Chord Electronics Qutest DAC - Official Thread

[headstef]

The dave? Just kidding

Is there a Hugo TT1.5?

 

[jjazzy]

Is there a Hugo TT1.5?

If only

 

[lowrider007]

Yes. Rob has said it only consumes around 3 Watts in standby (automatically goes to standby once no music playing for a bit).

Is this true that the Qutest goes into standby after a period of time of playing no music?

I have mine connected to my PC and I find after few hours of no music when I go back to the system and try to play music I have no sound even though it is the default audio device and still selected, I have to manually switch audio devices and go back to the Qutest for it to play music again, or unplug the usb and plug it in again.

 

[Charente]

Is this true that the Qutest goes into standby after a period of time of playing no music?

I have mine connected to my PC and I find after few hours of no music when I go back to the system and try to play music I have no sound even though it is the default audio device and still selected, I have to manually switch audio devices and go back to the Qutest for it to play music again, or unplug the usb and plug it in again.

Mine has never shut down on its own ... although it is connected via Optical to a streamer that's powered on 24/7.

 

[rq1111]

I was thinking about tt2 too. But wonder how much percentage improvement will it brings to Chord Cutest.

 

[Eylrik]

Hi,

I have a cosmetic issue with my qutest : the black metal color is slightly fading…has someone experienced that ?

 

[cats4cans]

Hi,

I have a cosmetic issue with my qutest : the black metal color is slightly fading…has someone experienced that ?

Your Qutest is so old it’s going grey? Oh my.

 

[Eylrik]

Your Qutest is so old it’s going grey? Oh my.

It’s 5 years old only…and it’s more like faded pink or orange, hard to say…

 

[Charente]

Hi,

I have a cosmetic issue with my qutest : the black metal color is slightly fading…has someone experienced that ?

No fading with mine ... but then, I've had it only 18 months.

But I have had sticking buttons ... now fixed.

 

[lowrider007]

I have encountered this issue quite some times and contacted Chord. The response was that the fpga can sometimes be confused if you switch inputs or turn off and on your pc, so the easiest way is to just unplug the usb or whatever you are connecting it with and plug it back in.

This is the exact issue I'm having, my PC goes to sleep after two hours, wakes up, no sound even with Chord Async selected as the audio device, the only way to get sound again is to reboot the Cutest, is normal behaviour? I've never had other USB dacs behave this way, I don't think it's acceptable having to unplug the thing every time the computer goes on and off, no point in having USB on it, I'm just hoping I'm doing something wrong.

 

[Lokust]

This is the exact issue I'm having, my PC goes to sleep after two hours, wakes up, no sound even with Chord Async selected as the audio device, the only way to get sound again is to reboot the Cutest, is normal behaviour? I've never had other USB dacs behave this way, I don't think it's acceptable having to unplug the thing every time the computer goes on and off, no point in having USB on it, I'm just hoping I'm doing something wrong

Maybe think about turning your PC off while not in use. Am in the IT branch, and it's not uncommon for devices to have trouble when a PC goes into standby. You might also take a look at the USB device manager settings.

 

[AnyDave]

Hi,

I have a cosmetic issue with my qutest : the black metal color is slightly fading…has someone experienced that ?

Is it exposed to sunlight? That can happen with anodization sometimes.

 

[lowrider007]

Maybe think about turning your PC off while not in use. Am in the IT branch, and it's not uncommon for devices to have trouble when a PC goes into standby. You might also take a look at the USB device manager settings.

Solved it by going optical, I guess this way I at least guarantee all the noise from the PC is isolated.

 

[hakunamakaka]

This comes as a fine answer to my post a few days ago:

https://www.head-fi.org/threads/cho...official-thread.869417/page-435#post-17805849

It is a very expensive upgrade for me, though! I wonder if there is something else more affordable than the Hugo TT2 that will sound better than the Qutest?... Any possible suggestions?

I own Qutest for many years since it's release date and was itching for upgrade multiple times, but every-time I hit play with electronic music it sends me to a different place. Fast, precise and energetic DAC which manages to sound pleasant while not becoming overly aggressive as some delta sigma DAC's I've tried. Briefly had Ares II and while it's good with acoustic, vocal centric music I felt it lagged behind in technical realm compared to Qutest. Stage precision is really something with this DAC. TT2 is just too damn expensive for me so never tried it.

I did my fair play time with PSU on Qutest and I think clean source is more important to this DAC. At the moment I just stick with Ifi power X. Tried LPS which was slightly warmer to me and stock PSU sounds good as long as I don't connect Qutest to my computer directly.

 

[Eylrik]

Is it exposed to sunlight? That can happen with anodization sometimes.

Not that I can recall, but I live on a tropical island…so could be humidity (over 70% all year long) ?