[JazzAudioDog]

There are no M1 Minis or M1 iMacs that have the Optical S/PDIF 3.5" port. In fact, no Mac Mini since 2017 has had that dual purpose headphone/Optical output.

I discovered that while researching after I posted. My old Mac Mini, which the M1 replaced, is a 2009 so it had the dual-use socket. Apple would never intentionally remove a nice capability, would they? Never. Ha, ha. Shame on me!

 

[ardbeg1975]

I discovered that while researching after I posted. My old Mac Mini, which the M1 replaced, is a 2009 so it had the dual-use socket. Apple would never intentionally remove a nice capability, would they? Never. Ha, ha. Shame on me!

Apple is very good at a lot of things, including killing off (frequently) usable ports.

 

[JazzAudioDog]

Have a question though please. I normally unplug the Qutest overnight, but left it plugged in for maybe two days. It runs on my PC.

Today I started up my PC twice. The second time (after I had been out for a walk) the Qutest did not register the PC. I could not get sound, and after looking at settings and whatever I could think of. I looked in the port window and noticed that there was no sampling rate light. I restarted the Qutest and all was good.

My Qutest is no longer seen by my Apple M1 Mac Mini using USB. The Qutest doesn’t show up at all in the M1’s audio Midi device list.

I leave my Qutest on 24x7. I searched through old posts and found GreenBow’s old post #4045 where he had the same problem I have now and he fixed it with a Qutest restart. Tomorrow I’ll try that. Thanks GreenBow!

But actually I found it by accident while researching a different topic. In my original searches I have a Mac Mini and GreenBow has a PC and apparently they never met up in the search engine.

 

[ardbeg1975]

I leave my Qutest on 24x7. I searched through old posts and found GreenBow’s old post #4045 where he had the same problem I have now and he fixed it with a Qutest restart. Tomorrow I’ll try that. Thanks GreenBow!

But actually I found it by accident while researching a different topic. In my original searches I have a Mac Mini and GreenBow has a PC and apparently they never met up in the search engine.

While not necessarily the best (cheapest) solve, I moved my Qutest from direct PC connected to proxied via a Zen streamer and have had no Qutest connectivity issues thereafter but I will caveat by saying that while the Zen sounds great in combo with the Qutest it is a finicky gadget.

 

[JazzAudioDog]

While not necessarily the best (cheapest) solve, I moved my Qutest from direct PC connected to proxied via a Zen streamer and have had no Qutest connectivity issues thereafter but I will caveat by saying that while the Zen sounds great in combo with the Qutest it is a finicky gadget.

Wish I could do that! My Bluesound Node 2i only has an optical input and my M1 Mac Mini only has USB outputs. No optical output that the old Mac Minis had. Bummer!

 

[Nicholasheadfi2]

There has been a lot of talk about the qutest running of battery power lately and just wanted to ask weather
it was worth perusing does it make a difference or am i wasting my time?
i purchased an anker battery power bank but unsure if its safe to use , there is an online article stating that
the power bank needs to be 5v which the power bank has but its the amps im not sure about .
it states that it has to be 2.4amps ? the one i have is 3amps , would that be to much for the qutest or will it damage
the dac.
any advise would be great guys thank you.

 

[uzi2]

There has been a lot of talk about the qutest running of battery power lately and just wanted to ask weather
it was worth perusing does it make a difference or am i wasting my time?
i purchased an anker battery power bank but unsure if its safe to use , there is an online article stating that
the power bank needs to be 5v which the power bank has but its the amps im not sure about .
it states that it has to be 2.4amps ? the one i have is 3amps , would that be to much for the qutest or will it damage
the dac.
any advise would be great guys thank you.

The voltage is important. The Qutest will only draw the amps it requires...

 

[Nicholasheadfi2]

The voltage is important. The Qutest will only draw the amps it requires...

So it will be ok to use the power bank at 3amps ?
Thanks for the info

 

[Victorr]

o it will be ok to use the power bank at 3amps ?

Yes, you can.
The power supply will supply the power that the DAC can consume. 3A is its maximum capability.

 

[up late]

having read a 400 page thread feels like an achievement of sorts, particularly when roughly a third of it is taken-up with posts about after-market power supplies. i also want to take this opportunity to compliment rob watts on his unfailing ability to respectfully answer the same questions repeatedly.

 

[Nicholasheadfi2]

Yes, you can.
The power supply will supply the power that the DAC can consume. 3A is its maximum capability.

thank you very much .

 

[DJW50]

New Qutest owner here, set it up to my Pathos Inpol Ear and it sounds very good indeed. I also have a large collection of HDCD’s and Japanese ultradiscs that I play through a Cyrus CDt XR and these sound as good as they do through my Bow Technologies ZZ8. I’m running Amazon HD stored on a new iPad and again sounds fantastic through both the Focal Stellia’s and the Utopia’s. Having only recently bought this lot I’m going to wait and save up for the M Scaler.

 

[ardbeg1975]

New Qutest owner here, set it up to my Pathos Inpol Ear and it sounds very good indeed. I also have a large collection of HDCD’s and Japanese ultradiscs that I play through a Cyrus CDt XR and these sound as good as they do through my Bow Technologies ZZ8. I’m running Amazon HD stored on a new iPad and again sounds fantastic through both the Focal Stellia’s and the Utopia’s. Having only recently bought this lot I’m going to wait and save up for the M Scaler.

Before diving into the expense of an Mscaler, I’d recommend trying out HQPlayer upsampling and possibility an upgraded power supply. Then maybe the Mscaler.

 

[DJW50]

Before diving into the expense of an Mscaler, I’d recommend trying out HQPlayer upsampling and possibility an upgraded power supply. Then maybe the Mscaler.

Thanks not heard of HQ Player but will have a look is it simple to use for simple folk?
Also I’m not very flush now so may wait for the M Scaler 2

 

[ardbeg1975]

Thanks not heard of HQ Player but will have a look is it simple to use for simple folk?
Also I’m not very flush now so may wait for the M Scaler 2

Unfortunately I wouldn’t call HQPlayer simple. It is one if those pieces of software where reading the manual helps but the forums have some guidance on suggested settings. And it works best with Roon so if you don’t use Roon, that may sway your opinion negatively.