[ea666]

Seems like you got a fairly good system.Very weird case for me...

I think I may have been expecting too much.

I'm now looking forward to Cyrus's new QXR DAC upgrade recently announced at £600

 

[Zzt231gr]

I think I may have been expecting too much.

I'm now looking forward to Cyrus's new QXR DAC upgrade recently announced at £600

One last thing but of equal importance;is your listening room treated?

 

[ea666]

One last thing but of equal importance;is your listening room treated?

When you say treated, as in acoustic foam?

 

[AlexB73]

Monitor Audio PL200 should be resolved enough for sure!
But I am not so sure about Cyrus Stereo 200 digital amplifier.
As a class D amplifier it convert analog input to digital and back to analog.
These extra A to D to A conversions can easily erase the difference between DACs.

 

[ea666]

Monitor Audio PL200 should be resolved enough for sure!
But I am not so sure about Cyrus Stereo 200 digital amplifier.
As a class D amplifier it convert analog input to digital and back to analog.
These extra A to D to A conversions can easily erase the difference between DACs.

Never thought of that! Hummm food for thought.

 

[Zzt231gr]

When you say treated, as in acoustic foam?

Αcoustic foam alone creates problems.You need broadband absorbers and if the listening room is dedicated without usual furniture,you need bass traps,also.

 

[MagnusH]

I considered the new Sonore opticalRenu, but then I remember that Rob Watts seem to like toslink. Will you get equal (or better) sound on the Cutest with toslink compared to a well isolated and clean USB? Can it handle DSD64/128 on toslink?

 

[dc71]

I considered the new Sonore opticalRenu, but then I remember that Rob Watts seem to like toslink. Will you get equal (or better) sound on the Cutest with toslink compared to a well isolated and clean USB? Can it handle DSD64/128 on toslink?

Toslink is limited bandwidth so it won't handle DSD, or usually anything above 24/96, depending on the transport spec.
Previously fed by Bluesound Node2, I couldn't hear much diff between toslink and digital coax. But now in my system, Qutest being fed by Lumin U1 Mini sounds best using CuriousUSB cable (I tried other USB, toslink and expensive BNC cables). It sounds even better (more real perception) to my ears when I activate the upsampling in the Lumin to 24/384 for both CD quality files (Tidal/local NAS) and high-res 24bit files.

 

[Ragnar-BY]

I considered the new Sonore opticalRenu, but then I remember that Rob Watts seem to like toslink. Will you get equal (or better) sound on the Cutest with toslink compared to a well isolated and clean USB? Can it handle DSD64/128 on toslink?

I`ve tried toslink with Qutest. Optical output in my MacBookPo sounds better (not day and night, but noticeable) than USB, but it is limited to 24/192.

 

[x RELIC x]

Toslink is limited bandwidth so it won't handle DSD, or usually anything above 24/96, depending on the transport spec.

TOSlink standard can handle 24/192 and DSD64. My Mojo and Hugo2 plays both just fine over optical. The determining factor is the cable and whether it can transmit the data bandwidth. A cable with poor reflections will reduce data throughput, or as you say, the transport is out of spec.

 

[jbarrentine]

I'm a fan of toslink. I don't like having to install drivers either.

Using https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0017YUN3C/

definitely get glass.

 

[MagnusH]

I'm a fan of toslink. I don't like having to install drivers either.

I like toslink for its simplicity and galvanic isolation. Its possible to get USB isolated but it requires an ethernet transport and fiber-ethernet, and then the ethernet transport has to be well made so it don't produce any electronic noise. All in all, it tends to get expensive (for example, upcoming $1300 opticalRendu). If toslink gives same sound quality, I would prefer that since I have computer one meter away.

I don't listen to anything above 192 kHz anyway, so I won't miss the higher bandwidths.

 

[OctavianH]

I just tried the iFi iPurifier (1st gen) with Qutest (remembered I had one at my office and brought it back home just to try it). The impression was not very good, since it did not improved the sound, but somehow made it loose the dynamics and sound more "flat". What to say, I do not recommend this device. Did anyone had a different impression? I tried some FLAC 16/44.1 here, so nothing fancy.

 

[betula]

What would you people consider as a competition to the Qutest on the DAC market?

I am a big fan of Chord sound and Rob's engineering. The soundstage depth and lifelikeness of vocals/acoustic instruments is unparalleled with these FPGA chips regardless tap numbers. I loved my Mojo and I love my 2Qute.

I am fortunate enough though to have the iFi Pro iDSD (£2400) around as a DAC which is undeniably better than my 2Qute. The 2Qute is still very slightly better in soundstage depth and vocal lifelikeness, but the supremacy of the Pro iDSD as a DAC is undeniable. The control, tightness, layering, extension is all on another level. The soundstage is wider, bass control is just phenomenal. The only problem with this DAC is the price tag, I couldn't really afford it. Also, I don't need 80% of the versatile functionalities of this DAC. I just want a simple plug&play DAC like the 2Qute or Qutest.

After this testing period with the Pro iDSD I will definitely hunt for a better DAC than my 2Qute, my only question is if it should be the Qutest? Has anyone compared the iFi Pro iDSD and the Qutest? Perhaps the bass control is what amazes me the most versus my 2Qute. Is there any other DAC worth looking at around £1000? I imagine the answer is no, but thought I ask anyway.

 

[betula]

I just tried the iFi iPurifier (1st gen) with Qutest (remembered I had one at my office and brought it back home just to try it). The impression was not very good, since it did not improved the sound, but somehow made it loose the dynamics and sound more "flat". What to say, I do not recommend this device. Did anyone had a different impression? I tried some FLAC 16/44.1 here, so nothing fancy.

It doesn't really answer your question, but my iPurifier 3.0 makes my 2Qute much cleaner/tighter/more precise.