Chord Electronics Qutest DAC - Official Thread

[pbi76]

Thank you, everyone.

The last DAC I bought was a Bifrost 2 (OG). I can't afford to upgrade all the time so I try to make the most of my resources. The Qutest was released in 2018 and the siblings (except Dave) have been updated so I figured that it's reasonable to ask if a refresh is due soon. Tech gets obsolete quickly but it would really suck if you buy something that is declared EOL soon after, not just from a performance point of view but in terms of resale value. Hahaha.

 

[GuiltyRocker]

Thank you, everyone.

The last DAC I bought was a Bifrost 2 (OG). I can't afford to upgrade all the time so I try to make the most of my resources. The Qutest was released in 2018 and the siblings (except Dave) have been updated so I figured that it's reasonable to ask if a refresh is due soon. Tech gets obsolete quickly but it would really suck if you buy something that is declared EOL soon after, not just from a performance point of view but in terms of resale value. Hahaha.

The chi-Fi DACs do seem to get obsolete quickly, it seems like every other month Topping, Eversolo and all that chi-Fi stuff keeps releasing "new" models. That doesn't apply to Chord, when I hear the Qutest blow away all that chi-Fi I know it's not obsolete

 

[jjazzy]

The chi-Fi DACs do seem to get obsolete quickly, it seems like every other month Topping, Eversolo and all that chi-Fi stuff keeps releasing "new" models. That doesn't apply to Chord, when I hear the Qutest blow away all that chi-Fi I know it's not obsolete

Not all chi-fi dacs sound bad, some of them are very good. And very affordable.

But don’t forget the price you are in, the qutest sounds very good with a upgraded psu like a sbooster, yes with the qutest that is a real upgrade. We are already at €1800 so ofcourse it sounds better.

With the TT2 less, because of it’s condensators. So lps won’t do much.

Besides that, Rob Watts is a genious regarding dacs. A FPGA is hard to get close to with regular dac chips.

 

[StokeNewingtonJohn]

Thank you, everyone.

The last DAC I bought was a Bifrost 2 (OG). I can't afford to upgrade all the time so I try to make the most of my resources. The Qutest was released in 2018 and the siblings (except Dave) have been updated so I figured that it's reasonable to ask if a refresh is due soon. Tech gets obsolete quickly but it would really suck if you buy something that is declared EOL soon after, not just from a performance point of view but in terms of resale value. Hahaha.

I’ve been wondering whether the recently announced price drop is an indicator a Qutest 2 is in the pipeline… still, the drop makes what remains a great DAC more of a bargain. It’s also likely to force down the used price.

 

[jjazzy]

I’ve been wondering whether the recently announced price drop is an indicator a Qutest 2 is in the pipeline… still, the drop makes what remains a great DAC more of a bargain. It’s also likely to force down the used price.

End of 2023 there was a short price drop of the mojo2+poly+leather case from chord for €899, was a real good deal, it is still for sale, but the normal price again.

So a drop don’t always mean something, sometimes it is just a deal or trying to sell out some items

 

[Moonglum]

Thank you, everyone.

The last DAC I bought was a Bifrost 2 (OG). I can't afford to upgrade all the time so I try to make the most of my resources. The Qutest was released in 2018 and the siblings (except Dave) have been updated so I figured that it's reasonable to ask if a refresh is due soon. Tech gets obsolete quickly but it would really suck if you buy something that is declared EOL soon after, not just from a performance point of view but in terms of resale value. Hahaha.

With audio I would say it’s debatable the extent to which tech gets obsolete- nowhere near as quickly as with something like PCs. And the thing is, if the Qutest sounds great now, which it does, it will still sound great in 10 years. I doubt we will see any new digital audio formats any time soon.

With regards to Chi-fi DACs there are some very good ones out there so it would be foolish to dismiss them all. EverSolo was mentioned- I actually still have a Z8 and it is a very musical and insightful DAC- ultimately my preference is for Qutest (with sbooster) but it’s not a night and day difference.

 

[GuiltyRocker]

Not all chi-fi dacs sound bad, some of them are very good. And very affordable.

But don’t forget the price you are in, the qutest sounds very good with a upgraded psu like a sbooster, yes with the qutest that is a real upgrade. We are already at €1800 so ofcourse it sounds better.

With the TT2 less, because of it’s condensators. So lps won’t do much.

Besides that, Rob Watts is a genious regarding dacs. A FPGA is hard to get close to with regular dac chips.

The chi-Fi is not horrible, especially for the price. A lot of people enjoy them and that's cool.

 

[technobear]

Business is slow, the pound is riding high which has probably eased production costs and Chord have decided to gee up the market a little. That's my guess. It's only for a couple of months so far.

 

[StokeNewingtonJohn]

End of 2023 there was a short price drop of the mojo2+poly+leather case from chord for €899, was a real good deal, it is still for sale, but the normal price again.

So a drop don’t always mean something, sometimes it is just a deal or trying to sell out some items

Good point.

 

[Strale]

It seems like the current price drop only applies to UK. In Germany it still holds standard price of 1499 eur.

 

[pbi76]

Bought and set it up yesterday. Thanks for the tips and inputs. I got 192 to work over optical which I am happy about. Linear Power Supply (or Battery Power Supply) to come in as an upgrade later on.