Chord Electronics Qutest DAC - Official Thread

[GuiltyRocker]

In that spirit then, I prefer the presentation of the RME ADI2 with AKM, or the Denafrips Ares II with Iris DDC (heard this recently - excellent).

I am currently using a Metrum Acoustics Musette with DAC2 modules in my headphone system. No longer available, but essentially it's an Onyx with one NOS module per channel rather than two.

In the middle of a significant upgrade to my headphone system at the moment. Replacing my current amp with an LTA MZ3 and replacing the DAC with either a Schiit Yggdrassil LiM, or a Denfrips Pontus with Hermes DDC. Go back and forth with that choice (mostly because no returns for Denafrips, so if it isn't for me I am stuck), but I'll settle on one purchase soon. Leaning toward the Yggy currently; owner feedback of thd LiM variant is superb.

I would like to audition the Hugo TT2 with the MZ3 when it arrives. The detail of the TT2 may work well with tube HPA and there could be a good synergy there, but it's £2K more than the £2500 budget I've set myself for the DAC.

Hope this helps.

I listened to the RME, i did not like it at all, to me it sounded flat, I also found it life-less, but that's just me. I haven't listened to those other DACs you mention, but I also listened to the top TEAC DAC, which was based on AKM and also didn't like it. I have a Sabre-based Oppo BDP105 and after getting the Chord I find it Bright and thin, don't like it anymore. I guess I am a Chord man.

 

[JayDM]

Can only really see the RME as a contender if you really squeeze absolutely every ounce of value out of the features. I picked one up and wanted to love it so desperately, however it just didn’t do it for me. As just a DAC it sounded… alright I guess. The sound just didn’t gel with me for some reason. I can’t put it down to any real issue with the product, it’s obviously well made and there are ALOT of features, but preferring to EQ in software and not being in love with it as a plug and play DAC it just wasn’t for me.

Picked up an iFi, Ares ii, and am in the market for a Qutest which I hope will be a winner.

 

[Nostoi]

I listened to the RME, i did not like it at all, to me it sounded flat, I also found it life-less, but that's just me. I haven't listened to those other DACs you mention, but I also listened to the top TEAC DAC, which was based on AKM and also didn't like it. I have a Sabre-based Oppo BDP105 and after getting the Chord I find it Bright and thin, don't like it anymore. I guess I am a Chord man.

Totally agree. RME has some good DSP features and the LCD display is a nice touch, but overall presentation is very dry with a slightly metallic touch. Amp section has clean power but lacks dynamics. Build quality also left much to be desired.

 

[GuiltyRocker]

Can only really see the RME as a contender if you really squeeze absolutely every ounce of value out of the features. I picked one up and wanted to love it so desperately, however it just didn’t do it for me. As just a DAC it sounded… alright I guess. The sound just didn’t gel with me for some reason. I can’t put it down to any real issue with the product, it’s obviously well made and there are ALOT of features, but preferring to EQ in software and not being in love with it as a plug and play DAC it just wasn’t for me.

Picked up an iFi, Ares ii, and am in the market for a Qutest which I hope will be a winner.

I heard it twice, to me it sounded lifeless and flat as a pancake, did not like it at all. It has a very digital sound to it, not for me.

 

[JayDM]

Just got my Qutest in and I’m having some problems with the drivers and settings. Hoping I can get some feedback on this as I’m usually pretty tech savvy and can figure out where my problem is.

So, received the Qutest perhaps an hour ago, plugged everything in, set it up, downloaded drivers and went to the settings of Audirvana to make sure everything was correct and my ASIO drivers do not seem to be showing up correctly. Using windows 11 btw. Originally the device wasn’t showing up in ASIO at all however I needed to finish the install, after I did that the ASIO Chord 1.05 shows up in my output device options, however many of the PCM and DSD frequencies are greyed out and I am not able to actually open up the driver when I click on the little settings wheel next to the “ASIO” option. No issues with sound and it seems to switch sample rates however I do not have all of my available options which bugs me. WASAPI also seems to be showing up fineDoes anyone have a suggestion?

The only issue I can possibly see being a problem is also having iFi drivers installed, but I cannot see that truly being the problem, I can’t be the only person who wishes to be able to switch back and fourth between hardware without having to uninstall and reinstall software every time I do switch… if that is the problem I’ll be quite disappointed.

Including some images in case I wasn’t clear in explanation.

 

[Fugue]

I recently replaced a laptop with a Roon Nucleus Plus streamer--wow! With the nasty electronic artifacts from my computer gone, I can finally hear my Qutest in all of its glory! Overall, the sound is less "digital" and more realistic.

 

[JoinDivision]

QED Reference Quartz

Hi technobear (great name btw) - I received one of these cables yesterday to bridge from a NODE to the Qutest, but I can only get it to transmit up to 24/96, 24/192 is silent. Can you suggest something I might be doing wrong?

 

[JoinDivision]

Further to that, QED noted that on the features page of the website it says the optical input is only up to 24/96, but in the Qutest manual it says the optical input is up to 24/192. Does anyone know which one is right?

What's unusual is that I can use a cheapo Profigold plastic cable and 24/192 works just fine.

 

[technobear]

Further to that, QED noted that on the features page of the website it says the optical input is only up to 24/96, but in the Qutest manual it says the optical input is up to 24/192. Does anyone know which one is right?

What's unusual is that I can use a cheapo Profigold plastic cable and 24/192 works just fine.

TOSLink is only guaranteed to work up to 176.4 but can often (usually even) work perfectly well at 192.

Personally I don't have any 192 files to try with. I assume that you do. If you're upsampling, the advice for Qutest is *don't*.

As for the QED, are the plugs fully inserted and not being skewed?

 

[JoinDivision]

Just got my Qutest in and I’m having some problems with the drivers and settings. Hoping I can get some feedback on this as I’m usually pretty tech savvy and can figure out where my problem is.

So, received the Qutest perhaps an hour ago, plugged everything in, set it up, downloaded drivers and went to the settings of Audirvana to make sure everything was correct and my ASIO drivers do not seem to be showing up correctly. Using windows 11 btw. Originally the device wasn’t showing up in ASIO at all however I needed to finish the install, after I did that the ASIO Chord 1.05 shows up in my output device options, however many of the PCM and DSD frequencies are greyed out and I am not able to actually open up the driver when I click on the little settings wheel next to the “ASIO” option. No issues with sound and it seems to switch sample rates however I do not have all of my available options which bugs me. WASAPI also seems to be showing up fineDoes anyone have a suggestion?

The only issue I can possibly see being a problem is also having iFi drivers installed, but I cannot see that truly being the problem, I can’t be the only person who wishes to be able to switch back and fourth between hardware without having to uninstall and reinstall software every time I do switch… if that is the problem I’ll be quite disappointed.

Including some images in case I wasn’t clear in explanation.

Hi Jay, if you go to the Chord website you can download the driver from there. I think it's a modified Asio driver and when it's installed you should see your Qutest as 'KS Chord Streaming' (kernel streaming).

 

[JoinDivision]

TOSLink is only guaranteed to work up to 176.4 but can often (usually even) work perfectly well at 192.

Personally I don't have any 192 files to try with. I assume that you do. If you're upsampling, the advice for Qutest is *don't*.

As for the QED, are the plugs fully inserted and not being skewed?

Thanks Technobear. Yes I've been getting a bit of a crash-course in Toslink etc!

Definitely wouldn't dream of upsampling, it's a straight digital pass-through.

The QED plugs are clicking when inserted and are positioned correctly, I even tried plugging in the other way around (as if that would make a difference, but worth a try right).

In terms of pure bandwidth the QEQ should be very capable of the full 24/192. I think I read that would be about 10mbps, whereas the QED is rated over 15mbps (numbers might not be exactly right).

I did also read somewhere that the filament core when using glass in a cable is much narrower diameter than plastic, which might affect the beam dispersal hitting the sensor at the other end.

I'm a bit stuck at the moment though, I don't feel I could return the cable if it is the case that the Qutest isn't officially rated for 24/192 over optical, even if the Profigold cable works at that bandwidth and presumably other users with other cables are not experiencing this issue.

 

[JoinDivision]

And something weird is that the light coming out of the Bluesound optical out is red colour and the light coming out of the Qutest optical input is green colour. Not sure if relevant at all.

 

[JoinDivision]

Right, panic over everyone - Technobear was right and the cable just wasn't pushed in hard enough. I just went back to the Profigold cable and I had a 24/192 signal coming from the streamer as I was doing it. I really looked up close as I was doing it, and thanks to the Qutest having a window with a coloured light in it, I could see by gently wiggling the cable the colour was changing from red (16/44) to blue (24/192). So I put the QED cable in again and did same thing and got the colour to change. The cable was clicking into place but still wasn't quite aligned fully and just needs some extra encouragement. Hope this is useful in case anyone experiences the day problem. Now I have to go back to QED technical support with my tail between my legs.

PS: Chord can update the features page on their website so the optical output spec says 24/192 with my personal seal of approval!

 

[Atriya]

Is the consensus among Qutest users that because of the jitter-resistance of Chord DACs, there is no benefit to using a USB-reclocker (e.g. Innuous Phoenix) in the source chain, except for the noise-reduction benefits?

I'm thinking about such a device placed prior to the USB-to-SPDIF DDC that I already use. But if reclocking has no benefit because it's only benefit is related to jitter reduction, I will skip it.

By extension, it would also seem to imply that a better source/streamer (USB) would not make any difference (beyond the noise issue). I currently use a Raspberry Pi 4. If I upgraded to something like an UltraRendu, what value would it add beyond a lower-jitter lower-noise signal? And if the Qutest is jitter-proof, I can control the noise by other means (e.g. an Intona Isolator) after the RPi4.

 

[GuiltyRocker]

Is the consensus among Qutest users that because of the jitter-resistance of Chord DACs, there is no benefit to using a USB-reclocker (e.g. Innuous Phoenix) in the source chain, except for the noise-reduction benefits?

I'm thinking about such a device placed prior to the USB-to-SPDIF DDC that I already use. But if reclocking has no benefit because it's only benefit is related to jitter reduction, I will skip it.

By extension, it would also seem to imply that a better source/streamer (USB) would not make any difference (beyond the noise issue). I currently use a Raspberry Pi 4. If I upgraded to something like an UltraRendu, what value would it add beyond a lower-jitter lower-noise signal? And if the Qutest is jitter-proof, I can control the noise by other means (e.g. an Intona Isolator) after the RPi4.

If you look at the jitter performance of the Qutest, it is well under -140-150db, i say there is no need for any of that as that is incredible jitter reduction performance. Save your money for something else.