My new Chord Qutest

Zuman · « **on:** 10 Mar 2021, 10:12 pm »

Hello, all. I've always been cautiously skeptical about products which I don't really understand, and DACs are certainly on that list. You can listen to acclaimed designer Mike Moffat at Schiit speak on the supremacy of R2R units and denigrate Delta Sigma designs, while recognized DAC genius Rob Watts is equally sure about his particular flavor of Delta Sigma DACs. Then you have a sizable group - supported by a significant body of blind listening tests - who maintain that high-end DACs have no sonic benefit over reasonably-well engineered bargain-basement units.
So I simply didn't know, and I'm pretty sure there are many like me.
Nevertheless, I suspected that the Saber DAC built into my Peachtree Nova125SE integrated amp, while well-regarded at the Peachtree's launch, was a weak link, so I did a lot of reading and ended up purchasing a Chord Qutest. I received it about two hours ago.
I can't tell you what I'll discover over the next month, but here's something that is indisputable: I have a 192kHz, 24-bit FLAC of Crosby, Stills, & Nash's "Daylight Again" downloaded from HDTracks, and "Southern Cross" sounded truly horrible with my Peachtree's internal DAC, with the chorus harmonies sounding compressed and notable by a "pumping" dynamic. I noticed it the first time I heard the track, and it is real and consistent. However, with the Qutest, the compressed, pumping effect is gone. There is no question.
I'm excited. I hope to discover many more delights.
(NAD M50.2 vault/player feeding Chord Qutest to Peachtree Nova125SE into CSS Criton 2TD-X MTMs. Running Roon.)

bacobits1 · « **Reply #1 on:** 10 Mar 2021, 10:44 pm »

Hi Zuman enjoy your Chord.

All DACs sound a bit different to the point of sometimes sounding like a different rendition
of the same album. BTW the Chord is not Delta Sigma it's a FGPA chip, custom tuned. A very different animal. We all have different tastes. Oh wires matter as well as power supplies even on Chord even if Rob Watts does not recognize the power supply part. More $$ the rabbit hole!

Enjoy!

Zuman · « **Reply #2 on:** 11 Mar 2021, 01:00 am »

"BTW the Chord is not Delta Sigma it's a FGPA chip, custom tuned."
That's what I thought! However, in the YouTube video "Interview with Chord Electronics' Rob Watts - Part 1: R2R vs Delta-Sigma vs Chord FPGA," Rob said that his FGPA DAC is a "subset" of the Delta Sigma.
Regardless...it works!
I think it will be a while until I can split hairs even further with power supplies, isolation, cables, etc. But I'm certainly not going to reject anything outright!

Jon L · « **Reply #3 on:** 11 Mar 2021, 03:20 am »

What's surprising is how good the Qutest sounds even with the cheap-looking stock smps. Rob Watts has stated that he tested a bunch of them and this tested the best and that aftermarket LPS would not improve SQ.

I wouldn't spend crazy money on exotic LPS's, but the affordable Allo Shanti LPS does take sound to a usefully different direction IME..

0827201234 by drjlo2, on Flickr

Rusty Jefferson · « **Reply #4 on:** 11 Mar 2021, 01:15 pm »

I was very impressed with a demo of the Qutest. I believe it's not so much the d/a but the Linear Phase filtering they employ. We demoed a very expensive LPS and it sounded better with the switcher

. 1st time for that. Move up the line if you like the characteristics of the Chord dacs. Hugo and Dave are more/better of the same. A friend just purchased an M-Scaler for his I'm hoping to hear soon. Enjoy.

Digi-G · « **Reply #5 on:** 11 Mar 2021, 01:29 pm »

Zuman, I'm right there with you.

You poke around on the internet long enough and you can find that every DAC sounds better than something else. OR you can find that all DACS sound alike. And all you need to spend on one to hear a difference is $100. Or $1000. Or $4000. Jeez.

It seems like every time I consider buying something I get overwhelmed and end up not doing anything (just like home projects, Lol).

I'm using an Oppo BDP-95 as my front end and it's probably from … 2012 or so. I keep thinking there's probably room for improvement so am seriously considering trying a Topping dac. I'm not ready to spend $1000+ for a dac. Not yet, anyway. I'm working on a DIY speaker kit that I want to finish first anyway before doing any other upgrades.

Let us know what other things you hear, though - very interested.

chiking · « **Reply #6 on:** 23 Jul 2021, 08:54 am »

congrats on the Qutest. I started with the Mojo, then got a Hugo 2 and now ended up with a Qutest so I don't have to worry about replacing the battery.

I.Greyhound Fan · « **Reply #7 on:** 23 Jul 2021, 04:14 pm »

Congrats on the DAC. DAC's do sound different and as you go up in price the sound generally is better. Of course, the rest of your system and usb cable needs to be up to the task.

I have experience with the AQ Black, Emotiva Big Ego, Schiit Modi 3, AVA DAC's, IFI, Cary Audio 200T, Marantz NA-11s1, Exogal Comet, Hugo, PS Audio Direct Stream, Bryston, Wyred 4S DSD and My current Luxman DA-06. Plus I have heard many others from friends and at shows. We did a DAC shootout with cheap DAC's compared to $2,000 plus DAC's. They all sounded different and as we went up in price the sound improved significantly. The cheap DAC's sounded good but in comparison to the more expensive DAC's they sounded mid fi at best.

People that don't believe or can't hear a difference either don't want to believe, have poor hearing or most likely their system or room is not up to the task.

By the way, USB cables can sound remarkably different.