[Charente]

For those interested in a little bit of a look at Chord's backstory, DMS, Andrew, Taron and I visited Chord in Maidstone shortly before heading to Munich this year and a video is up with some interviews and a bit of a look inside their factory.
Their location has easily got to be the most characterful production location I've visited. Thanks to Chord for inviting us!

What a great place to work !!

 

[AnalogEuphoria]

I think your comments are spot on. I have both as well and would describe it the same. I feel the Qutest has a bit less impact than the BF but the separation and timbre is amazing and hard for me to go back. What is interesting though is that I sold my Qutest just a week ago for a TT2 and I'm struggling to decide what I think of it. As many would, I started with just my high quality recordings and was floored with how good it sounds. However, now that I've settled in and starting to just listen to what I feel like listening to vs purposely only playing high quality stuff, I'm feeling underwhelmed. I'm guessing it isn't that the TT2 is making them sound worse, probably more than it can create such magic with great sounding stuff and thus making my average sounding stuff less engaging. There has been a number of tunes I've turned off and moved on to something else that I used to enjoy on the Qutest.

Maybe my brain is still adjusting but I am debating keeping the TT2 for a while and then consider going back to the Qutest. I've had concerns about going too far up the food chain in resolution for this reason. I guess I'll see what I think as time goes on.

That's a reason many people prefer "low-fi" it hides problems of poor recordings, artificially boosted frequencies in headphones can make tracks sound more fun and lower fidelity equipment can mask damage done in the recording process.

 

[AltCtrl]

Wondering why people buy new power supplies for the Qutest when there's a interview with Rob Watts saying the included power supply is the best and basically like a car battery and can't get any better in terms of noise.

 

[jjazzy]

Wondering why people buy new power supplies for the Qutest when there's a interview with Rob Watts saying the included power supply is the best and basically like a car battery and can't get any better in terms of noise.

Because it does matter and no the supplied psu is not the best! And no I am a firm snakeoil activist.

But not regarding this psu, the supplied one is okay and that’s all. Rob Watts is talking bshit regarding this point, no pon intended. There is only one reason I can imagine why he would say this, business wise, it comes to close to the higher dacs. I heared the tt2, after psu upgrade, I kept the chord qutest (had them both for almost two weeks.)

I did not like the sbooster with it (bass became to much pushed forward, to the cost of pushing away treble and midrange)

 

[cats4cans]

Wondering why people buy new power supplies for the Qutest when there's a interview with Rob Watts saying the included power supply is the best and basically like a car battery and can't get any better in terms of noise.

The included power supply is woefully inadequate in one very important aspect (to me). There is no power switch. I get the whole leave SS equipment on indefinitely for thermal equilibrium and best performance schtick. But it's nice to be able to power off equipment, for whatever reason, without having to resort to physically unplugging it like some barbarian.

 

[miketlse]

The included power supply is woefully inadequate in one very important aspect (to me). There is no power switch. I get the whole leave SS equipment on indefinitely for thermal equilibrium and best performance schtick. But it's nice to be able to power off equipment, for whatever reason, without having to resort to physically unplugging it like some barbarian.

One alternative is live in the UK, where there are switches on the wall sockets.

 

[AltCtrl]

Because it does matter and no the supplied psu is not the best! And no I am a firm snakeoil activist.

But not regarding this psu, the supplied one is okay and that’s all. Rob Watts is talking bshit regarding this point, no pon intended. There is only one reason I can imagine why he would say this, business wise, it comes to close to the higher dacs. I heared the tt2, after psu upgrade, I kept the chord qutest (had them both for almost two weeks.)

I did not like the sbooster with it (bass became to much pushed forward, to the cost of pushing away treble and midrange)

What's a good power supply for it then? The Shanti Dual Linear psu?

 

[and1]

I received my Qutest this week and acquired it with the SBooster. Haven't tried the original power supply but i'm very happy with the combo. The sound is detailed but still musical. Particularly impressed by the bass presence but maybe that's just me.

 

[jjazzy]

I received my Qutest this week and acquired it with the SBooster. Haven't tried the original power supply but i'm very happy with the combo. The sound is detailed but still musical. Particularly impressed by the bass presence but maybe that's just me.

The sbooster is a good lps, was not a good match for me, but I see why some like the sbooster because of it’s character, smoothing things out. It is definately a big step up from the included psu.

I was having a hard time choosing allo shanti or sbooster or farad 3, the last one was to overpriced for what it benefit. I liked smoothness in bass of the sbooster but missed the sparkle and black background from the allo shanti, eventhough the bass section was sbooster a winner.

I kept the allo shanti.

 

[jjazzy]

What's a good power supply for it then? The Shanti Dual Linear psu?

There are more options, I personally likes tje allo shanti a lot. But sbooster is a good choice to, they both change the sound signature and detail in a positive way but in a different direction.

 

[Chop-Top]

I received my Qutest this week and acquired it with the SBooster. Haven't tried the original power supply but i'm very happy with the combo. The sound is detailed but still musical. Particularly impressed by the bass presence but maybe that's just me.

Another SBooster fan with Qutest (+1)

 

[AnalogEuphoria]

One alternative is live in the UK, where there are switches on the wall sockets.

Also safest wall sockets of any country.

 

[AnalogEuphoria]

Some people believe switching power supplies are actually better if the filtration is done properly in the device its self. Only problem im aware of is that the SMPS can leak junk back in to the power line.

 

[cats4cans]

One alternative is live in the UK, where there are switches on the wall sockets.

I’m fairly certain an LPS is much more inexpensive than moving across the pond for a more “civilized” power grid.

 

[dnnaudio]

Few times Rob is way off mark. I have 2 decent speaker systems w/ Qutest, in both systems upgrading the PSU was a moderate to significant improvement. Above poster is right a Qutest w/ a decent PSU competes w/ the TT2 in sonics.