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Chord Electronics Qutest DAC - Official Thread
May 24, 2018 at 2:50 AM Post #1,472 of 6,743
Zzt231gr said:
They seem great.Any pics without grill and further?Do I see acoustic treatment behind?
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Here goes. Simple diffusers at the back. I oughta get some bass traps too.



 
May 24, 2018 at 3:08 AM Post #1,474 of 6,743
15271456306357665873748334922516.jpg
15271456065797108625988934158391.jpg Just got this for my PS4 connection.Anyone has experience with it?
 
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May 24, 2018 at 6:19 AM Post #1,476 of 6,743
So I have been listening to my Chord Qutest with a nice Linear Power Supply ( heavy medical grade LPS with two 5V 1A outputs ) for a couple of days now, it definitely sounds different. Whereas the differences between 1V/3V and optical/coax were pretty small, the LPS had a much bigger impact on the sound. I will certainly be able to tell them apart in a Blind test. I started listening after the LPS had been on for about 6 hours and the sound was terrible, bass was gone, it sounded cold and bright and the soundstage was less deep, with sound seemingly stuck to the loudspeakers. Yesterday I listened again and the gap was certainly smaller, but still I much prefer the sound with the stock power supply. Later today I will give the LPS one more chance to redeem itself, but if it sounds like yesterday I will switch back to the stock power supply. Maybe the power from the LPS is less clean than the stock power supply or maybe 1A is not powerful enough, I don't know. According to Chord the quality of the power supply shouldn't have an impact on the sound quality but it definitely did in my system. Feel free to try one for yourself, maybe you will have better luck, but I would strongly advice to buy from a shop that has a solid return policy. I'm going to keep it powered on for another week before I will decide to send it back or not.

So my observations ( and preferences ) so far are:
- BNC > Optical ( from the same source )
- 3V > 1V ( with my amp )
- Stock power supply >>> LPS
- Incisive neutral filter > other filters
- Burn-in has a significant effect on sound
- Burn-in time is no more than 24h
 
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May 24, 2018 at 6:41 AM Post #1,477 of 6,743
Actually my advice is that the supplied PSU is as good as a battery supply (based on my listening with my set-up -YMMV) - which gives the lowest amount of RF noise - and that LPS supplies is likely to sound worse, as they are often transparent to RF noise from the mains - the supplied switcher has RF filters. My advice is to try a USB battery bank, and if it sounds identical to the supplied PSU, then don't bother "upgrading" with a LPS...

The hard bright sound is characteristic of more random RF noise entering your system, creating more noise floor modulation, which makes it sound brighter, and if bad, harder and grainy.
 
May 24, 2018 at 7:10 AM Post #1,478 of 6,743
Rob Watts said:
Actually my advice is that the supplied PSU is as good as a battery supply (based on my listening with my set-up -YMMV) - which gives the lowest amount of RF noise - and that LPS supplies is likely to sound worse, as they are often transparent to RF noise from the mains - the supplied switcher has RF filters. My advice is to try a USB battery bank, and if it sounds identical to the supplied PSU, then don't bother "upgrading" with a LPS...

The hard bright sound is characteristic of more random RF noise entering your system, creating more noise floor modulation, which makes it sound brighter, and if bad, harder and grainy.
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Thank you for your reply ! You have said that and I should have listened.

In my defence in the interview with Dan George in Hi-fi choice it was worded differently: " Like it's predecessor, the 2Qute, our digital consultant Rob Watts spent a long time designing the internal power filtering and regulation so that the external power supply could not influence the sound."

Still in both versions you adviced us not to change the stock power supply, will try an external power bank but honestly I'm in no hurry.

I think you designed an amazing device and from the things that we can change, power output voltage, inputs and filters none had any significant impact on the sound quality, it's only when I made an external change the sound signature changed dramatically.

I'm now going to enjoy the Qutest like you designed it, with the stock power supply.
 
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May 24, 2018 at 12:46 PM Post #1,479 of 6,743
I'm looking to possibly pick up a Qutest and had a question, is there any benefit at all to using the Qutest over using the Hugo2 just as a DAC? Is there maybe a better implementation of the input modules or some processing changes that would give the Qutest a slight edge over the Hugo2 as a DAC only?

I'm probably not going to be taking the device anywhere as it's for a home headphone system, but if I can get the Hugo2 at a discount for not too much more I would rather have the capability of the Hugo2.
 
May 24, 2018 at 4:46 PM Post #1,481 of 6,743
Zzt231gr said:
Wow!Sexy.

You better put those diffusers behind you.They are useless at that point.And the best bung for your money would be side wall absorption.Enjoy!
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Without knowing the depth of the room it would be unwise to dismiss it as useless.

Anyway, I would recommend isotek's system setup cd to anyone looking to evaluate the effectiveness of their room treatment. http://www.isoteksystems.com/products/essentials/ultimate-system-set-up-disc/ Unless of course they have access to better tools specifically designed to optimise room acoustics.
 
May 24, 2018 at 7:05 PM Post #1,482 of 6,743
Rob Watts said:
Actually my advice is that the supplied PSU is as good as a battery supply (based on my listening with my set-up -YMMV) - which gives the lowest amount of RF noise - and that LPS supplies is likely to sound worse, as they are often transparent to RF noise from the mains - the supplied switcher has RF filters. My advice is to try a USB battery bank, and if it sounds identical to the supplied PSU, then don't bother "upgrading" with a LPS...

The hard bright sound is characteristic of more random RF noise entering your system, creating more noise floor modulation, which makes it sound brighter, and if bad, harder and grainy.
Click to expand...

Thank you Rob!!!

My issue of discontent with the Qutest was the brightness that I was getting. I was using an Ifi IUSB 3.0 for power which incorporates the Ifi Ipower, which was then plugged into a power conditioner. After all the swapping back and forth with cables etc, I kept the power part of the chain because I thought that normal budget looking plug couldn't possibly produce power as nice and clean as my setup.

After seeing your post, I tried it out, and brightness is at normal levels. The change was not subtle at all. Like night and day. Back that to the sound signature that made me love my headphones. Toes now can't stop tapping. Thanks!
 
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May 25, 2018 at 1:43 AM Post #1,483 of 6,743
jayz said:
Without knowing the depth of the room it would be unwise to dismiss it as useless.

Anyway, I would recommend isotek's system setup cd to anyone looking to evaluate the effectiveness of their room treatment. http://www.isoteksystems.com/products/essentials/ultimate-system-set-up-disc/ Unless of course they have access to better tools specifically designed to optimise room acoustics.
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Diffusers seldomly work below 400hz and they are useless at rear first reflection point.You are right about the rear part of the room though...I haven't seen it-just guessing.
 
May 25, 2018 at 2:05 PM Post #1,484 of 6,743
I still can't believe how much different the Chord Qutest sounds with the stock power supply compared to my Linear power supply, a medical grade low noise power supply from Vitec, made and designed in Germany. The difference is big and immediately noticeable. This tells me that the power does affect the sound quality ( maybe more than Chord would like to admit ). Maybe I chose the worst linear power supply in the world for this application, but I don't think so, this thing is build like a tank, is very heavy and wasn't cheap either. The Qutest with the stock power supply doesn't sound bright or sterile, not even a tiny bit. The first thing I notice with the LPS isn't even the brightness, it's the lack of bass and the reduced soundstage and instrument separation. I'm currently using the Qutest in my main loudspeaker based system and I literally can't believe how good the soundstage is, just wan't possible in this room before. I paid a lot of attention to speaker placement and room treatment but a big portion of my roof is glas and one of the speakers is next to a big metal radiator, hardly ideal and still the soundstage is now more than respectable. Right now I'm listening to Radiohead's latest album and it sounds amazing, it's very hard staying concentrated writing this. Earlier today I listened to Al Green's album Call Me, Illmatic by Nas, Crescent by John Coltrane and even some Daft Punk and I can't find any fault with the sound, this is exactly what I was looking for to upgrade my system. I'm trying to find an album that sounds compressed or messy but so far it has handled everything with easy, Verdi's Requiem or Igg Pop no problem. This DAC has an uncanny ability to unravel the most complex music and somehow make sense of it all. Music just flows, rythm is excellent and it's hard to keep my feet still. This is honestly one of the best purchases I've made in years and that LPS is already back on it's way to Germany.

If you've never listened to the Chord Qutest with the stock power supply definitely give it try, you may be surprised !
 
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