[u2u2]

Apple M1 user here. A 16 GB M1 Air, 16 GB 14" M1 Pro, and a 12.9" 8 GB iPad M1 Pro in my rotation. Yea too much gear... No issues with Qutest or my other DACs. Go direct, through Apple adaptors, or CalDigit docks. Streaming or network storage. Good USB cables or crap, all work fine. Plus fan noise is never an issue! Won't discount others having problems but spending a lot of time on forums and personal experience says it is not the norm.

 

[yagislav]

Do you guys find Qutest sounds best with 1V or 2V or 3V output?

 

[RobertSM]

Do you guys find Qutest sounds best with 1V or 2V or 3V output?

It depends on your other gear in your chain. My ALO Studio Six tube amp can successfully handle the 3V output. While 2V worked well, 3V shows great dynamics top to bottom.

 

[x RELIC x]

.
As far as I know one can not by-pass the internal dac on a mac with optical?

Cheers CC

Optical output will never, ever, utilize the internal Mac DAC (Digital to Analogue Converter) as the signal is all digital. The Quetest would not be able to use the signal if it were converted to analogue beforehand. You may be wondering if it bypasses Apples core audio DSP (Digital Signal Processing), but optical is always a digital only signal.

 

[yagislav]

It depends on your other gear in your chain. My ALO Studio Six tube amp can successfully handle the 3V output. While 2V worked well, 3V shows great dynamics top to bottom.

My amplifier can handle 3V no problem. Was wondering if people noticed difference in dynamics etc between the 1,2,3V output or if there was anything in general. Thanks for your reply, I will give 3V a shot since my amplifier can handle it.

 

[Christer]

Optical output will never, ever, utilize the internal Mac DAC (Digital to Analogue Converter) as the signal is all digital. The Quetest would not be able to use the signal if it were converted to analogue beforehand. You may be wondering if it bypasses Apples core audio DSP (Digital Signal Processing), but optical is always a digital only signal.

Thanks, but does it bypass core audio DSP or not?
I know that both both Audirvana and Pure Music players do bypass both when using usb connection. And the difference between both and playing a file via iTunes directly is quite obvious to the VERY clear benefit of the two players over iTunes. On my macs I only use iTunes for "storing" music files,but never use it for actual playback.
Nor do I use any of mac´s own audio formats intentionally,but made the mistake of ripping one out of three cds from a work as AAC instead of wave and could hear the difference. When I checked it turned out the first cd was ripped at auto setting on my i Mac which was AAC.
I now always play whatever native format the recording is and let Mscaler do the upsampling with good results.
Such good results that I would only recommend Qutest to be used with an Mscaler or possibly some other software based upsampling method like PGGB or others.

PS .Optical out from good cd players sounds surprisingly good via Mscaler /Qutest but I hear a difference between all three of mine making me interested in trying a cd transport without any inbuilt dac as I suspect the differences I hear could be because the dacs are not bypassed on mine.
I know that one of them a multi DVD/SACD player after a repair job is stuck sending everything as 24/96 via the internal dac since Mscaler shows it is receiving a 24/96 signal.
Cheers CC

 

[kumar402]

Thanks, but does it bypass core audio DSP or not?
I know that both both Audirvana and Pure Music players do bypass both when using usb connection. And the difference between both and playing a file via iTunes directly is quite obvious to the VERY clear benefit of the two players over iTunes. On my macs I only use iTunes for "storing" music files,but never use it for actual playback.
Nor do I use any of mac´s own audio formats intentionally,but made the mistake of ripping one out of three cds from a work as AAC instead of wave and could hear the difference. When I checked it turned out the first cd was ripped at auto setting on my i Mac which was AAC.
I now always play whatever native format the recording is and let Mscaler do the upsampling with good results.
Such good results that I would only recommend Qutest to be used with an Mscaler or possibly some other software based upsampling method like PGGB or others.

PS .Optical out from good cd players sounds surprisingly good via Mscaler /Qutest but I hear a difference between all three of mine making me interested in trying a cd transport without any inbuilt dac as I suspect the differences I hear could be because the dacs are not bypassed on mine.
I know that one of them a multi DVD/SACD player after a repair job is stuck sending everything as 24/96 via the internal dac since Mscaler shows it is receiving a 24/96 signal.
Cheers CC

It will bypass internal upsampling if played via Audirvana or Roon but problem with optical out from not so good source is that it is prone to jitter as the clocks are not great or of “Audiophile” grade. So better to use DDC to re-clock for reduced jitter.
Optical has benefit when there is grounding issue with electrical plugs as optical
Connection will not cause any ground loop

 

[JoinDivision]

Do you guys find Qutest sounds best with 1V or 2V or 3V output?

Definitely sounds better (richer, fuller) the higher the voltage.

I think it's a neat little Easter egg that the colour coding of the voltage options is the same as when you buy milk in the UK.

1V = red (skimmed milk, basically white coloured water)
2V = green (semi-skimmed milk)
3V = blue (full-fat milk)

Always choose the full-fat option for the fullest flavour!

 

[ardbeg1975]

Definitely sounds better (richer, fuller) the higher the voltage.

I think it's a neat little Easter egg that the colour coding of the voltage options is the same as when you buy milk in the UK.

1V = red (skimmed milk, basically white coloured water)
2V = green (semi-skimmed milk)
3V = blue (full-fat milk)

Always choose the full-fat option for the fullest flavour!

For me, I think it has more to do with amp pairing rather than universally putting 3V on top. For example, if paired with a Chord Anni, Chord explicitly says to run the Qutest in 1 or 2V mode only. Given the Anni was made to pair with the Qutest, I see that as indicative that the best output voltage answer may be “it depends”.

 

[TheMiddleSky]

For me, I think it has more to do with amp pairing rather than universally putting 3V on top. For example, if paired with a Chord Anni, Chord explicitly says to run the Qutest in 1 or 2V mode only. Given the Anni was made to pair with the Qutest, I see that as indicative that the best output voltage answer may be “it depends”.

The "problem" is Anni doesn't have gain control. 3V from Qutest will be not convenient to use because there's very little room to move the volume pot when pair with medium or easy to drive headphones.

For medium to drive headphone like ZMF Verite, 2V is my preferable.

 

[ardbeg1975]

The "problem" is Anni doesn't have gain control. 3V from Qutest will be not convenient to use because there's very little room to move the volume pot when pair with medium or easy to drive headphones.

For medium to drive headphone like ZMF Verite, 2V is my preferable.

I agree with you on gain control being a variable as well but I’d say there is little room to move on the volume with the Anni regardless. Even on 1V l rarely get to 10 o'clock with a Verite on the Anni fed by Qutest. But the bass sounds really good.

 

[mpv]

Wondering how much I will gain upgrading to Hugo TT2 from Qutest ? Only asking for sound quality differences and not features.
I suspect is a better sounding dac but by how much?
Thanks in advance.

 

[adamjohari]

Is the Qutest 2 next in the pipeline? Just bought the Mojo 2 for portable/ desktop usage.

 

[RobertSM]

Is the Qutest 2 next in the pipeline? Just bought the Mojo 2 for portable/ desktop usage.

That's a great question.

I used to fool myself into thinking I knew how Chord developed and released new products. But the truth is I have no idea.

Qutest 2 would be fantastic. That said I'm still wishing for a qutest sized m-scaler. I can see a product like that actually giving qutest a longer life in owners homes. Thus allowing Chord to focus on other new and interesting products.

Here's to wishing on a star.

 

[ardbeg1975]

That's a great question.

I used to fool myself into thinking I knew how Chord developed and released new products. But the truth is I have no idea.

Qutest 2 would be fantastic. That said I'm still wishing for a qutest sized m-scaler. I can see a product like that actually giving qutest a longer life in owners homes. Thus allowing Chord to focus on other new and interesting products.

Here's to wishing on a star.

I also would love to see an m-scaler “baby” version in a Qutest sized chassis before a Qutest 2 release. That said, reading between the lines of Rob Watts’ comments re: evolution of FPGA tech during the recent Darko podcast, it seems like a smaller form factor m-scaler may be further out than I’d like.