[SONDEKNZ]

Which amp would you recommend?

As @jjazzy has cautioned, everyone's ears - and listening priorities - are different, so even someone who has your exact headphones and recommends one particular amp, you may never warm to it.

So, once again, how do YOU like your steak?

Another challenge you face is that it seems like you are trying to choose one "best" headphone amp for three very different sets of headphones.

Each headphone design is very different, with different "ideal" electrical parameters. In choosing one amp for all three headphone designs, you could easily end-up with a headphone amp compromise that somewhat pleases all three headphones, but doesn't REALLY SING with any of them!

I recommend that you choose your (one) single pair of favourite headphones - provide some measure of assistance by posting the make, model and correct impedance and sensitivity specifications here - and then ask for amp recommendations.

Then see if you can take your favoured cans to a dealer and try some of the amp recommendations.

 

[jjazzy]

As @jjazzy has cautioned, everyone's ears - and listening priorities - are different, so even someone who has your exact headphones and recommends one particular amp, you may never warm to it.

So, once again, how do YOU like your steak?

Another challenge you face is that it seems like you are trying to choose one "best" headphone amp for three very different sets of headphones.

Each headphone design is very different, with different "ideal" electrical parameters. In choosing one amp for all three headphone designs, you could easily end-up with a headphone amp compromise that somewhat pleases all three headphones, but doesn't REALLY SING with any of them!

I recommend that you choose your (one) single pair of favourite headphones - provide some measure of assistance by posting the make, model and correct impedance and sensitivity specifications here - and then ask for amp recommendations.

Then see if you can take your favoured cans to a dealer and try some of the amp recommendations.

That is true indeed. I am a fan of planar headphones, so my desktop amps choices are based on that. But for my favourite IEM’s I choose a total different approach and different amps. If I use my burson 3xr gt for my iem, even on low gain and a IEmatch it sounds horrible, but plug in one of my planars, a world opens.

 

[Jon L]

Huh, running CCA C16 IEM's right off the RCA output jacks of the Qutest, without any mods, the sound is glorious. Why would anyone need anything else for reasonable IEM's? I say this despite owning Raal SR1 and Abyss 1266 Phi TC..

 

[Reactcore]

Huh, running CCA C16 IEM's right off the RCA output jacks of the Qutest, without any mods, the sound is glorious. Why would anyone need anything else for reasonable IEM's? I say this despite owning Raal SR1 and Abyss 1266 Phi TC..

Thats how i used my Qutest too.. direct out.

I think 1v setting is best for SQ so you have the least signal truncation using app volume.
If it still can get loud enough for you ofc.

 

[headstef]

Hi, I am posting for the first time in this thread. I am using mainly two dacs for headphone listening; one is the Qutest (with stock power supply) and the other one is the internal dac of my headphone amp - a Lehmann Audio Linear D mkII. Both sound significantly better than any other dac/CD player that I have listened to up to € 2,000 but I haven't listened to anything more expensive. They are also very comparable with each other, their differences are very minuscule by absolute standards.

So I wonder if there is a dac that sounds considerably better than these two (though I can't really imagine how), in the price range of 1,500 to 4,000. Has anyone upgraded from the Qutest in a meaningful and consistent way (more detail, more naturall timbre of instruments)? What brought this improvement?
Thank you for any answer (I am a bit lost in the 400+ pages of the thread).

 

[jjazzy]

Hi, I am posting for the first time in this thread. I am using mainly two dacs for headphone listening; one is the Qutest (with stock power supply) and the other one is the internal dac of my headphone amp - a Lehmann Audio Linear D mkII. Both sound significantly better than any other dac/CD player that I have listened to up to € 2,000 but I haven't listened to anything more expensive. They are also very comparable with each other, their differences are very minuscule by absolute standards.

So I wonder if there is a dac that sounds considerably better than these two (though I can't really imagine how), in the price range of 1,500 to 4,000. Has anyone upgraded from the Qutest in a meaningful and consistent way (more detail, more naturall timbre of instruments)? What brought this improvement?
Thank you for any answer (I am a bit lost in the 400+ pages of the thread).

Buy a Allo Shanti PSU, I can assure you how shocked you are, how much better the qutest will sound. I was sceptical and bought one, never regretted it one day.

You get a darker quieter background, and as a result a smoother and even more detailled sound. Don’t get fooled the supplied psu is enough, it is certainly not.

 

[Rainblind]

I'm planning to replace my old CD player with Audiolab CDT 6000 / Qutest combo naxt year and I have a question... which input would best for this connection? BNC with converter to coax or the optical one? Is later getting the m scaler from the aftermarket worth the trouble?

 

[Charente]

I'm planning to replace my old CD player with Audiolab CDT 6000 / Qutest combo naxt year and I have a question... which input would best for this connection? BNC with converter to coax or the optical one? Is later getting the m scaler from the aftermarket worth the trouble?

I would always favour TOSLINK Optical to the Qutest ... as recommended by Rob Watts as well. BUT, I guess it might depend on how good the digital outputs are on your CD player.

 

[headstef]

I would always favour TOSLINK Optical to the Qutest ... as recommended by Rob Watts as well. BUT, I guess it might depend on how good the digital outputs are on your CD player.

If I am not mistaken the Qutest is immune to incoming jitter. If this is the case, any TOSLINK optical output that at least complies with the Red-book protocol cannot compromise the performance of the Qutest. This is also my experience after many tests with the TOSLINK from various players driving the Qutest.

 

[Rainblind]

@Charente & @headstef thanks so much!

 

[jjazzy]

I would always favour TOSLINK Optical to the Qutest ... as recommended by Rob Watts as well. BUT, I guess it might depend on how good the digital outputs are on your CD player.

The problem with Toslink is the bandwith and a lot of equipment have not the best toslink out (there is less focus on that part of the device).
So although I agree decoupling is a good practice, but it doesn't always say you get the best sound

 

[elira]

The problem with Toslink is the bandwith and a lot of equipment have not the best toslink out (there is less focus on that part of the device).
So although I agree decoupling is a good practice, but it doesn't always say you get the best sound

Optical 24/192 works with good quality cables and good quality source. Coaxial seems to be more forgiving. For a CD player that is 16/44.1 optical and coaxial should work about the same with generic cables, optical has the advantage of isolation.

 

[jjazzy]

Optical 24/192 works with good quality cables and good quality source. Coaxial seems to be more forgiving. For a CD player that is 16/44.1 optical and coaxial should work about the same with generic cables, optical has the advantage of isolation.

With a good quality source, and I have seen more than one high end devices with mediocre toslink. But I agree inplemented well optical has the benefit of isolation

 

[blueninjasix]

Despite what it says in the Qutest manual, Chord do not guarantee that optical toslink will work at 24bit 192kHz. The correct spec is on the Chord website as 24bit 96kHz. This was confirmed to me by Chord themselves.

 

[elira]

Despite what it says in the Qutest manual, Chord do not guarantee that optical toslink will work at 24bit 192kHz. The correct spec is on the Chord website as 24bit 96kHz. This was confirmed to me by Chord themselves.

That’s because you need a very good signal for it to work. 96kHz is easier to achieve.

My guess is that they don’t want a lot of people complaining that 192kHz doesn’t work in their systems.