[STR-1]

My Qutest arrived yesterday and is getting some run time before I do any critical listening. Next up will likely be a 200mm Curious USB to connect the Qutest to the MacBook Air.

I want to thank Alan and Jason at The Source AV for taking good care of me on my visit to their showroom. Impressive array of high end headphones and electronics!

Neat setup, and nice artwork.

 

[Christer]

Guys, what RCA cables are you using for Qutest connection to the amp? I tried here Chord C-Line 0.5m:

Then I tried a QED Performance 40 1m:

The Chord C Line is somehow warmer and has a bigger soundstage but the QED Performance 40 is more analytical and somehow colder, maybe a little bit more detailed in the detriment of musicality. The C Line is new and I will let it run for a few hours before making a final assessment, but I would like to know what other cables are you using, and of course, if you have an opinion about these two. Thanks!

Nice to see some decent sharp hi res photography here that makes it possible to see things in detail compared to some of the videos posted here recently.
As far as rca cables go it does indeed seem like they matter and that Qutest scales well.
When I bought my Qutest I also bought the next level up from the ones you have in your system obviously.
I can't say how the Chord Clearway I bought and yours compare ,but I have the Clearway which I used for the duration of my travels in Asia just to be able to listen to my Qutest via my Benchmark headphone amp.
Though after having compared it via my main large speaker based system with electrostatic speakers and 900watts per channel amp I can clearly hear that yes the Clearway is good but Colorado is better and Chord Indigo Blue is even better in my system.

Guys, what RCA cables are you using for Qutest connection to the amp? I tried here Chord C-Line 0.5m:

Then I tried a QED Performance 40 1m:

The Chord C Line is somehow warmer and has a bigger soundstage but the QED Performance 40 is more analytical and somehow colder, maybe a little bit more detailed in the detriment of musicality. The C Line is new and I will let it run for a few hours before making a final assessment, but I would like to know what other cables are you using, and of course, if you have an opinion about these two. Thanks!

 

[OctavianH]

Many thanks @Christer for the recommendation but for me an important factor is also flexibility. As you can see in the picture I do not have very much space between my tube amp and the Qutest.
What can you tell me about the Clearway regarding this aspect? I might take into consideration to buy it if I will know that is has a decent flexibility and it might fit into the space the C Line has now.
I know that this should not be a main choosing factor but we have to live with what we have and my current setup is located on my gaming rig desk, and it looks somehow like:

Until I will be able to obtain more space or rearange stuff I will have to deal with space limitation.

 

[jwbrent]

Neat setup, and nice artwork.

Thank you!

 

[dawktah2]

The music I told about is not modern. The are a lot such junk music from 70x and 80x too.
You can watch a number of different audiophile system videos in YouTube, and you will understand what I'm talking about...

Sorry I meant to post to you as a reply:

The jazz pianist Joe Sample's album "Invitation" from 1993 is a very good blend of jazz piano and orchestra accompaniment. Give a listen and if a similar recommendation for me and others to try please post.

What are your not junk recommendations?

 

[gordec]

Anyone has any recommendations in terms of fixing the USB output from PC? I currently using Alienware R7 i5-8600-> Jriver Media -> DAC -> MHA100.

For every DAC I have tried, Gumby, Qutest, MHA100 integrated, ifi Black Label, the sound will sometimes clip and stutter. Also the output is clearly noisier than the Toslink and Coaxial from the R7. I have tried moving music to PCie NME drive, turn on virus scanner, messing with all setting, but the end result is the same. Is it possible that the USB implementation is just poor for the R7? I also tried Foobar, BTW, same thing. I thought about getting something like Singxer or ifi microUSB 3.0 to clean up the signal, but if the original output is crappy, how much can you “clean.”

 

[AlexB73]

Sorry I meant to post to you as a reply:

The jazz pianist Joe Sample's album "Invitation" from 1993 is a very good blend of jazz piano and orchestra accompaniment. Give a listen and if a similar recommendation for me and others to try please post.

What are your not junk recommendations?

To many staff to recommend... I have 2500 CDs and 700LPs at home. I don't use streaming.
I just bought 5 Original Albums at Blue Note of Herbie Hancock
And "Chet" LP of Chet Baker.
I also listened a lot of classical.
My latest favorites:
The Heifetz / Piatigorsky Concerts - Album Collection
and
Busch Quartet - Beethoven late quartets. CD remastered by Pearl

 

[Zzt231gr]

^^What about "Art Pepper meets the rhythm section"?I find this recording superb!

 

[azabu]

Anyone has any recommendations in terms of fixing the USB output from PC? I currently using Alienware R7 i5-8600-> Jriver Media -> DAC -> MHA100.

For every DAC I have tried, Gumby, Qutest, MHA100 integrated, ifi Black Label, the sound will sometimes clip and stutter. Also the output is clearly noisier than the Toslink and Coaxial from the R7. I have tried moving music to PCie NME drive, turn on virus scanner, messing with all setting, but the end result is the same. Is it possible that the USB implementation is just poor for the R7? I also tried Foobar, BTW, same thing. I thought about getting something like Singxer or ifi microUSB 3.0 to clean up the signal, but if the original output is crappy, how much can you “clean.”

I'd recommend the Iso Regen or original Regen by Uptone, it's a cheap improvement to recondition the USB signal and well worth the investment. Have a read of a few threads on Computer Audiophile. If you can swing it, also pick up the LPS 1.2 as a bundle pack. You can use the LPS 1.2 on either the Qutest or the Iso Regen.

Roon has a headroom management to minimise clipping, you could always trial the software.

 

[naynay]

Anyone has any recommendations in terms of fixing the USB output from PC? I currently using Alienware R7 i5-8600-> Jriver Media -> DAC -> MHA100.

For every DAC I have tried, Gumby, Qutest, MHA100 integrated, ifi Black Label, the sound will sometimes clip and stutter. Also the output is clearly noisier than the Toslink and Coaxial from the R7. I have tried moving music to PCie NME drive, turn on virus scanner, messing with all setting, but the end result is the same. Is it possible that the USB implementation is just poor for the R7? I also tried Foobar, BTW, same thing. I thought about getting something like Singxer or ifi microUSB 3.0 to clean up the signal, but if the original output is crappy, how much can you “clean.”

Cheapest option to try and this converts USB to Digital Coaxial at 384khz to connect to BNC input on Qutest which is the maximum and woks fine as using it myself.

http://cpc.farnell.com/cyp/au-d6-384/usb-dac-384khz-24-bit/dp/AV27094?CMP=TREML007-005

 

[Rhinomyte76]

Anyone has any recommendations in terms of fixing the USB output from PC? I currently using Alienware R7 i5-8600-> Jriver Media -> DAC -> MHA100.

For every DAC I have tried, Gumby, Qutest, MHA100 integrated, ifi Black Label, the sound will sometimes clip and stutter. Also the output is clearly noisier than the Toslink and Coaxial from the R7. I have tried moving music to PCie NME drive, turn on virus scanner, messing with all setting, but the end result is the same. Is it possible that the USB implementation is just poor for the R7? I also tried Foobar, BTW, same thing. I thought about getting something like Singxer or ifi microUSB 3.0 to clean up the signal, but if the original output is crappy, how much can you “clean.”

Before you go out and spend more money on gear you may want to consider the following:
a) PCs in general and usb ports in particular can be particularly noisy. However, there are some things that can help. You may want to mess around with your port assignments on device manager to see if you can tell if "loud" devices like mice and keyboards and other peripherals are running off the same one as your audio. Additionally, programs like fidelizer can reduce background activities which may help. There is a free version without all the bells and whistles. http://www.fidelizer-audio.com/ Also, I am a long time supporter of JRiver, but it is more susceptible to background noise than some programs in my experience. HQPlayer is very quiet, and again you can run a trial version without dropping any cash. https://www.signalyst.com/consumer.html Not nearly as sexy or user friendly as JRiver but the sound and silence is better I think. Finally, is your PC sharing the same power source with your audio? Often with PC's the power sharing of the PC, Audio, peripherals, etc can create noise. At a minimum, I may try plugging the DAC into a different wall socket than that running my PC power strip to see if that makes a change. Some people have had a lot of success with the IFi's AC purifier. If you are in the states you could order it on amazon risk free, try it, and if it has no effect, return it. https://www.amazon.com/IFI-iPurifier-Mains-Audio-Eliminator/dp/B07835J8XF One last comment, I wouldn't rule out the effect of something like Micro USB 3.0 or the ISO Regen, or different USB cables that isolate the data and the power signals for that matter. My bet is that your data is coming from the PC just fine, its just coming with a lot of crap too. You have to strip that crap away. Often, this is trial and error. Also, you will get to the point of diminishing returns on investment. Good luck.

 

[gordec]

Before you go out and spend more money on gear you may want to consider the following:
a) PCs in general and usb ports in particular can be particularly noisy. However, there are some things that can help. You may want to mess around with your port assignments on device manager to see if you can tell if "loud" devices like mice and keyboards and other peripherals are running off the same one as your audio. Additionally, programs like fidelizer can reduce background activities which may help. There is a free version without all the bells and whistles. http://www.fidelizer-audio.com/ Also, I am a long time supporter of JRiver, but it is more susceptible to background noise than some programs in my experience. HQPlayer is very quiet, and again you can run a trial version without dropping any cash. https://www.signalyst.com/consumer.html Not nearly as sexy or user friendly as JRiver but the sound and silence is better I think. Finally, is your PC sharing the same power source with your audio? Often with PC's the power sharing of the PC, Audio, peripherals, etc can create noise. At a minimum, I may try plugging the DAC into a different wall socket than that running my PC power strip to see if that makes a change. Some people have had a lot of success with the IFi's AC purifier. If you are in the states you could order it on amazon risk free, try it, and if it has no effect, return it. https://www.amazon.com/IFI-iPurifier-Mains-Audio-Eliminator/dp/B07835J8XF One last comment, I wouldn't rule out the effect of something like Micro USB 3.0 or the ISO Regen, or different USB cables that isolate the data and the power signals for that matter. My bet is that your data is coming from the PC just fine, its just coming with a lot of crap too. You have to strip that crap away. Often, this is trial and error. Also, you will get to the point of diminishing returns on investment. Good luck.

Thanks. I haven't tried those things you mentioned. I'm going to try. You think stuttering and hanging off music playback can also be explained by noise? These issues only happen with USB DAC never when I play directly from the sound card.

 

[Rhinomyte76]

Thanks. I haven't tried those things you mentioned. I'm going to try. You think stuttering and hanging off music playback can also be explained by noise? These issues only happen with USB DAC never when I play directly from the sound card.

Hard to diagnose, but I would suspect that it is a faulty USB cable or JRiver. Prior to the most recent update, I was getting occasional clipping. Also, you can increase the chances of this depending upon your settings. I'd be curious to see what happens if you went back to the prior version that has had a lot of time and updates to flush out the bugs. How often does this happen? Have you given your sound card an even comparison in terms of time?

Also, your sound card is presumably attached via PCIe, which has no issue. You could use something like this https://www.asus.com/us/Motherboard-Accessory/USB_31_TYPEA_CARD/ which would also use PCIE, and would ensure that no other devices are running off the same USB controller. Finally, it would rule out the issue of having faulty USB ports. Speaking of which, Have you tried difference USB ports on your pc. 2.0 vs. 3.0. for example. It would be interested to see what if any effect changing the port had. IFi for example recommends older generation ports when people are having issues with their products.

 

[gordec]

Hard to diagnose, but I would suspect that it is a faulty USB cable or JRiver. Prior to the most recent update, I was getting occasional clipping. Also, you can increase the chances of this depending upon your settings. I'd be curious to see what happens if you went back to the prior version that has had a lot of time and updates to flush out the bugs. How often does this happen? Have you given your sound card an even comparison in terms of time?

Also, your sound card is presumably attached via PCIe, which has no issue. You could use something like this https://www.asus.com/us/Motherboard-Accessory/USB_31_TYPEA_CARD/ which would also use PCIE, and would ensure that no other devices are running off the same USB controller. Finally, it would rule out the issue of having faulty USB ports. Speaking of which, Have you tried difference USB ports on your pc. 2.0 vs. 3.0. for example. It would be interested to see what if any effect changing the port had. IFi for example recommends older generation ports when people are having issues with their products.

It shouldn't be jriver because foobar does the same thing. I have tried 2 different USB cables and switching between USB 2.0 and 3.0. however, I use the 2 other usb2.0 ports for keyboard and mouse. I'm going to try to unplug them all. I think buying a separate pcie USB card makes a lot of sense. Thanks.

 

[gordec]

Anyone know what's the best output level for Qutest to feed MHA100 based on specs? The specifications for the amp is:
Sensitivity (Unbalanced): 300mV
Sensitivity (Balanced): 600mV
Signal To Noise Ratio: 105dB
Input Impedance (Balanced / Unbalanced): 25K/25K

I'm not sure how to interpret it. I feel 3V sounds the best when I'm playing around it.