Chord Electronics Qutest DAC - Official Thread

[Atriya]

Hi! Be sure u try driving your HP ditect out of Qutest. I also use a 800 which with 300ohm is perfectly suited. Im controlling my vollume digitally with foobar. No amp.. no loss. Qutest has actually a powerful amp on board. I made a simple rca to jack adapter for it.

Ever since I discovered that the Qutest can drive headphones directly from the RCA outputs, this has become my staple. Currently driving Focal Utopia 2022 from it, and it works beautifully. I've even custom-ordered a dual-RCA to Focal-LEMO headphone cable (from Lavricables), to avoid using an adapter as @Reactcore does.

It works so well that I now wonder why anyone who isn't using a super-hard-to-drive headphone (HE6/Susvara/etc) bothers to use an amp at all. It seems that the vast majority of headphones can be driven with 3V output of the Qutest (reducing to 2V or even 1V as I do for the sensitive Utopia). I use HQPlayer for volume control. I can understand using a tube amp for an intentionally colored sound, but why would anyone (unless using Susvara et al. as mentioned above) want to use a SS amp with the Qutest? When I used my Burson Soloist 3XP, the sound was noticeably less transparent.

 

[Reactcore]

Ever since I discovered that the Qutest can drive headphones directly from the RCA outputs, this has become my staple. Currently driving Focal Utopia 2022 from it, and it works beautifully. I've even custom-ordered a dual-RCA to Focal-LEMO headphone cable (from Lavricables), to avoid using an adapter as @Reactcore does.

It works so well that I now wonder why anyone who isn't using a super-hard-to-drive headphone (HE6/Susvara/etc) bothers to use an amp at all. It seems that the vast majority of headphones can be driven with 3V output of the Qutest (reducing to 2V or even 1V as I do for the sensitive Utopia). I use HQPlayer for volume control. I can understand using a tube amp for an intentionally colored sound, but why would anyone (unless using Susvara et al. as mentioned above) want to use a SS amp with the Qutest? When I used my Burson Soloist 3XP, the sound was noticeably less transparent.

I have also made a special RCA to HD800 plugs cable.. and even modified my Qutest internal PSU section with buffer caps for more dynamics

 

[Atriya]

I have also made a special RCA to HD800 plugs cable.. and even modified my Qutest internal PSU section with buffer caps for more dynamics

Interesting, do you think the need for the buffer caps mod depends on the headphone? For example my Focal has 80 ohm impedance vs. I think 300 ohm for your HD800.

 

[Reactcore]

Interesting, do you think the need for the buffer caps mod depends on the headphone? For example my Focal has 80 ohm impedance vs. I think 300 ohm for your HD800.

See My post earlier in this thread.

I think lower impedance headphones benefit more than higher ohm ones. (they take more current)

Qutest output stage is good capable but the psu regulation section is designed for line drive and lacks a bit current reserve.

 

[Atriya]

See My post earlier in this thread.

I think lower impedance headphones benefit more than higher ohm ones. (they take more current)

Qutest output stage is good capable but the psu regulation section is designed for line drive and lacks a bit current reserve.

Interesting, thanks. I don't think I'll risk doing this mod, but things still sound very good without it.

 

[Sixthreefive]

@Reactcore inspired me to try driving my Fostex TH-600 direclty from my Qutest's RCA out. The TH-600 has an impedance of 25 Ω and a sensitivity of 94dB. Output voltage for the Qutest was set to 2V. Qutest was connect via USB to the PC which controlled the volume through Windows. I hate to admit it but this sounded better, more transparent and had more depth, than when going through my Burson Soloist 3XP.

Unfortunately I've switch back to driving the TH-600 with the Soloist because I'm just unsure if direct driving my headphones from the Qutest long term would result in any damage. I'll get a TT2 one day but until then I'd sure love to direct drive my headphones with the Qutest if I knew it was completely safe.

 

[Rob Watts]

@Reactcore inspired me to try driving my Fostex TH-600 direclty from my Qutest's RCA out. The TH-600 has an impedance of 25 Ω and a sensitivity of 94dB. Output voltage for the Qutest was set to 2V. Qutest was connect via USB to the PC which controlled the volume through Windows. I hate to admit it but this sounded better, more transparent and had more depth, than when going through my Burson Soloist 3XP.

Unfortunately I've switch back to driving the TH-600 with the Soloist because I'm just unsure if direct driving my headphones from the Qutest long term would result in any damage. I'll get a TT2 one day but until then I'd sure love to direct drive my headphones with the Qutest if I knew it was completely safe.

Qutest uses the same output stage as Mojo so will safely drive 25 ohm loads - so no need to worry about driving your TH-600.

 

[Sixthreefive]

Thank you @Rob Watts. I truly appreciated your response.

 

[HalloweenJack23]

Just had this email from Fanthorpes here in the UK :

“Chord Electronics prices are set for a noticeable jump on the 1st of December.

With that in mind we wanted to give you the heads up. If you are thinking about purchasing a piece of Chord, now is the time to do so.

The price rise will hit every model of Chord Electronics, except the Mojo2 and Poly.”

Second price rise in a year I believe… this chip shortage crises (I presume this is likely the reason?) is really hitting hard :/ Feel fortunate my order for a Hugo 2 has already gone through - just waiting for a delivery date.

 

[drummerdimitri]

I am considering pairing a Qutest DAC to my Niimbus US 5 Pro headphone amplifier.

Currently feeding the amp balanced out from my Questyle CMA400i and it sounds great! Would the Qutest be a substantial upgrade since I also own a Mojo and it is inferior to the Questyle as a DAC.

 

[Reactcore]

I am considering pairing a Qutest DAC to my Niimbus US 5 Pro headphone amplifier.

Currently feeding the amp balanced out from my Questyle CMA400i and it sounds great! Would the Qutest be a substantial upgrade since I also own a Mojo and it is inferior to the Questyle as a DAC.

Until you hook Qutest or Mojo to the 400i Amp section.. but it needs a modification as you can see in my thread in my signature.

 

[drummerdimitri]

Until you hook Qutest or Mojo to the 400i Amp section.. but it needs a modification as you can see in my thread in my signature.

I think you misunderstood.

I'm asking if the Qutest DAC would be an upgrade from my CMA400i DAC for my Niimbus amplifier.

 

[Reactcore]

I think you misunderstood.

I'm asking if the Qutest DAC would be an upgrade from my CMA400i DAC for my Niimbus amplifier.

In my ears is quite a step up from 400i's AKM chip. I could do fast A-B on my Questyle switching between internal dac and both Mojo and Qutest
On Niimbus i expect a similar difference

 

[Atriya]

@Reactcore I noticed that if power is cut to the Qutest while headphones are still connected (directly), there is a loud "thump" sound in both channels. Hopefully nothing that can damage headphones? Happened in both 1V and 2V mode, thankfully I don't use 3V.

 

[Reactcore]

@Reactcore I noticed that if power is cut to the Qutest while headphones are still connected (directly), there is a loud "thump" sound in both channels. Hopefully nothing that can damage headphones? Happened in both 1V and 2V mode, thankfully I don't use 3V.

I had the same.
I didnt worry about it with my 300ohm senns Probably why Qutest has no powerswitch and is said to just leave it on.