Chord Electronics Qutest DAC - Official Thread

[Jetblack08]

I was really burning to get the Dave but I may stick with the Qutest. Playing music in Hi-Rez is where the magic is.

 

[GuiltyRocker]

I was really burning to get the Dave but I may stick with the Qutest. Playing music in Hi-Rez is where the magic is.

The DAVE is amazing, i demoed them all and chose Qutest with M Scaler.

 

[OCC7N]

Got this one recently, works really well with the MScaler, fits nicely and is a glass cable that doesn't cost an arm and a leg. Works fine all the way up to 192k. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001D1A8KM

are you still happy with this cable?

 

[ra990]

are you still happy with this cable?

Yes

 

[Jetblack08]

The DAVE is amazing, i demoed them all and chose Qutest with M Scaler.

I’ve been thinking about getting a M Scaler and calling it a day also…. is there a night & day difference?

 

[OCC7N]

I’ve been thinking about getting a M Scaler and calling it a day also…. is there a night & day difference?

get good optical chain with chord and ditch USB.....Im out

 

[GuiltyRocker]

I’ve been thinking about getting a M Scaler and calling it a day also…. is there a night & day difference?

Get it, I have zero regrets, I would buy it again and again, one of the best pieces of gear I've ever bought. It made it all come together, it is so good it made me want to study why it's so good, I read Shannon theory and also digital sampling theory and all. I now understand interpolation filters, dither, bit length, noise shapers, PCM and DSD because it made me wonder. It is that good.

 

[beardyweirdy]

Could any Qutest users please help:

I am using a Qutest with a Beyerdynamic A2 amp and feeding the Qutest with my iPhone (Tidal) via USB.
At the moment I can control the volume on my amp and iPhone. Is there anyway of fixing the volume to amp only?
Thanks

 

[Garpov]

Just leave the iPhone volume at max and adjust on the amp?

 

[beardyweirdy]

I thought that; any idea if 2 sources controlling the sound will have a detrimental effect?

 

[George Hincapie]

Ignore

 

[iulian_sip]

Hello,
I would like you to help me with a small problem.
I have a puppy that chewed the micro B USB connector on the power cord from a Farad Super 3 power supply.
I would like to replace this micro USB, unfortunately I don't know how it is pin out.
I have a Qutest and I would like you to tell me the + and GND pin configuration.
Thank you very much.
Iulian

 

[technobear]

Hello,
I would like you to help me with a small problem.
I have a puppy that chewed the micro B USB connector on the power cord from a Farad Super 3 power supply.
I would like to replace this micro USB, unfortunately I don't know how it is pin out.
I have a Qutest and I would like you to tell me the + and GND pin configuration.
Thank you very much.
Iulian

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=microusb+wiring+diagram

 

[iulian_sip]

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=microusb+wiring+diagram

Thank you very much.

 

[KBee]

I'm using my Qutest DAC mostly with foobar2000 and while I'm finding it to be great, I'm concerned I may not have it configured optimally.

One thing I've noticed is that it's quite slow, a slight lag, when skipping to the next song, or when seeking from one part of a track to another. I'm also unsure on how to best configure some of the settings.

The other thing I've noticed is that the input light never changes from green, whether I'm playing 16-bit 44.1khz music or 24-bit 96khz. Maybe I'm missing something, but I was under the impression the light was supposed to change with sample rate.

I have also occasionally, when going to use audio in another software (e.g. MPC-HC or Spotify) after listening in foobar2000, have been greeted with loud white noise instead of my audio. Opening and closing the software or, on one occasion, having to restart the Qutest has solved this. Not sure what could be causing this.

Here's my settings:

• I'm using the ASIO Chord 1.05, I'm guessing the ASIO is the one to go for with the Chord? I've tried WASAPI but I have no idea if that's transparent, it does seek a little bit faster. (Shouldn't things be faster with ASIO?)
• Buffer length I've tried at the minimum of 50ms and up to 4000ms with no discernable difference for the most part although very low led to it falling over itself at the start of songs, as I guess is to be expected.
• I've tried checking and unchecking "Use 64-bit ASIO drivers" with no discernable difference. My Windows is 64-bit so I have it enabled.
• I have real-time process priority enabled.
• In Windows settings I'm at 24-bit, 96000hz.

I sometimes feel it's struggling to "keep up" with the music, there's no noticeable skips (except for starting a song if I set the buffer too low) but it's just a feeling I have. This may be a placebo.

I'm not quite as nuanced in the intricacies of the various settings as some of you, so apologies if these are obvious points, but what can I improve upon here? I'm using a decent machine, I do have various other audio drivers installed for various other devices I only occasionally use for different things.