UPGRADE PATH FROM CHORD QUTEST DAC

What specific improvements are you looking for, and what sound characteristics are most important to you?

Seeking greater resolution.

Switching can be OK if engineered correctly.

You should hear a difference before spending blindly.

I would recommend against modding a component. You’re buying a completely different DAC. It’s not Weiss anymore and you put yourself in a situation where you may not like the DAC and It’s going to be extremely hard to sell. Not many buyers like modified components. 

Rather than modifying , go with a better DAC instead like the next level Weiss. If you can’t swing a new one, consider shopping on a used market. 

Another recommendation in the $5,000 price range is the Bricasti M3. Excellent DAC. Made in the USA. Linear power supply so no need to worry about buying external one.

I upgraded to a Chord TT2 and never looked back. 

I had Qutest and now have TT2 - 100% a very nice step up. 

HiFi Rose just launched a DAC around your budget. I'm looking forward to hearing it, so no opinion other than it's worthy of keeping on your radar. 

Others mentioned TT2 and you can experiment with the upscaler down the road. I've heard this combo and it easily beats the fantastic Qutest.

Take look at the Wyred4sound 10th anniversary DAC It's $4,500, one of the reviewers put it up against his VPI turntable with a $5,000 Japanese cartridge and he said that the 10th anniversary DAC was every bit as analog sounding, on that review I bought it and I totally agree, The best DAC I've ever had in my system, and a bonus is that they give you a 30-day trial period, if you don't like it you can send it back and get your money back, I didn't it was so good.

I know you said "serviced in the US" - but you could always try a Gustard from Amazon just to get a comparison unit.  This would enable you to have at least 2 DACs in your possession at one time.  I have an X26 Pro (which I consider a great value) and I think they may have upped their game with the R26.  There are upgrade paths with the Gustard such as an external DDC an external clock (which admittedly results in more boxes and interconnects) but the power supply is internal.  I do prefer the I2S input on my X26, which requires a DDC (mine is a very inexpensive Douk Audio with an LPS)

Not sure if you have Whole Foods where you live, but that's how I do my Amazon returns. They also do returns at the UPS Store. Pretty low risk and an easy way to get another "point on the curve"

Find a used Chord Dave, you shuold be able to get one in your budget or very close to it, then you will never need another DAC upgrade. I sold mine a few months back for $6500 canadian under your $5000usd budget. Thats a world class DAC ($15000usd retail) for a fraction of the cost new and you wont be disapionted. Chord is not replaceing the Dave this year/next year acording to my dealer so its still current. 

Now that i have moved i'll be saving up for another one. 

@boulder_bob   Gustard has a newish model, the X30.  Looks really interesting.  It's $3k, but seems like a lot of bang for the buck. There are rumors of a R30 which would be an upgrade to the R26 r2r dac.  Not sure when it might be out.  

I have a R26 with U18 ddc and LHY ock-2 clock.  I'll probably ride with that for the unforeseeable future. 

@kjl1065, after I had become infatuated with the sound of my Chord Qutest, the logical next step up for me was to acquire a TT2, which I got at a fantastic price by trading the almost new Qutest for a floor model TT2. Shortly thereafter the motherboard on the TT2 had to be replaced, and luckily it was serviced in Texas and returned to Minnesota in a little over a week. So no problems with overseas repairs. 
If I was starting all over again I might have jumped directly into a gently used Chord Dave. A cursory search on eBay produced two used Dave DACs going for around $6,700 USD. I’m still really happy with my TT2 and Hugo m scaler combo to the point that I haven’t thought about changing audio gear in over three years. I use 15-16v Sbooster linear power supplies with both units. 

@sls883 appreciate the comment - I can't find a way to "like" on this forum

@kjl1065  Like someone said the Gustard X30 might be a good option for $3K US. In the one review of the X30 the reviewer said it was every bit as good as his Dave and then some. The Musetec MH-DA006 looks really awesome, the build is fantastic and is probably in line with what you seek for performance gains. I dont own either, but both should be on your shortlist and easily meet your price point. I own a Gustard A26 and a Innuos Phoenix

Audio Mirror Tubadour IV SE. An excellent tube Dac at a great price.(4000) Built in recclocker to lower jitter. Furutech recepticle...Gaia footers..internal componets are all good quality. 

Moving from Octo Dac8 to Tubadour...noticed sound stage got a bunch wider...more separtion of instruments. A lil more texture.

If you like your Qutest but just want "more" of that same sound it would make sense to stay in the Chord family and at least audition the TT2. Should be easy to find at a dealer. List price is a few hundred dollars over your $5,000 limit but I’m pretty sure you could talk the dealer down that much or more.

I hear mixed things about the Weiss 204. Love Weiss but they might have compromised too much trying to hit that lower price target.

Schiit Yggdrasil R2R (in your budget, less than 3k). It is made in the USA, sounds better than dacs 10 times its price and happens to be manufacturer direct. The manufacturer is your dealer, i.e., you wouldn’t need another middleman in your life (adding 50% to the cost for sending you a thank you note and shipping a box).

Schiit Yggdrasil is what I also use. I have 2 of them, the recently discontinued Yggi+ OG and the current Yggi+ LIM. The OG is detailed, non-fatiguing, and the very best DAC I have ever owned. I want to buy second Yggi+ OG but cannot find one. Initially, I was thinking of buying the likely slightly better Playback Design Dream DAC at $24k. I even bought the $3k PBD Plink (fibre) streamer in advance of buying the Dream. However, after I heard the OG (after a heavy 30-day burn-in) I knew I was going to save my money. I sold the streamer.

The LIM is the first Yggi+ DAC I bought, and I loved it with my Magnepan LRS+ system. The LRS+ is not as detailed nor is the LIM. However, it is a great non-fatiguing listen. The LRS+ is sold now and the LIM is not cutting it for my Yamaha NS5000 speakers. I should state that I did put the LIM back with the NS5000 today and loved the sound, but it could be better as the OG is with the NS5000.

Over the weekend I signed up to upgrade my LIM to the OG replacement, the More Is Better (MIB). That is an $850 upgrade to the LIM and likely takes the sound closer to the OG level.

I use the OG with my RAAL VM-1a tube headphone amp. Incredible.

Try it out on the 15-day home trial, though I think it takes about 30 days for the proper burn in.

Schiit Audio Yggdrasil DAC - The Absolute Sound

But if the very best reproduction of PCM sources is your goal, the Yggdrasil is the ticket. It’s a spectacular performer on an absolute level, and an out-of-this world bargain. The Yggy is not just a tremendous value in today’s DACs, it’s one of the greatest bargains in the history of high-end audio.

I have the Weiss 204 with the ModWright LPs upgrade and thing it sounds excellent. I think it has excellent resolution, wonderful tonality, and is vey open and clean sounding.

A few things to note from my experience. First, the ModWright LPS is simply a replacement of the basic PS that Weiss ships with the unit, so it is not an actual mo per se. Second, as far as US service, this will likely depend on what might need servicing. I originally thought that I might have had an issue with my unit (turns out I did not and the issue was elsewhere) and reached out to Weiss. Daniel Weiss very quickly responded and let me know that there was a firmware upgrade available, but I would need to send the unit back to Switzerland. Fortunately as mentioned the unit was fine, but just something to keep in mind. I did appreciate his very quick response though.

T+A Dac 200.  Step up from the Bricasti M3 in my system. Big open sound. Can add an HDMI card and decode blu ray audio and SACD. 5k is the previously owned price. Unmatched customer service. 

I had the Bricasti M3, found it a bit sterile sounding.  Though great build and support from Bricasti.

Went to Electrocompanient; very analogue sounding with life-like vocals.