[stickboy85]

Just tried Qutest with InnuOS Zen Mini mk2 server and many of my observations regarding the Qutest have changed. With the Macbook pro running Audirvana I felt slightly detached from the performance/music and the soundstage was a bit flat. I also noticed a lack of dynamics and bass. However with the InnuOS Zen things have changed considerably. The soundstage now has greater width and lots more depth, dynamics and detail have increased substantially. Tonal quality and bass has improved, in particular the bass is now quite muscular. i am running the Qutest into an all valve preamp with a very nice valve line stage and the match seems perfect. The difference between the Macbook and InnuOS is huge which just goes to show you need a good front end feeding the DAC.

Vocals are very palpable and real with a great presence in the room. The Qutest, like DAVE is smooth sounding and very analogue in its presentation with very little remaining to remind you are listening to digital audio. For the money Qutest is very good value as I feel it gives me 75-80% of DAVE. Where it looses out is on soundstage /, depth and micro nuances in the music and the sheer gravity and wallop DAVE can produce in the bottom end. However in my system Qutest gives me as much as I could want and on well mastered material it really delivers the goods.

I use my vinyl rig as a benchmark and honestly Qutest with the InnuOS Zen was such a close match on some recordings I could find very little difference between the two, that is how analogue it sounds. With top end information the Qutest with the Zen now sounds much more detailed. I was astonished switching between the Macbook into Qutest and the InnuOS with a recording of Diane Krall called Temptation, her voice took on massive amounts more of detail and nuances and the dynamics of the recording had a real presence and gravity. The piano had a lot more weight and the whole performance sounded more natural and real as if your were in the room with the performers.

So my opinion of the Qutest has vastly improved just by switching from FBA via the Macbook to an InnuOS server. Just goes to show how important it is to feed your DAC the right material.

I must just add my Chord Qutest had already been run in so i noticed no harshness or a bright top end as some have found. however I am running it through an all valve preamp and Hybrid OTL power amp. Transparency is therefore very high!

Nice update, thanks for sharing.
I'm even more curious as to what the Zen/Zenith would do to the Qutest now!

 

[stickboy85]

Do you have the KEF LS50?

I do indeed!

 

[Hummer25]

Nice update, thanks for sharing.
I'm even more curious as to what the Zen/Zenith would do to the Qutest now!

I have heard the Zen and Zenith with DAVE and both certainly deliver a great sound. If the Zen mini mk2 was as good as I heard with Qutest then the Zen or zenith should sound quite a bit better. I believe Innuos now have a two box server out which is a serious piece of kit but costs a fair bit.

 

[Chaldee]

I would love to hear some opinion about using optical cable from either qutest or 2qute into a NAD M50 streamer. I never seem to find what I look for in the range of streamer, but I really did with the NAD M50. USB is my first choice of cable connection but it is not an option with the mentioned streamer. It contains no internal DAC and thus exits a low jitter digital data stream via all popular interfaces such as S/PDif, Toslink & AES/EBU. I'm question myself if I will loose considerable quality of sound not using the galvanic isolated USB connection. To be frankly, I'm a novice when it comes down to hifi-knowledge.

 

[Rhinomyte76]

Just wanted to share my 2 cents after my first 24 hours with Qutest in case it helps anyone.

First, when I unpacked it after delivery, it sounded like something was loose inside. Commence freak out as here in the States we have been waiting forever. Upon further inspection, I discovered that the filter and input buttons rattle ever so slightly, which makes sense because they have to move when pushed. Obviously not an issue, and every other physical aspect seems tooled to perfection.

I use the USB input from a pc with various doodads and filters in the chain at different times depending upon the devices.
I had some problems getting the Qutest to play nicely with the ifi IUSB 3.0 and my uptone audio USPCB. After mutliple pluggings and unpluggings, I finally got the signal to be recognized by my PC with the IUSB 3.0 in the chain. I have unplugged it multiple times and had to do this again. I have not found a consistent order that works and voodoo seems to be at play. Not a hit against the Qutest. I even had similar experiences a handful of times with other IFI products with the IUSB.

Also, my PC wouldn't recognize a signal at all with the USPCB voltage off, so even though the qutest has a separate 5v port, it seems as though some power is needed for the handshake on the usb. (Not 100% on this. Could be just a device incompatibility issue, maybe someone else can weigh in on this?)

I had the ifi IDSD Black Label in my chain prior to this, so most of the observations will be in regard to that device. When going through my library in JRiver after about 30 hours burn-in, I noticed some great detail, decently broad soundstage, but not the broadest I've heard. The center stage / vocals seemed to move closer up to the front compared to the ifi IDSD BL, which I very much apprecaited as my current headphone pairing has them a little recessed from my ideal setup. The things that often really stick out for me when putting a more revealing device in the chain are percussion and being able to distinguish phrasing of overlapping instruments. Both were readily apparent with the Qutest. Some lesser emphasised layers in the tracks came out better than I had heard before. This is with using a Kenzie tube amp, whereas I've heard these tracks with a pure solid state setup, so that's obviously a big plus.

One thing that was readily apparent was that this DAC shows the detail in tracks, warts and all. Even though my system is relatively quiet, the background noise on poorly recorded albums really came through. Layla & Other Assorted Love Songs is one of my favorite albums for musical content, but most hated for recording quality. Whether listening to the album on 24/96 flac or Platinum SHM, the noise was very loud. Louder than I've ever heard it. I noticed a similar effect on the well recorded but somewhat noisy 24/192 flac version of Pet Sounds to a lesser degree.

Additionally, one issue that popped up was that I cannot determine how to play dsf files or sacd burns. These automatically fired up with the IFI BL.

The only hesitation I have currently is the technical / sharp sound for lack of a better term. Overall, tracks seem antiseptic. The individual instruments sound great, and even though the timing is tight, the flow and synergy seem lacking. Almost as if the Qutest would be perfect for analyzing, but not as enjoyable for just relaxing and letting the music wash over you. The warm filter and roll off filters help this slightly, but not enough for my taste. It's too early to pass judgment on the qutest after only 30 hours of burn in and even less time allowing my ears to adjust to its sound. Additionally, it is always possible the Qutest is helping me identify other flaws in my chain (like the USPCB that I may go ahead and remove if things don't change soon) Long story short take all this with a grain of salt, and hope it helps. If things change I will surely revise the post. Please let me know if I can answer questions for anyone. Thanks.

 

[zek4u]

Hi Christer,

I will be used with an upgraded fully valve regulated Croft 25R preamp which is extremely revealing and transparent. This is partnered with a Croft 7 OTL power amp. I understand the output of the Qutest can be changed to suit the gain of my preamp so this will be interesting.

Most of the time I have spent with Chord equipment has been listening via a Chord SPM 1200 Mk2 power amp into various high end speakers. Interestingly we have done quite a bit of evaluation regarding Hi Rez digital formats including DSD and much of the time ripped well masted 16bit sounds superb. I have not been overly impressed with DSD material but have noticed some improvement on a few 24bit recordings.

What I have noticed, and I have written about this on the Chord DAVE Thread, is not only the detail retrieval but the smoothness that comes across with Dave and Blu2. Each upgrade of the Chord DACs brings digital closer to the very best analogue sound I have heard. However as digital can do so many things better than analogue we are entering new territory in sound reproduction. I once heard one of the top mastering engineers talking about digital music and he mentioned that digital recording was absolutely the best way to record music but getting that recording through mastering and then through the digital chain we have currently can often result in a very poor listening experience.

It has been mentioned many times that as we learn more about the problems with digital music and how to resolve them we get closer to a fabulous home audio experience and I believe Chord DACs are some of the best devices that has moved the whole digital music business on leaps and bounds, taking digital recordings and extracting/ resolving them in a way that becomes a very pleasurable experience.

@Hummer25 Just got my second Croft 25R/7R combo for my latest Harbeth P3ESRs. Full circle and not sure why I left. Qutest arrives soon and hope it’s a good marriage. 20X2L to Audio Note SUT to the 25R is sublime. Ran the pre out to the HDV 820/HD800s. Wow x5. Would hope with one of the filters on the Qutest I’ll find a good match. The Dac out of the HDV 820 isn’t half bad.

 

[JWahl]

The only hesitation I have currently is the technical / sharp sound for lack of a better term. Overall, tracks seem antiseptic. The individual instruments sound great, and even though the timing is tight, the flow and synergy seem lacking. Almost as if the Qutest would be perfect for analyzing, but not as enjoyable for just relaxing and letting the music wash over you. The warm filter and roll off filters help this slightly, but not enough for my taste. It's too early to pass judgment on the qutest after only 30 hours of burn in and even less time allowing my ears to adjust to its sound. Additionally, it is always possible the Qutest is helping me identify other flaws in my chain (like the USPCB that I may go ahead and remove if things don't change soon) Long story short take all this with a grain of salt, and hope it helps. If things change I will surely revise the post. Please let me know if I can answer questions for anyone. Thanks.

Are you also using your iUSB to power the Qutest? Or only connecting the data via the USPCB? I'm using the Nano and haven't had any connection problems, but I'm using both the iUSB outputs for data and power respectively instead of the Qutest's adapter.

 

[Rhinomyte76]

Are you also using your iUSB to power the Qutest? Or only connecting the data via the USPCB? I'm using the Nano and haven't had any connection problems, but I'm using both the iUSB outputs for data and power respectively instead of the Qutest's adapter.

Jwahl thanks for trying to help me troubleshoot. Unfortunately I am also using the iusb for power and data already. At least it’s working.

 

[Hummer25]

@Hummer25 Just got my second Croft 25R/7R combo for my latest Harbeth P3ESRs. Full circle and not sure why I left. Qutest arrives soon and hope it’s a good marriage. 20X2L to Audio Note SUT to the 25R is sublime. Ran the pre out to the HDV 820/HD800s. Wow x5. Would hope with one of the filters on the Qutest I’ll find a good match. The Dac out of the HDV 820 isn’t half bad.

The Croft combination is superb, I Have the Croft 25R (RS line stage) and the Series 7 power amp and they are a great combination. The Qutest is probably best used at 2v output through the Croft line stage as their is a fair bit of gain in the Croft. I did try 3v and it sounded ok. Because the Series 7 power amp is a OTL you get amazing transparency with the Qutest, you see through into the recordings and vocals are holographic with you in the room. Almost uncanny. I think you will enjoy the Qutest. I used an Innuos Zen server with my Qutest and this made a big difference.

 

[Bill13]

Got my new Qutest DAC about a week ago.

'Review' comments (my opinions):

Impression: The Qutest sounds better than my Berkeley Alpha DAC, and my Oppo 105.

Would like to do at-home comparisons to the extremely expensive top-of-the-line DACs like the Rossini, Chord Dave and the just released TT (2), Berkeley Reference 2, Manhattan DAC, etc. --- But funds just don't permit.

Listening evaluation comparisons included CDs: Vivaldi 'Four Seasons' by Philharmonia with Elizabeth Blumenstock, violin -- (CD was rave reviewed by Stereophile) & a couple of Stereophile test CDs.

Played some old Denon Bach organ CDs recorded in the '80s which, IMO, thru the Qutest sounded a lot like current SOA hi res recordings IMO.
I recall that Rob Watts stated in his NYC CanJam 2018 seminar that a purpose of the Chord 'WTA filter' algorithm was to recreate the original sound of the music which happened prior to the digital recording's analogue-to-digital conversion.

MY system: highly modified Audience '16+16' speakers with large RAAL ribbon tweeters (140D amorphic core) covering above 2.5 kHz. Amplifiers are Hypex Ncore amps (IMO, fantastic sound).
A 'passive preamp' was used to control volume because the Qutest has sufficient output voltage available (can select up to 3 volts out).

Natural, & 'you-are-there' sound.
Qutest lifted a veil that I was not previously aware of.
The Soundstage with my speaker system opened up both in width & depth. Vivaldi CD's violin just floated in space - instruments had tangible 'body' that I haven't experienced before..

There were other superlatives noted. Not enough time to mention more listening details here.

Conclusion: I'm very pleased with the Qutest, to say the least.

Enough for now.

 

[kovacs]

Just received my Chord Qutest and I had an entire evening planned AB comparing the Chord Qutest with a Cambridge audio CXC transport with my old Rega Planet CD-player, a CD player which I’ve enjoyed immensely for the last 10 years. Well, I don’t need to compare anything, from the first song it’s obvious that I’m hearing things I’ve never heard before, with individual instruments sounding much better seperated. I can hear so many more details, with a saxophone I can hear there is a reed vibrating, with a piano I can hear the strings vibrate and the cabinet resonate. I’m very sensitive to bright sounding equipment and the Chord with the incisive filter doesn’t sound bright at all to me ( and it’s not even burned in ), just very detailed. I’m extremely impressed so far. I’m using the stock power supply at the moment but a Linear power supply is on its way, honestly not sure if it will make a difference but I don’t want to risk it, the stock power supply feels and looks so cheap, the tiny power cable especially feels extremely cheap and flimsy, couldn’t they have picked a slightly more substantial one ? Device milled from a solid block of aluminium, gorgious buttons, nice glass window, nice packaging, cheapest looking power supply in the world, seriously ? Really detracts from the overall impressive build quality. Shame on Chord for choosing the absolute cheapest one available, this unit deserves better. Really bugs me ! Ok, back to the music, currently listening to some albums that I know very well and I’ve never heard sound from behind the speakers, just wasn’t possible in my room before. Soundstage is a little wider but much deeper. It’s hard writing this, I keep closing my eyes. I was so afraid that I had spend too much on just a DAC, buyers remorse surely would hit hard when I couldn’t hear a big difference between bits or the sound was too cold and bright, thank god that isn’t the case and I’ve got a massive grin on my face listening to some of my favourite music.

 

[jayz]

Just received my Chord Qutest and I had an entire evening planned AB comparing the Chord Qutest with a Cambridge audio CXC transport with my old Rega Planet CD-player, a CD player which I’ve enjoyed immensely for the last 10 years. Well, I don’t need to compare anything, from the first song it’s obvious that I’m hearing things I’ve never heard before, with individual instruments sounding much better seperated. I can hear so many more details, with a saxophone I can hear there is a reed vibrating, with a piano I can hear the strings vibrate and the cabinet resonate. I’m very sensitive to bright sounding equipment and the Chord with the incisive filter doesn’t sound bright at all to me ( and it’s not even burned in ), just very detailed. I’m extremely impressed so far. I’m using the stock power supply at the moment but a Linear power supply is on its way, not sure if it will make a difference but I don’t want to risk it, the stock power supply feels and looks cheap, the tiny power cable especially feels extremely cheap, couldn’t they have picked a slightly more substantial one ? Really detracts from the overall impressive build quality. Shame on Chord for choosing the absolute cheapest and thinnest one available, this unit deserves better. Really bugs me ! Ok, back to the music, currently listening to some albums that I know very well and I’ve never heard sound from behind the speakers, just wasn’t possible in my room before. Soundstage is a little wider but much deeper. It’s hard writing this, I keep closing my eyes. I was so afraid that I had spend too much on just a DAC, buyers remorse surely would hit hard when I couldn’t hear a big difference betweens bits or the sound was too cold and bright, thank god that isn’t the case and I’ve got a massive grin on my face listening to some of my favourite music.

Glad your enjoying Qutest. The amazing depth, height, and width of the soundstage that Qutest throws still baffles me 4 months on.

But a bit puzzled on the "Shame on Chord..." comment. Now you do realise that it's the same designer/company who designed the DAC (which you praise) who also decided on a stock power supply right? Or did YOU do a technical power supply performance eval + build & materials + R&D costing + ROI analysis and conclude that Chord should have given a better supply for the asking price? Or perhaps you are suggesting even if it makes a little difference technically, Chord should have had heftier supply and should have charged all of us who bought a Qutest a couple of hundred more for it ? Or maybe the suggestion is to follow the likes of Naim, Linn , etc. and offer power supply upgrades every few years and charge customers top dollar for upgrades?

On the other hand, is there anything stopping you ( or anyone else) who bought a Qutest getting a bigger & heavier supply ? Do you get where this is heading...

 

[miketlse]

Glad your enjoying Qutest. The amazing depth, height, and width of the soundstage that Qutest throws still baffles me 4 months on.

But a bit puzzled on the "Shame on Chord..." comment. Now you do realise that it's the same designer/company who designed the DAC (which you praise) who also decided on a stock power supply right? Or did YOU do a technical power supply performance eval + build & materials + R&D costing + ROI analysis and conclude that Chord should have given a better supply for the asking price? Or perhaps you are suggesting even if it makes a little difference technically, Chord should have had heftier supply and should have charged all of us who bought a Qutest a couple of hundred more for it ? Or maybe the suggestion is to follow the likes of Naim, Linn , etc. and offer power supply upgrades every few years and charge customers top dollar for upgrades?

On the other hand, is there anything stopping you ( or anyone else) who bought a Qutest getting a bigger & heavier supply ? Do you get where this is heading...

Don't bite.

It reminds me of the debate on the Hugo2 thread about remote controls.

i admit that I take a functional engineering point of view.
i appreciate a minimalist design principle, so i love the remote that chord supplied. It has buttons for all the functionality that is needed, and no more.
But there were posters who complained that Chord did not supply a metal remote with 50 buttons, most of which will never be used.
For them form matters far more than functionality.
A similar situation exists with power supplies - chord ship power supplies that meet the functional requirements. Anything else is pure excess.

 

[kovacs]

Glad your enjoying Qutest. The amazing depth, height, and width of the soundstage that Qutest throws still baffles me 4 months on.

But a bit puzzled on the "Shame on Chord..." comment. Now you do realise that it's the same designer/company who designed the DAC (which you praise) who also decided on a stock power supply right? Or did YOU do a technical power supply performance eval + build & materials + R&D costing + ROI analysis and conclude that Chord should have given a better supply for the asking price? Or perhaps you are suggesting even if it makes a little difference technically, Chord should have had heftier supply and should have charged all of us who bought a Qutest a couple of hundred more for it ? Or maybe the suggestion is to follow the likes of Naim, Linn , etc. and offer power supply upgrades every few years and charge customers top dollar for upgrades?

On the other hand, is there anything stopping you ( or anyone else) who bought a Qutest getting a bigger & heavier supply ? Do you get where this is heading...

The included power supply probably performs fine, can’t tell really, what I’m complaining about is how it looks and feels compared to the rest. The window feels like real glass, can’t be cheap and does nothing for the sound, they shouldn’t have done that but they did anyway. The device is milled from a solid block of aluminium, perfect, far from the cheapest option, but they did it anyway because it matters and they care. The package it comes in is really nice and well designed, clearly some thought went into it, won’t see it often, but hey you won’t hear me complain. They designed the device to perform well with any decent power supply, makes sense to include something simple, but like they chose glass for the window they should have chosen better materials for the power supply and cable, they were so close. The power supply and cable is something is will see and touch all the time, did they really have to chose this one ? Surely one that feels and looks nicer can’t be that much more expensive, we’re talking a few dollars more at most, these things are really cheap ! It’s the only thing they didn’t design and make in-house and it’s the only thing where they settled for good enough, shame.

Do YOU ( see I can use a condescending tone as well ) really believe they spend much on R&D for the power supply, if they did it wouldn’t look like this. They clearly picked one from a catalog, no need to reinvent the wheel when you have hundreds of models already available on the chinese market.

 

[zek4u]

@jayz I also ordered an MCRU linear PSU for my Qutest. I probably violated Chord's warranty when I used the same brand's PSU on my 2Qute. I think it sounded better. Yes, Rob said he couldn't hear a difference between the cheap PSU and a battery. It is my opinion that a good PSU helps eliminate RFI and EMI further up stream on the AC lines. Not everyone has per socket isolation/conditioning or lives in a place with clean power. For a few hundred bucks, it gives me some peace of mind. Oh, I have a dedicated circuit with a good Cutler-Hammer switch box. Ran Romex 10/2 WG to a Shunyata SR-Z1 AC Outlet.

@Hummer25 Super excited to try the Qutest with the Croft combo. I originally wanted a Hugo 2 to deal with my vintage Naim Nait 2s channel imbalance at low volumes. Higher gain on 2Qute made it an issue. Love that Rob's volume implementation causes little to no degradation at lower volumes. Had no idea the Qutest was going to have this ability even if it is just 3V, 2V, etc. I'm sure 2V will be perfect with the 25R and I will report back. I'm using a CAPs Carbon powered by a Teddy 12V. Blue Jeans CAT 6 to a good Linksys router (don't use your cable companies router!!!). Linksys router to a microRendu powered by a 9V Teddy PSU. No garbage in, no garbage out. Big fan of jRiver/jRemote. Thinking about upgrading to an ultraRendu.