Anybody here upgrade from Chord Qutest DAC"


Chord Qutest is a strong contender, especially with linear power supply, but I’m curious about greener pastures, or at least different-colored pastures. Think my system is good enough to notice: ear 868l pre, pass xa30.8, omega alnico Xrs speakers. Streaming only.

Anybody here upgrade from chord qutest with other chord dacs or different brands altogether? What improved, what was lost?
redwoodaudio

Showing 1 response by cio52

Qutest with M-Scaler gets close to the Hugo TT2 plus M-Scaler filter length  1,064,960 divided by 1,114,112 =95%.  If you don't need a headphone amp, bluetooth, and balanced outlets go with the Qutest and save a few thousand dollars.

You don't have to understand taps and filter length.  What is important is to know that the M-Scaler fills in the spaces between the samples making the music smoother, more dynamic, more like analog etc. The gap between music recorded at 44.1khz sample rate is greater than the space between 176.4khz and so on.  You can read about Rob Watts theory on a white paper available on the Chord M-Scaler website.  

My digital front end upsamples everything to 705.6 or 768khz.  Digital System components: Roon Nucleus via ethernet to Lumin U1 via USB to M-Scaler and Dual Silver Dragon BNC cables to the Qutest.  I use the Incisive neutral filter on the Qutest for ultra linear frequency response.  I'm very happy with the sound quality.