Chord Electronics Qutest DAC - Official Thread
Sep 4, 2021 at 9:21 AM Post #5,660 of 6,750
Hi, hoping someone can help me.

I'm using Qobuz, asio 1.05 drivers with my Qutest on windows 10. Certain tracks start playing really slowly. I have no idea what's causing it. Anyone experience this before?
 
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Sep 4, 2021 at 11:22 AM Post #5,661 of 6,750
Got a Farad Super 3 on loan here. Compared to stock PSU, it seems to be subtly less forward, slightly smoother. I understand it requires some burn in. Any difference is certainly subtle, and at this point, I lean more toward stock PSU. I will say, build on Farad is really nice. Very solid with an appealing design.
 
Sep 4, 2021 at 5:07 PM Post #5,662 of 6,750
Got a Farad Super 3 on loan here. Compared to stock PSU, it seems to be subtly less forward, slightly smoother. I understand it requires some burn in. Any difference is certainly subtle, and at this point, I lean more toward stock PSU. I will say, build on Farad is really nice. Very solid with an appealing design.
Do let the PSU burn in more and report back. Instead of keeping it on all the time, turning it on and off after listening will burn in caps faster.
Having said that, IME user reports and Reviews of power supplies out there do tend to over-emphasize the degree of differences, say compared to degree of difference among different speakers/rooms...
 
Sep 5, 2021 at 4:45 AM Post #5,663 of 6,750
Do let the PSU burn in more and report back. Instead of keeping it on all the time, turning it on and off after listening will burn in caps faster.
Having said that, IME user reports and Reviews of power supplies out there do tend to over-emphasize the degree of differences, say compared to degree of difference among different speakers/rooms...
That's interesting about the tuning it on and off aspect during burn in. I will continue to test and report back. Farad recommend 500 hours of break in. I'm not sure if I have that long given it's on loan, but we'll see.
 
Sep 5, 2021 at 8:31 AM Post #5,664 of 6,750
Do let the PSU burn in more and report back. Instead of keeping it on all the time, turning it on and off after listening will burn in caps faster.
Having said that, IME user reports and Reviews of power supplies out there do tend to over-emphasize the degree of differences, say compared to degree of difference among different speakers/rooms...

There are probably different thoughts on power supply burn in. Sean Jacobs says the large Mundorf caps in his power supplies need time to settle and that any power off/on with subsequent current inrush will disrupt that and then require a further period of settling. I tend to follow that advice with new power supplies including my Farad Super3 when I bought it.
 
Sep 5, 2021 at 8:38 AM Post #5,665 of 6,750
There are probably different thoughts on power supply burn in. Sean Jacobs says the large Mundorf caps in his power supplies need time to settle and that any power off/on with subsequent current inrush will disrupt that and then require a further period of settling. I tend to follow that advice with new power supplies including my Farad Super3 when I bought it.
From experience, did you find your Farad reached an optimal state after burn in (though presumably any change is subtle)?
 
Sep 9, 2021 at 1:52 AM Post #5,667 of 6,750
My Qutest arrived today. I haven't had a lot of time to listen to it, but so far I love it! Richer, more detailed, and far more natural sounding than either the DAC in my amp or my Oppo 205.
 
Sep 9, 2021 at 6:15 AM Post #5,668 of 6,750
Got a Farad Super 3 on loan here. Compared to stock PSU, it seems to be subtly less forward, slightly smoother. I understand it requires some burn in. Any difference is certainly subtle, and at this point, I lean more toward stock PSU. I will say, build on Farad is really nice. Very solid with an appealing design.
I've had the Farad Super 3 here for a few days. I can discern some subtle changes in the presentation, but alas these changes are not my cup of tea. I find the Farad tends to smoothen things a little too much for me. I also have the iFi iPower (2nd version) and iPower X (hardly any difference between them), which seems to retain the more forward presentation of the stock PSU with a blacker background, so is probably the best for my purposes at least in terms of physical build (though not really a fan of iFi and their goofy marketing style)

All in all, I guess I'm not totally sure of what my expectations of adding a LPU to the Qutest are/were. Ideally - and this may be misguided - I would have hoped for something to contribute to a greater level of resolution. The Farad Super 3 didn't seem to do that, but did render the presentation less fatiguing, which may be appealing to some listeners.
 
Sep 9, 2021 at 7:39 PM Post #5,670 of 6,750
I just acquired the Qutest and am having some issues. When I first plugged it in and connected it to the amp, everything functioned as it should. Then I decided to change the output voltage (it took me a few tries as I didn't understand the color scheme). Then I connected it back to the amp, listened some, only for the music to stop abruptly. I disconnected it and plugged in again; the lights started flashing. After another dis/reconnect, now music plays, but I can't change the filter or the input (when I press the filter blob, the blobs just dim). The blobs (usually) do react during start up. I tried a cell phone charger and a battery just to see that that it isn't the power supply -- same thing.

Help -- is there a way to reset this thing completely? Surely there must be a magic blob press combination that does that. I really don't want to have to return it.
 

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