[knownothing2]

Has anyone compared the Sbooster to the Teddy Pardo MiniTeddy psu for the Chord Qutest?

 

[DecentLevi]

Hey guys, resurrecting my quest for a USB-optical cable here. Encouraged by the reports of user @rsbrsvp on his quest for audio excellence by replacing a standard USB cable with one that transmits via optical fiber with the DC power regenerated on the receiving side. His initial suggestion was no longer manufactured and there was a similar one made by parent company Mobix Labs. Ultimately I instead went with Fibbr Alpha optical digital audio cable the year before last, due to better length and connection options. I have been mightily satisfied with this, but now needing something a bit longer, so I'm interested to try something different.

I may still go with the Mobix Labs option, but the these are USB A to A rather to to B, and without any option for external DC power. That is a must, considering that I have a custom DC LPS with custom DC cable which makes a tremendous difference versus stock. I was considering getting a small sleek USB A to B adapter from Uptone Audio, but the question remainings how would I get external DC power into this USB cable? Not sure if that should be done either on the source or the receiving side? And even if I had it done in the adapter path, it seems that it would need to be somewhere in the middle of the cable or in other words before the final optical conversion of the cable not after. Please let me know any opinions. Thank you!

 

[801evan]

Hey guys, resurrecting my quest for a USB-optical cable here. Encouraged by the reports of user @rsbrsvp on his quest for audio excellence by replacing a standard USB cable with one that transmits via optical fiber with the DC power regenerated on the receiving side. His initial suggestion was no longer manufactured and there was a similar one made by parent company Mobix Labs. Ultimately I instead went with Fibbr Alpha optical digital audio cable the year before last, due to better length and connection options. I have been mightily satisfied with this, but now needing something a bit longer, so I'm interested to try something different.

I may still go with the Mobix Labs option, but the these are USB A to A rather to to B, and without any option for external DC power. That is a must, considering that I have a custom DC LPS with custom DC cable which makes a tremendous difference versus stock. I was considering getting a small sleek USB A to B adapter from Uptone Audio, but the question remainings how would I get external DC power into this USB cable? Not sure if that should be done either on the source or the receiving side? And even if I had it done in the adapter path, it seems that it would need to be somewhere in the middle of the cable or in other words before the final optical conversion of the cable not after. Please let me know any opinions. Thank you!

If i remember correctly, I shared doing idefender to both upstream and downstream to do external 5v dc.

 

[reggiegasket]

I'm also back into this thread, after being away for a while, as I'm tempted to get a LPS for my Qutest and looking at the Fidelity Audio base model. I already have one for my Bluesound Node 2i, and have been very happy with it.

 

[knownothing2]

I ended up purchasing a Teddy Pardo Dual5 - 2X5 3A power supply to power both my Chord Qutest and my Bluesound Node (Gen3). Listening first to the impact on the Qutest, it was clearly very different from the stock switching supply. Bass was deeper and especially much tighter. Midrange and highs were more defined in time if not space. Overall, as I think has been stated before in this thread, the term more “incisive” comes to mind, but at the same time more relaxed. Just better.

I then removed the internal switching supply from the Bluesound Node and installed the DC adapter supplied by Pardo. This resulted in a similar and overall more coherent performance by the Node/Qutest combination. Significantly less grain and no sibilance - none whatsoever - even on the ripped CD recordings that were troublesome for every digital front end I have owned previously.

This combination is a revelation. 16/44.1 recordings now routinely sound terrific. HR recordings are intoxicating. Different power cables that I have built have very clear and distinctive sound signatures with the Teddy Pardo/Node/Qutest combination, and those differences are more discernible than with previous DACs I’ve owned with different power supplies. The dual power supply means I only need one supply and PC for both devices. I am using the Node almost entirely as a server with my entire digital music collection on a SSD drive connected to the Node via USB. I am connecting the Node to the Qutest with a Chord Company Signature Super ARAY coax cable.

This is the best sounding digital front end I’ve had in my system to date. I start listening on headphones or through my speakers and it is hard to stop. I had a chuckle thinking that the combination of boxes and digital cable cost as much as a decent Naim streamer/DAC that is all contained in one box, but as my son noted, this is way more fun.

kn

 

[DecentLevi]

I ended up purchasing a Teddy Pardo Dual5 - 2X5 3A power supply to power both my Chord Qutest and my Bluesound Node (Gen3). Listening first to the impact on the Qutest, it was clearly very different from the stock switching supply. Bass was deeper and especially much tighter. Midrange and highs were more defined in time if not space. Overall, as I think has been stated before in this thread, the term more “incisive” comes to mind, but at the same time more relaxed. Just better.

I then removed the internal switching supply from the Bluesound Node and installed the DC adapter supplied by Pardo. This resulted in a similar and overall more coherent performance by the Node/Qutest combination. Significantly less grain and no sibilance - none whatsoever - even on the ripped CD recordings that were troublesome for every digital front end I have owned previously.

This combination is a revelation. 16/44.1 recordings now routinely sound terrific. HR recordings are intoxicating. Different power cables that I have built have very clear and distinctive sound signatures with the Teddy Pardo/Node/Qutest combination, and those differences are more discernible than with previous DACs I’ve owned with different power supplies. The dual power supply means I only need one supply and PC for both devices. I am using the Node almost entirely as a server with my entire digital music collection on a SSD drive connected to the Node via USB. I am connecting the Node to the Qutest with a Chord Company Signature Super ARAY coax cable.

This is the best sounding digital front end I’ve had in my system to date. I start listening on headphones or through my speakers and it is hard to stop. I had a chuckle thinking that the combination of boxes and digital cable cost as much as a decent Naim streamer/DAC that is all contained in one box, but as my son noted, this is way more fun.

kn

Somewhat hard to visualize your highly proprietary yet no doubt resolving system. Any chance you could do a photoshoot to share? Thanks

 

[knownothing2]

Somewhat hard to visualize your highly proprietary yet no doubt resolving system. Any chance you could do a photoshoot to share? Thanks

https://www.audiogon.com/systems/6241

sorry, I realize this does not have a photo of my digital front end, just a detailed description of all the components. I am traveling and can’t take a shot of it right now. I will as soon as I return.

 

[knownothing2]

@DecentLevi here is a photo of my digital front end. There are one too many AC

power cords in the image because I haven’t decided which one I Iike the best.