Chord Electronics Qutest DAC - Official Thread

[rush1]

I have both and use the Qutest through Allo Shanti LPS which I generally use to drive my Hedd active monitors through a GSX mini as a preamp. Despite the bump in SQ, I also notice a significant noise reduction with the Qutest versus Mojo2 where my active monitors continue to pick up some noise while on mojo2 even when no music is playing.

Hi @drrohitarora, thank you for chiming in,
Do you listen on headphone by the way, and notice the lowered noise via the Qutest as well? I’ve been thinking adding a power supply as well.

 

[Atriya]

Does anybody know how I can delete a post?

 

[drummerdimitri]

I bought a new Qutest DAC and loving the natural sound it produces.

Been using it with my gaming desktop pc though USB and have just switched to optical and the sound seems slightly less harsh with improved soundstage.

Would it make more sense to stick to Optical at 192 KHz/24 bit for spotify premium music or 192KHz/32 bit via USB?

Kind of prefer the sound from the optical input but was wondering if it would be a downgrade performance wise compared to USB.

 

[Atriya]

I bought a new Qutest DAC and loving the natural sound it produces.

Been using it with my gaming desktop pc though USB and have just switched to optical and the sound seems slightly less harsh with improved soundstage.

Would it make more sense to stick to Optical at 192 KHz/24 bit for spotify premium music or 192KHz/32 bit via USB?

Kind of prefer the sound from the optical input but was wondering if it would be a downgrade performance wise compared to USB.

I believe that the designer has said that optical is the best input for the Qutest, because of the lack of electrical noise, and that the Qutest is immune to jitter.

 

[Jgeffen]

I bought a new Qutest DAC and loving the natural sound it produces.

Been using it with my gaming desktop pc though USB and have just switched to optical and the sound seems slightly less harsh with improved soundstage.

Would it make more sense to stick to Optical at 192 KHz/24 bit for spotify premium music or 192KHz/32 bit via USB?

Kind of prefer the sound from the optical input but was wondering if it would be a downgrade performance wise compared to USB.

I use optical with a QED Reference Optical Quartz cable.
Expensive, but not every optical cable can transmit 192khz.
Most of them are a kind of plastic, but not this one.
And Atriya is right too!

 

[schneller]

Does anyone have any intel on the Qutest II? I feel like the original has been with us a long time...

 

[miketlse]

Does anyone have any intel on the Qutest II? I feel like the original has been with us a long time...

No .

 

[LegionofDoom]

No .

No. And I would personally add the current Qutest is excellent, and perhaps the 1st audio product I have owned that I have not thought about upgrading outside of the power supply. That's VERY rare for me.

 

[Annarob1947]

a truly lovely Dac, goes beautifully with Chords Anni .
I just upgraded to TT2, so if anyone wants a Qutest with 10 hrs approx on it i have for sale, half price.am Australian in Philippines

 

[dnnaudio]

a truly lovely Dac, goes beautifully with Chords Anni .
I just upgraded to TT2, so if anyone wants a Qutest with 10 hrs approx on it i have for sale, half price.am Australian in Philippines

I have always wondered how a Qutest w/ decent upgraded power supply compares to TT2.

 

[JaquesGelee]

I have always wondered how a Qutest w/ decent upgraded power supply compares to TT2.

As far as i remember, no improvement, void warranty and may eventually damage your unit. Correct me, if i am wrong Mr. Watts.
But I don't want to start a heated discussion with people here, who hear the fleas coughing.

 

[George Hincapie]

As far as i remember, no improvement, void warranty and may eventually damage your unit. Correct me, if i am wrong Mr. Watts.
But I don't want to start a heated discussion with people here, who hear the fleas coughing.

Provided the correct voltage and amperage is provided, zero damage can occur.

 

[drummerdimitri]

I have always wondered how a Qutest w/ decent upgraded power supply compares to TT2.

It makes no difference at all even though people claim significant gains using an "upgraded" PSU.

I've tried it with a massive 3.3F supercapacitor bank charged to 5V, 4xAA batteries and even a lab grade bench linear power supply and they all sound identical.

I thought I was hearing differences at first but the more I listened the more I realized my brain was playing tricks on me and finally concluded that Rob was right all along as the power filtering inside the unit is so good that any other means of powering the unit results in more money lost and nothing gained.

 

[Reactcore]

It makes no difference at all even though people claim significant gains using an "upgraded" PSU.

I've tried it with a massive 3.3F supercapacitor bank charged to 5V, 4xAA batteries and even a lab grade bench linear power supply and they all sound identical.

I thought I was hearing differences at first but the more I listened the more I realized my brain was playing tricks on me and finally concluded that Rob was right all along as the power filtering inside the unit is so good that any other means of powering the unit results in more money lost and nothing gained.

The thing is.. inside Qutest the voltage is regulated up to +/- 12v and then down to +/- 8v by switchmode method before feeding the line amp section.

So the PSU feeding it 5v becomes less important other then isolating for net RF.
And for this it is carefully selected.

 

[drummerdimitri]

Does anyone know if the unit re-clocks the optical input internally or is that only done on the USB input?

Edit: I got confirmation from a Chord rep that the Qutest re-clocks the data stream on all of its inputs so that's a relief!