I'm building a wine and listening room and the set up has no DAC. Chord has a solid reputation so trial? Nothing gimmicky like a phone, it will do one thing convert music. To me once you get into this price range, good price is relative...
everyone has their own needs ....happy to hear you have no doubt
I'm waiting for a test instead
I'm curious to see if finally this new DAC has not the problems of the previous models.
as for the Qute HD, Qute2, and also for the new Qutest, Rob Watts has stated that it does not need an external LPS ... google it, if you do not believe me.
to my specific question Rob answers vaguely (see in this Jan 16, 2018 at 11:48 AM Post # 254, a few weeks ago). so even Rob Watts is not 100% sure.
the new Qutest may look very interesting. now it needs 5V for power, but what i really do not like is the micro USB connector used for power it. You can find a lot of mobiles not charged because of damaged connector or bad contacts. so I do not think it is an appropriate choice, when used only for power (no data) and there are no space problems.
No USB-battery (powerbank) is really linear voltage. there is no 5V battery, all of those powerbanks use an internal 3.7 volt battery and switching DC / DC converting circuitry, a really good LPS will be the best choice if needed. so I will not use a powerbank for a system not plan to be mobile.
if, to get the most out of this DAC, you must also add the cost of an external LPS, the budget must be increased by 2/3 hundred dollars or more, depends on the system adopted ...I do not find this interesting at all, certainly it is not interesting for anyone's wallet.
so i wait and will see....