I’m in love with this dac. Since I got nice speakers I can’t find a weakness in this piece I have the upgraded linear PS. I went from exclusively vinyl to 25% vinyl lately. Anyone else feel the love for this little gem? Favorite filter or neutral? Also has anyone found a streamer that pairs well?
The all DACs sound equal folks will scoff at this notion, but I absolutely love the sound of my FPGA based PS Audio DAC too. Great FPGA based designs can indeed sound truly wonderful if they are implemented well.
What streamer do you use? And no way all dacs are equal. The chord was the first I’ve heard that was beyond acceptable.
I use a Marantz ND8006 with my Direct Stream DAC. It sounds great! But the NA6006 contains the same streamer, just with fewer inputs and no disk drive for about half the price.
Had mine since 2018, great little DAC that has passed the test of time. Favorite filter is neutral and I use Audirvana through an old laptop as a streamer. Recently added a Denafrips Iris DDC and it was a nice SQ bump.
Yes, whole lotta love. I had mine for year, not interested in upgrading it any time soon. My favorite filters are green and orange, depending on the speakers that I am using.
It’s a great DAC for the price point. Can’t go wrong owning it. I did not hear much difference between filters. As for streamer, the Lumin U1 Mini pairs well with the Qutest. I’m sure any decent streamer will.
Chord gear does have an audiophile tax added on. It's good stuff if you aren't so price/value conscious and can afford the audiophile tax.
Heard many enthusiastic reviews about the Quest. If I have a NAS server and this DAC, do I need a steamer in between?
Definitely … the Qutest is a mere DAC, does not have a renderer or any streaming capability. The streamer that is used must be able to ‘see’ your NAS server. Most do that nowadays.
I also added a Denafrips Iris recently. Using optical output to Qutest. Great improvement. Switched from green to white filter after adding the Iris, with Lifatek cable.
If you are streaming from your NAS over ethernet or wifi, then yes. If you are streaming from your PC to your DAC via a USB connection, then no.
I love my Qutest. I use it to listen to CD from my Audio Note CDT 1.1 transport. Sounds great. Almost as good as my vinyl set up. I prefer the neutral filter. I only stream Spotify from my computer for background listening and to check unknown music.
I’ve thought about a Chord DAC many times, but I’ve also read and watched reviews where there are instances of vocals and instruments being displaced in the sound field with Chord DACs. I can’t recall if it was a specific model or across their entire line, but that would drive me crazy … Anyone experience this?
One I can recall right off bat was a YouTube reviewer that said something to this effect. I’ll see if I can dig it up.
Not that I have noticed. Dr John seems like he's sitting right in front of me right now. Only brought to tears twice in 4 songs.
Never experienced this. That's probably the opposite of what the Qutest does, the ace up its sleeve is how holographic and organized the soundstage is.
I just googled your Lifatek optical cable, it looks like the bee's knees. Have you compared SQ of optical vs spdif cable into the Qutest? I'm currently using a spdif cable (Wireworld and Black Cat) from Iris to Qutest.