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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
ddude003
161 posts
 
If you are ready to go down the rabbit hole, see this paper which describes the WTA algorithm and its effects on the reconstruction of analogue from digital signals...  https://www.moon-audio.com/content/pdf/chord/chord-tech-profile-hifi-critic.pdf

Also, note that the Qutest and TT2 convert DSD back to PCM internally...  Upsampling to DSD just breaks small signals, which some may like or dislike depending on your ear/brain/system/room...
redwoodaudio OP
413 posts
 
Thanks for the link. I'll check it out. 
bob7296's avatar
bob7296
35 posts
 
I upgraded from the Qutest to a Hugo TT2 and then I went back to the Qutest. The Hugo sounded very smooth and light and airy, with it's vocals more forward. It was soft and light sounding compared to the Qutest. I preferred the Qutest as it seemed to have more meat on the bone with a richer sound with slightly more impact. I guess it comes down to your system and personal taste.
txp1
145 posts
 

@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
1,686 posts
 

txp1, may I ask what streamer did you end up with? I recently bought a Lumin U2 mini and so far the changes are mostly positive but there are some downsides which I suspect is more to the unit requiring break-in and a cheap power cable that’s currently connected to it. I also have the Lumin plugged in to a cheap power strip which I believe is limiting its full potential as well.

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