Chord Dac

Keep the Qutest. It’s a great DAC. 

Thank you so much.

Danny.

@danym 

I’ve been listening to the Qutest for over two years and loved it. Chord uses FPGA chips which are very detailed/analytical and if not matched with the right cables can be very bright. I bought all Cardas cables since they are very neutral to reduce some of the brightness. Over the past two weeks I bought a pontus ii dac and a hermes ddc both from denafrits. The pontus is a ladder dac and sounds so much more natural with a way bigger soundstage. The pontus ii is priced at around $1800 and weights almost 19lbs. It also comes with two linear power supplies, one for the digital side and one for the analog side (both of them under the electrical portion of the dac). The hermes ddc improves the timing of the signal keeping it in the digital before sending it to the pontus where the signal is clocked again before transitioning into analog. The price point is around $1200. These two together have improved my listening experience exponentially. I highly recommend doing some research on both. 

Thank you very much for sharing and recommendations.

Danny.

The price point of the Qutest and Pontus II is approximately the same...  And you added the Hermes ddc, which is a linear power supply and re-clocker...  I wonder if you tried the Hermes with the Qutest...  With that same extra $1200, could have bought a LPS and re-clocker for the Qutest...  How would it sound???

The Qutest is a wonderful DAC.  Regarding upgrading, with a TT2 you will get a wider, deeper and more stable soundstage (better separation) compared to the Qutest.  It will be more detailed and the overall listening experience would be more immersive.  I think you will find the bottom end will be fuller as well. 

Is it worth it?  That is a matter of opinion and very much depends on how much the incremental cost hurts your pocketbook.  The TT2 is an evolution rather than a revolution in terms of sound.  It is noticeably, incrementally better.  

Thank you very much, you gave me a lot to think about

Danny.