USB to Dual Coax Bridge for Qutest DAC

Yes. Rob Watts is a digital genius. I love the Chord sound. It’s remarkable what he’s been able to accomplish there.

I have two minor gripes there with the Qutest and the TT2…

1. Power supply - wall wart? Really? Advantage is, minus one power cord upgrade but other than that, not cool

2. Ergonomics - I do like the the original design with the changing LED colors depending on what bit rate is coming into the dac, but it’s a bit too unsubtle and I like to see the bitrate on the screen

Zero complaints about the sound, I think sonically they’re solid dacs. The TT2 will be more of what the Qutest has to offer but I’m sorry at the price of the TT2 I expect a really good linear power supply. It’s definitely worth trying if that’s the route you wanna go. I’m confident it’ll be a great dac and an upgrade over the already pretty awesome qutest.

@audphile1 

Happy New Year.

I contacted the seller and may potentially pull the trigger this week.

Without ever hearing the M3, I'm a bit hesitant to do just that.  Pre-buyers remorse.

Did some critical listening on Qobuz this morning using a Chesky playlist.  Most tracks sound pretty good with my Qutest.

So, asking for some encouragement that I am going to take my streaming experience to a significantly higher level with the Bricasti.  I realize this may be a strange request from an Audiogon member, but what the heck.

Rich a/k/a drlou77

Just make sure current generation Mdx board.  I really enjoyed my M3.  It added life back into my streaming and I had plans to keep it for a long time.  I loved the sound, build quality and Bricasti the company.  Their upgrade offerings are great and working with Brian Zolner is wonderful.  Anyway came into a little money and traded up to an M1SE and now own a M1 SII.  I can't say enough good things about Bricasti.  On a side note - their stream / renderer card is excellent as well.

@testrun 

How do I determine if the DAC has the current generation MDX board?  The seller doesn't know, but gave me the serial #.  I guess I can call Bricasti.

Would you say that if it doesn't have this board, I should move on?  The DAC has been on the market since 12/3/23 with no takers.  I contacted the seller, who has an excellent rating, and the DAC is priced to sell. 

That being said, I don't want to buy a "white elephant' piece just because I'm getting a deal.  I want this DAC to be my "game over" DAC.  I've invested a small fortune in my streaming set up and don't want to go down the rabbit hole any further for streaming Qobuz and ripped FLAC files on my Zenith's SSD.

Thanks.

Do you know when it was built / originally purchased?  I would send Bricasti an email or give them a call.  I would think with a SS # they should be able to tell you right away.  According to Bricasti's WEB Site the upgraded board was put into service January 2020.  You can also send the M3 back to Bricasti and have them upgrade. I'm not sure the cost.  It might be wise to give them a call and to see how they handle the question.  May interactions have been great. My first M3 had the new board so can't really speaker to the differences or value differential.  Let me know how it works out.