Finally Bought Chord Qutest


After two years of obsessing over my curiosity about what a new DAC would do, I pulled the trigger and bought a new Chord Qutest. Three days in since the lights came on. There has been a slight burn in transformation going on in depth and impact of bass. My expectations were irrationally high. (The price tag in part feeds that!) I'm from the poor side of the audiophile family. Honestly the improvements are more than even I expected. I'll spare you all the typical accolades but one stands out I should mention. By the way my previous DAC was the NUprime 9SE which retailed for a little over $1000. So no junk there. Timing. I heard reviewers speak of how "timing" seemed right. But I never really knew what it was. With the Nuprime  DAC I felt the music wasn't settled and relaxing. The Chord DAC gives the calming sense everything is in its place. This in turn allows me to relax and enjoy the music like my early "phile" days. I guess this is what "timing" means. More detail for sure, and this ...very clear distinction in each aspect of the music, each instrument sits freely in its own space. It blew the borders off with depth, width, a real holographic world audibly before my ears. Fantastic (And I said I wasn't going to wax eloquent) Transformative really [Raven Integrated Amp, Klipsch Lascala II, SVS SB2000 sub, Audiolab CDT6000 transport, Mad Scientist interconnects, Tellurium Q Black II speaker cables]

allears4u

From Google--- To turn the Chord Qutest off light, you need to press and hold both the FILTER and INPUT buttons

I have Chord Hugo2 and SMSL DP5 DACs. I believe that Hugo2 and Qutest sound similar in musicality. Hugo2' is better than many other DACs in sound and musicality. I know you will enjoy Qutest for a long time. Alex/Wavetouch

Which reviewer was it?

What if the Chord's "timing" was off (hakuna matata timing) and that's what made it relaxing and settling (nap ready)??

If everything was right on time, it might make the guy a bit edgy , make him start marching up and down the room, phaps??

What if?? What if?? What if??

Timing. I heard reviewers speak of how "timing" seemed right. But I never really knew what it was. With the Nuprime DAC I felt the music wasn't settled and relaxing. The Chord DAC gives the calming sense everything is in its place. 

Congrats, the Qutest is probably my favorite of all the Chord DACs. The most affordable is the little Mojo 2 which I also really enjoy, but the Qutest seems to have the best balance of detail to musicality. The bigger models don't really appeal to me as much.

With the Qutest is it true Rob Watts prefers optical over coax connection when outputting 24-bit 192kHz?

No way will I reminder which reviewer suggested superior "timing". I've read so many reviews it all goes blurry. I will try the optical since that is an easy option plus I'll need that option to get out of my Audiolab transport to old Nupreme DAC to go into my Cabin tube headphone amp. Chord is only getting better. So pure my wife said its almost too clear. HAHA...never...no such thing! Still burning in or so it seems. I say that because certain musical aspects are appearing to be better than first days. Had to turn bass down some. Big upgrade to me. It may be 10% better but that 10% is transformative. Guitars have sharpness now , more real on White Bottom Incisive setting.