Sonically, the Chord Qutest was one of the most disappointing DACs I’ve owned. Value-wise, it easily ranks as the worst.
Don’t fall victim to the hype surrounding their proprietary FPGA and filter tapping. It doesn’t result in any better objective performance than a mid-grade OEM DS chip and independent measurements confirm that.
Subjectively (in level-matched A/B comparisons I conducted), the Marantz HD-DAC1, Denafrips Ares II, and Electrocompaniet ECD-2 are all considerably superior, especially in bass performance. If you want to get the same experience the Qutest offers, you can get the Pro-Ject Pre BoxS2 Digital, which sounds indistinguishable for half the price of a used Qutest.
The most likely reason others are recommending the Qutest over the Rose’s internal DAC is the pervasive and flawed notion around here that separate components that result in higher total cost always result in better performance.
There’s good reason you’ll never encounter a shortage of pre-owned Qutest DACs floating around the market. I believe one time I counted as many as 10 available simultaneously on the “other” site. It’s as overpriced and overhyped a product as I’ve encountered in all my years in this hobby. Lean bass, relatively grainy highs, and a very 2-dimensional soundstage with none of the layering you get from a good R2R DAC. It is the epitome of stereotypical delta-sigma sound. Even the original AKM Topping D90 sounds more organic.
I don’t have experience with HiFi Rose products, but I’d honestly be amazed if the Qutest sounds any better than their onboard DACs. When it comes to streaming, your best bet is to get the product with the most reliable and logical operating interface. Get the streamer that fits those needs first and foremost, then worry about the DAC quality. If the streamer is frequently crashing or suffering other obnoxious glitches, it doesn’t matter how good the internal DAC is, nor will it matter of you have a great DAC downstream…it will ruin the experience.