ingredients and what you're going to serve with it.

which one has the more neutral and realistic sound?

 

[Nostoi]

which one has the more neutral and realistic sound?

Depends on the amp. The Qutest is just a DAC, so any discussion of its tonality has to be framed in context of amp. What's your amp?

 

[theaudiologist1]

Depends on the amp. The Qutest is just a DAC, so any discussion of its tonality has to be framed in context of amp. What's your amp?

Oh right. I think spending $1500 on just the DAC is dumb. The AMP does way more for the sound. I have a DAC/AMP not an AMP.

 

[Nostoi]

Oh right. I think spending $1500 on just the DAC is dumb. The AMP does way more for the sound.

Not really that much within the scheme of DACs but it sounds as though an all in one would suit you best, so go Hugo2.

 

[Jon L]

The only “native” 5v batteries are the 1.25v rechargeable ones in series to add up to 5v

Yup. With the Qutest, however, I prefer the SQ of decent LPS (e.g. Shanti) over even "native" battery pack. Of course, there are people who will prefer that buttery liquid battery sound, too...
0910200831 by drjlo2, on Flickr

 

[LCMusicLover]

Probaly already sorted, but I have not checked in on the Qutest thread for two months-ish.

The Hugo 2 and Qutest sound identical in timbre and tonality. There is one slight difference between the DACs, in that the Hugo 2 has a better output stage. The Qutest has the Mojo output stage. The Hugo 2 has a more refined output stage because it drives headphones directly. It needs to be clearer at lower output voltage, for headphone listening. Typically headphone voltage is less that 2v, and less than 1v.

Whereas Qutest output voltage is set to 2v usually.

(I heard this info from Rob Watts.)

This is my opinion. Please do not think there is a vast difference between Hugo 2 and Qutest, when used with a speaker amplifier that is. On a quick A-B, I could not hear any difference.

Thank you very much -- yours was the first useful reply (on either thread).

 

[GreenBow]

Thank you very much -- yours was the first useful reply (on either thread).

I found some of Rob's posts about the Qutest and Hugo 2 output stages.

https://www.head-fi.org/threads/chord-electronics-hugo-2-the-official-thread.831345/post-14593021

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