[GreenBow]

Ah I have a Theta Ds Pro Basic 3a, basicaly the closest you can get to a Gen V without Gen V pricing.

Ahh, I think I came across Theta from another Head Fier. Aren't they another company that uses FPGA?

I have the Hugo 2 and it rocks. That's pretty much all I can add. I am thinking about buying a Qutest though.

 

[Christer]

Rob is a fan of transparency and his own work therefore he recommends the Hugo2 over the Qutest+amp for driving headphones. That doesn’t mean the Qutest will be terrible with headphones through a seperate amp depending on an individual’s tastes or preference for an external headphone amp, as @Nicholasheadfi2 concluded in his post.

Hmm, imho Qutest is actually not at all "terrible", but on the contrary, very good with headphones.

Moreover with difficult to drive planars a high quality powerful headphone amp in combination with Qutest will to my ears at least, deliver a clearly better both fuller and more realistic sounding end result than the same headphones will directly via HUGO 2 or even with the same amp connected to H2.
I listen a lot to non compressed large scale classical symphonic and Opera music and HUGO 2 is both thinner and at heavy climaxes audibly more congested than Qutest via both my HD800 and HEKV2.

And with a headphone like Susvara HUGO 2 is simply not an option at all IMO.
I would not even use Susvara with DAVE on its own.

If I remember correctly Rob seems to prefer IEMs and easy to drive over ear headphones like Audioquest Nighhawks and similar.
But to me,good as they are for their price level and size/ convenience they are not as resolving as bigger and pricier dynamic or planar headphones.
When I did my first comparisons between H2 and Qutest I also listened to the Audioquests and Audezes and other mid-priced headphones and they often sounded very nice, but would not really compare with for example HEKV2 or Utopias when things got very busy and loud as so often wth symphonic music.

Budget headphones break up and show their limitations when challenged by really complex richly scored acoustic symphonic music.
Much as I hate to have to admit it, there is a quite clear correlation between price and SQ as far as headphones are concerned.
And Qutest is, although not the best DAC I have heard, at least good enough to benefit from really high quality headphones.
My Qutest is certainly good enough to let me quite easily hear how much more resolved my HEKV2 sounds over my HD800 when things get really busy with really well recorded hi res material!
But I have to admit that I sometimes prefer my HD800 with lower res Youtube and other streamed
music.
Why ?
Because it can sound slightly warmer and more forgiving with less than stellar recordings and formats .
Cheers Christer

 

[GreenBow]

Some people with the Hugo 2 used an adapter from RCA to a headphone socket. You could maybe use one on the Qutest, and then use digital volume control on your source. Not sure if that will mean music is strictly 100% bit-perfect though.

 

[AlexB73]

Yes software volume control is not bit perfect and mostly bad implemented.
But 100% analog headphones amplifiers have analog volume control.
Why do you need to use software volume control if you use Qutest and external headphone amplifier?

 

[maxh22]

Hmm, imho Qutest is actually not at all "terrible", but on the contrary, very good with headphones.

Moreover with difficult to drive planars a high quality powerful headphone amp in combination with Qutest will to my ears at least, deliver a clearly better both fuller and more realistic sounding end result than the same headphones will directly via HUGO 2 or even with the same amp connected to H2.
I listen a lot to non compressed large scale classical symphonic and Opera music and HUGO 2 is both thinner and at heavy climaxes audibly more congested than Qutest via both my HD800 and HEKV2.

And with a headphone like Susvara HUGO 2 is simply not an option at all IMO.
I would not even use Susvara with DAVE on its own.

If I remember correctly Rob seems to prefer IEMs and easy to drive over ear headphones like Audioquest Nighhawks and similar.
But to me,good as they are for their price level and size/ convenience they are not as resolving as bigger and pricier dynamic or planar headphones.
When I did my first comparisons between H2 and Qutest I also listened to the Audioquests and Audezes and other mid-priced headphones and they often sounded very nice, but would not really compare with for example HEKV2 or Utopias when things got very busy and loud as so often wth symphonic music.

Budget headphones break up and show their limitations when challenged by really complex richly scored acoustic symphonic music.
Much as I hate to have to admit it, there is a quite clear correlation between price and SQ as far as headphones are concerned.
And Qutest is, although not the best DAC I have heard, at least good enough to benefit from really high quality headphones.
My Qutest is certainly good enough to let me quite easily hear how much more resolved my HEKV2 sounds over my HD800 when things get really busy with really well recorded hi res material!
But I have to admit that I sometimes prefer my HD800 with lower res Youtube and other streamed
music.
Why ?
Because it can sound slightly warmer and more forgiving with less than stellar recordings and formats .
Cheers Christer

Why not just get a TT2 and sell off the Qutest and Benchmark to recover some funds? It looks like it might be the only all in one solution that might actually work for you and it will drive all your headphones.

 

[Tiano L]

Into my Qutest I have used Bluesound Node 2 (spdif coax and toslink), SOTM sms200, and Lumin D1 (spdif bnc). For me, the Qutest sounds best with its galvanically isolated inputs. The SOTM via USB sounded supremely natural, followed by the Node2 with Lifatec glass toslink. Lumin D1 sounds marginally more 'tense' and digital (less engaging) by comparison. The sound quality delta between SOTM and Node2 was greater than between Node2 and D1 which is marginal.

Unfortunately I can't live with the SOTM as I want to be able to switch between local files, Tidal and Spotify without messing in a browser. It was also much slower in operation and locked up more than the Bluesound/Lumin units both of which have great control apps and seamless library/streaming service access.

I'm looking at the Lumin U1 mini or an Auralic Aries femto to provide the best combo of sound and usability for me, hoping that either will be as good or better sounding than the SOTM. If you only use local files or only one of the streaming services then I would highly recommend the SOTM based on sound quality alone paired with Qutest.

Has anyone compared these or would have any other recommendation for network transports for Qutest? Minimum requirements are local NAS/UPnP files, Tidal and Spotify with seamless switching between each and a decent control app. Anyone heard/used a Pro-ject Stream Box S2 Ultra, or even tried a Cambridge CXN (assuming there's no point to going for 851N if the internal DAC is not used)?

Just curious: how does the Lumin D1 (using its own dac) compare to the Node2 + Qutest?

 

[Christer]

Why not just get a TT2 and sell off the Qutest and Benchmark to recover some funds? It looks like it might be the only all in one solution that might actually work for you and it will drive all your headphones.

Thanks for the advice.
That will of course be something I will take a closer look at this winter in Asia, together with careful auditions of how well Qutest works and sounds with an M-scaler.
But apart from my Benchmark amp I also have a couple of other quite capable class A headphone amps that pair quite well with Qutest.
And if anything an M-scaler has higher priority for me than only doubling the number of taps from Qutest to TT2 would mean.
From my earlier trials I have strong reasons to suspect that M-scaling would add way more for me than a TT2 on its own would.
Cheers Christer

 

[gad1]

Does Chord recommend leaving the Qutest
always on? Any tradeoffs if left on or daily
turned off?

 

[dc71]

Just curious: how does the Lumin D1 (using its own dac) compare to the Node2 + Qutest?

That is close, very close, I would say purely down to personal preference. Overall, the sound balance is very similar, but the reason I stuck with Qutest is due to the strong control of bass, as it has less overhang, which in turn gave less interaction with a heavy 50hz room mode I have in my listening space. One reviewer attributed this aspect to Qutest's fine ability to start/stop notes, and I would agree with this. In my room it resulted in more texture/differentiation to bass notes and less boom.

Not that I would say the Lumin bass is woolly or lacking definition, in fact its overall sound was one of the best I have had in my system. If my room had no inherent bass issues, I would think seriously about a simple system such as D1/D2 direct (or with good preamp) to active speakers such as Yamaha HS8, Mackie HR824mk2 or even Genelec G5. Active speakers have some inherent benefits over passives and the studio monitors allow tailoring of the sound to your listening space, as well as costing far less than equivalent 'hi-fi' active speakers. I am continually amazed by how enjoyable my second system is (Node2 into JBL LSR305).

D1/D2 are great units if used with their internal DAC, but if you already have a DAC which you really like the sound of, then a dedicated transport will likely be a better value option to feed it. My Lumin U1 mini and Qutest will likely stay in my system for a long time to come.

 

[gad1]

Color me impressed. My previous dac was the old Yiggy w/o
the improved usb and analogue upgrades. I tired of the Yiggy
sound after a couple of yrs. In my system it just never
delivered on the high praise that evidently other's experienced.
My sound goal is emotional involvement w/o sound quality
distractions. My Salk HT3 spkrs. were bought new 10 yrs.
ago. My Ava Van Alstine pre and amp bought new 5 yrs.
ago. This spkr./power combo is essentially the same that
Jim Salk used to demo these spkrs. at audio shows. I bought
a show demo. Point being my spkrs./amp have decent
synergy. For 10 yrs. I have not been thrilled. The sound
has been decent but based on dollar (usd) expense not
satisfactory. My previous dacs were the Wyred4Sound
dac 2 dsdse and Schiit Yggy. Yggy was way better but
still no magic. A respected poster on audioadvisor.com
had recommended the synergy of the original Hugo with
equipment similar to mine which put Chord on my radar.
I almost pulled the trigger for the 2Qute but decided to
wait for the next generation. I'm going on 3 wks. into
a 30 day $ back trial period with Qutest and despite my
skepticism for most all audio claims, it is afterall a
business, I'm suitably impressed. The first wk. I was
jumping through all the options, different filters, voltages,
uptone usb regen in the chain or not, pretty neurotic and
not at all sold. The sound scape, stereo instrument
positioning, was dramatically better from day one. The
highs and mids were great but the bass was lacking.
Whether I burned in or the dac burned in or both
presently the bass is the best I've ever heard; yeah,
way better than Yggy. The overall realism verges on
scary. So despite my initial reluctance to pay the
inflated USA price and less than ideal warranty
situation, Seattle to England, ugh, this little black
brick aint goin nowhere.

gad-

 

[GreenBow]

I think the first time experience with chord DACs is like, where is the bass. It either does burn-in. Or it's just a case of finding it in the soundstage. When there is less soundstage, the bass is easy to see. When there is more soundstage you are outfaced by detail. Then you start looking for the bass, hear it, and then hear the music as a whole.

 

[musickid]

Can someone explain why or why not the qutest should or should not be used to drive headphones directly. The only issue seems to be volume control??? I would appreciate any real detail on this. I'm referring to direct drive not with a headphone amp.

If connecting mscaler to qutest with direct headphones attached does software volume control become impossible because the digital audio going into the mscaler cannot be volume controlled like an analogue signal thus making direct headphone connection to qutest impossible with an mscaler and headphones driven directly??? Or can the volume be controlled after the line level leaves qutest by an attenuator? Actually roon can control the volume with my hugo2/mscaler.

I want to understand this point not do it.

 

[Ilias9001]

Can someone explain why or why not the qutest should or should not be used to drive headphones directly. The only issue seems to be volume control??? I would appreciate any real detail on this. I'm referring to direct drive not with a headphone amp.

If connecting mscaler to qutest with direct headphones attached does software volume control become impossible because the digital audio going into the mscaler cannot be volume controlled like an analogue signal thus making direct headphone connection to qutest impossible with an mscaler and headphones driven directly??? Or can the volume be controlled after the line level leaves qutest by an attenuator? Actually roon can control the volume with my hugo2/mscaler.

I want to understand this point not do it.

As simple as it gets, Qutest is a standalone dac with a pair of rca outputs. It produces a low voltage signal whose only purpose is to be amplified to be able to power headphones or speakers. The lack of volume control is not the issue, whereas the absence of volume is. Do not confuse it with your hugo2, as it has an amplification stage and the qutest does not.

 

[dac64]

The first wk. I was jumping through all the options, different filters, voltages, uptone usb regen in the chain or not...

what is your final setting on the filters, voltages, uptone usb regen in the chain or not? TIA!

 

[miketlse]

Can someone explain why or why not the qutest should or should not be used to drive headphones directly. The only issue seems to be volume control??? I would appreciate any real detail on this. I'm referring to direct drive not with a headphone amp.

If connecting mscaler to qutest with direct headphones attached does software volume control become impossible because the digital audio going into the mscaler cannot be volume controlled like an analogue signal thus making direct headphone connection to qutest impossible with an mscaler and headphones driven directly??? Or can the volume be controlled after the line level leaves qutest by an attenuator? Actually roon can control the volume with my hugo2/mscaler.

I want to understand this point not do it.

Search all threads using the term 'attenuator' and posted by 'RW' and this discovers a few posts.
Maybe this post about the 2Qute is appropriate. https://www.head-fi.org/threads/watts-up.800264/page-50#post-14065005
I think in some other posts, Rob mentions that attenuating the line outs using resisters will increase the damping factor, and affect the reproduction of bass notes. However this 'compromise' may be acceptable for some owners, if it means that they can continue to use their favourite headphones.