USB to Dual Coax Bridge for Qutest DAC

@testrun 

@audphile1 

Thank you, both.  Called and emailed Joe today.  Waiting to hear back from him.

Since the MDX board does indeed come with the M3, I'll probably purchase it tomorrow.  Would also like to hear back about the head phone upgrade, but it's not along the critical path for me.

I've read everything I could get my hands on and everyone raves about this DAC.  You guys have been really helpful, in this regard.

I'll check back in tomorrow.

Rich

Good luck Rich! I think this a step in a right direction if you can swing it. Funny how this progressed from a USB device to a new DAC…😂

@drlou77 

I had a similar setup as you, Aurender N100H feeding a Sboosted Qutest via Curious and other USB cables. For the most part it sounded great, albeit a bit harsh on some recordings. I'm not bashing USB but I moved on from it due mostly to the Aurender losing connection to dacs (several popular models) mostly when switching tracks quickly. I'd literally have to reboot the dacs. Probably an Aurender issue for sure.

I've read about Robb Watts impressive spdif implementation, as well as many opinions on other forums that the Qutest's least favored interface is usb. 

I also looked at the Audiowise SRC-DX but ended up with an Aurender UT100 usb/toslink converter. I recently acquired their UC100 usb/coax converter as well. Both units solve all the connection issues and as for sound, with usb I only used the two warm filters, without usb all I use is the incisive filters. So I think there may be less "digital glare" with spdif. 

Good luck with whatever you decide! That M3 does look awful nice :)

That’s odd. Something doesn’t sound right there. N100H only has USB out. If you had to reboot the dac it was the dac that had a problem.
Just so you know…when you’re running your DAC via coax, the clock in your transport or streamer is one of the most critical elements.  When you’re running it via USB, the DAC clock takes over. USB sounds great with the M3, better than coax in my system with Aurender N200. And it was also the case with lumin u1 mini and Qutest and Lumin U1 Mini and Bricasti. 

@audphile1 

I have the Innuos Phoenix USB after my Zenith streamer.  It is my understanding that the Phoenix reclocker was doing the heavy lifting.  Does the M3 reclock the signal as well?

Thanks.