Anybody here upgrade from Chord Qutest DAC"

@redwoodaudio I’m in the same situation. What did you decide? I very briefly looked at your system but could not quickly recognize the DAC . I’m also considering the M-scaler rather than a different DAC.  Thanks!

By the way,  in the past year I bought a new streamer and the improvements have shocked me. Previously I had never believed a streamer made that much difference. It does. I was OP on a thread about my choice.

@ryder Also if you decide to buy a new power cable or strip, they are the worst for requiring long burn-in times.  Best of patience to you!

@ryder I bought the Aurender N150.  You’ve identified many of your issues. I’d recommend a good power cable as well as a good power strip. And give it lots of listening time burn-in.  I could clearly hear changes to 100 hours and more subtle changes far past that.

 I use a Shunyata Taipan power cable that I had available. I have it plugged directly into my Shunyata Hydra power conditioner. If you need a good power strip I highly recommend the Furutech TP-66 gold or rhodium versions. Any high quality power strip will be an improvement.  

@ryder  “ for me it’s 300+ hours before I start to hear the magic!”.
So true! I didn’t want to say this because most people don’t believe it. Power components are the worst for long burn-in times, cables, strips, conditioners, etc. If you’re fortunate you’ll hear improvements immediately. That just means you were already in power quality crap audio land. Burn-in will improve audio over time. I didn’t believe it until I experienced it decades ago.

@jjss49 @jazzman7  I pulled the trigger on a M-scaler. I’ve got a long time to evaluate it.  I read all reviews of it with the Qutest.  I hope it works for me. I need more meat in the lower mids because I mostly listen to jazz. 

@hayas Thanks but I Canceled the M-scaler purchase. I’m still considering a R2R DAC such as the Sonnet Morpheus or Pasithea or the Audio Mirror Troubadour IV.