Review and Measurements of CHORD Qutest DAC

[DeepSpace57]

Denafrips Ares 2 vs Chord Qutest? I have a Topping D10s, Drop THX 789, SMSL DA-9 and B&W 607 S2

Ares 2 is hyped like thx 789. I remember zeos made many advertisings a couple of years ago. Moreover, Amirms stamped it to be a good product. It was like a unicorn for all audiophiles or ones recently starting this hoppy. At the end, it is quite natural and clean amp. Got it and never used the 789 due to it's boring signature. TA-20 ( one of the worst measured amps here) is much better than 789 for ‘planars’. I will not sell TA-20. But DO NOT TRUST ME nor anyone claiming “better” products.

Ares 2, on the other hand, is stamped like an ordinary product here. All reviewers got golden samples, and many have been paid to review it through some ways like giving it for free. Danafrips made a lot of money from this product for sure.

I still think colouration should be done through not dacs but amps. If you have a well measured dac, you could have a chance to enjoy nature sound and coloured sound. However, having a coloured sounding dac( tube dac etc) means that You have no chance to hear a natural sound.

I am of the opinion that numbers are always better than someone ‘s claims and hearing ability. Ares 2 might so far be the most hyped one in Hifi.

 

[Angsty]

Both the Ares 2 and the Chord Qutest are competent DACs. The Chord measures a bit better while the Ares 2 has balanced outputs. The Chord has oddball ergonomics while the Areas 2 barely has a user interface at all. There are tons of subjective comparisons on YouTube, so I won't go into that here. If you choose to try one and ultimately don't like it, there is active resale opportunity online to sell either unit quickly.

 

[reg19]

So, if I'm in the market to buy a DAC and was looking at the Qutest vs the RME ADI-2 DAC FS (Ver 2): according to the measurements of both DACs, would they basically sound the same?

 

[Jimbob54]

So, if I'm in the market to buy a DAC and was looking at the Qutest vs the RME ADI-2 DAC FS (Ver 2): according to the measurements of both DACs, would they basically sound the same?

They are both excellent DACs that easily clear any hurdles for audible transparency. The RME is a more versatile device with balanced outputs and a (limited) PEQ function plus other DSP. And an excellent headphone amp. I know where my money went. YMMV

 

[reg19]

They are both excellent DACs that easily clear any hurdles for audible transparency. The RME is a more versatile device with balanced outputs and a (limited) PEQ function plus other DSP. And an excellent headphone amp. I know where my money went. YMMV

I was not asking for opinion on how good the DACs are, but thanks.

My question is: based on measurements of both DACs published here on ASR, should I expect to hear a difference between them and if so, what?

Or do the measurements indicate that one would fail in a DBT to identify the DACs?

I am not talking about the feature set in each. Just the basic sound signature.

 

[Jimbob54]

I was not asking for opinion on how good the DACs are, but thanks.

My question is: based on measurements of both DACs published here on ASR, should I expect to hear a difference between them and if so, what?

Or do the measurements indicate that one would fail in a DBT to identify the DACs?

I am not talking about the feature set in each. Just the basic sound signature.

See my first sentence. You got the rest as a bonus follow up.

 

[reg19]

I did. I own both DACs (RME for 6 months and the Chord for a month). We conducted DBTs for 15 people over the past two weeks.

Speakers: Focal Sopra 3, Amp: McIntosh MC402. No preamp (volume changed digitally on Roon / HQPlayer).

We did select the tracks, though and played the same track on both DACs, volume matched. My friend (who helped conduct this) is a retired salesperson from this business

Though the audience / testers did not even know the names of DACs they were hearing, all could identify correctly which DAC ('DAC A' or 'DAC B)' was playing. And everyone was consistent in the characteristics of each.

My point is not ‘told you so’. It is to question specifically what measurements (of the ones published) can bring out the differences between the two.

Both are similar priced ($1.2k - $1.7k). I am thinking of buying a $4k discrete R2R DAC that has similar good measurements (Holo May). However, this shall be without listening to it (it comes directly shipped to the US from China). So, from the measurements published on ASR, what difference should I expect to hear from the other two?

 

[Jimbob54]

I did. I own both DACs (RME for 6 months and the Chord for a month). We conducted DBTs for 15 people over the past two weeks.

Speakers: Focal Sopra 3, Amp: McIntosh MC402. No preamp (volume changed digitally on Roon / HQPlayer).

We did select the tracks, though and played the same track on both DACs, volume matched. My friend (who helped conduct this) is a retired salesperson from this business

Though the audience / testers did not even know the names of DACs they were hearing, all could identify correctly which DAC ('DAC A' or 'DAC B)' was playing. And everyone was consistent in the characteristics of each.

My point is not ‘told you so’. It is to question specifically what measurements (of the ones published) can bring out the differences between the two.

My answer still stands. Per the measurements there should be no perceivable difference assuming proper level matching. Unless using different types of digital filters in each case. A slow filter on one that rolls treble off early may be audible vs the other which doesn't sag in the audible band. I've not listened to both units, I suspect most haven't, but I've given you the answer I think most here would.

I can't otherwise explain your situation. I suspect others might have a go

 

[reg19]

My answer still stands. Per the measurements there should be no perceivable difference assuming proper level matching. Unless using different types of digital filters in each case. A slow filter on one that rolls treble off early may be audible vs the other which doesn't sag in the audible band. I've not listened to both units, I suspect most haven't, but I've given you the answer I think most here would.

I can't otherwise explain your situation. I suspect others might have a go

Re: filters, that is why we used HQPlayer (PCM upsampled to 705.6 KHz / 768 KHz) as at this upsampling level, original filters of both DACs are bypassed (according to both RME and Chord). Also: coincidentally, the ‘recommended settings’ in HQPlayer for both DACs are identical (based on what the HQP founder Jussi has said in forums). In this manner, we ensure that in the test, same filters are used in both DACs.

 

[McFly]

Remember the Chord Qutest has 15ms of latency people.
Delta Sigma DACs and R2R have less than 1ms.
This is not an issue for music listening alone but may be an issue of using with video.

 

[reg19]

Remember the Chord Qutest has 15ms of latency people.
Delta Sigma DACs and R2R have less than 1ms.
This is not an issue for music listening alone but may be an issue of using with video.

No video. Latency of both DACs was dominated by the greater latency of the filters I was using in HQPlayer (Sinc-L with LNS15 noise shaper).

 

[Jimbob54]

Re: filters, that is why we used HQPlayer (PCM upsampled to 705.6 KHz / 768 KHz) as at this upsampling level, original filters of both DACs are bypassed (according to both RME and Chord). Also: coincidentally, the ‘recommended settings’ in HQPlayer for both DACs are identical (based on what the HQP founder Jussi has said in forums). In this manner, we ensure that in the test, same filters are used in both DACs.View attachment 141242

PS- the first question you'll probably get asked is how did you ensure the levels were properly volume matched to a fraction of a volt. At this point I'm bowing out as there is nothing further I can add. Its a well trodden discussion on here, as I suspect you already know.

 

[McFly]

All good. I didn’t even realise until I threw the cutest into an DSP crossover active system and couldn’t figure out what the hell went wrong with the crossover for a minute until I checked the impulse response - ahh that’s right FPGA. Back to the passive system she went.

 

[Purité Audio]

I am impressed they you were able to gather fifteen people for a DBT.
Keith

 

[reg19]

PS- the first question you'll probably get asked is how did you ensure the levels were properly volume matched to a fraction of a volt. At this point I'm bowing out as there is nothing further I can add. Its a well trodden discussion on here, as I suspect you already know.

We did not do it by voltage. My friend brought his SPL meter. We then calibrated the volume levels required for each track for each DAC BEFORE the audience / testers arrived. We did not ask them which they preferred but could they guess which was ‘DAC A’ & exactly how does it sound different from ‘DAC B’.

 

[reg19]

I am impressed they you were able to gather fifteen people for a DBT.
Keith

Not all at the same time! They were friends who had no idea that they would be tested.

 

[Purité Audio]

Adjusting by voltage is really best practice, to .1dB Serge Auckland of this very forum offered me some extremely useful procedural and equipment advice,


Keith

 

[reg19]

Adjusting by voltage is really best practice, to .1dB Serge Auckland of this very forum offered me some extremely useful procedural and equipment advice,


Keith

Given that we were not asking the testers which DAC they preferred, I think our using a SPL-meter was sufficient.

 

[DSJR]

Believe me, in an A-B test with nigh on instantaneous switching, the tiniest volume difference can skew opinions. Even two files with one channel less than half a dB higher can be heard as a 'difference' but it then becomes confusing as it's borderline 'obvious.'

 

[reg19]

Believe me, in an A-B test with nigh on instantaneous switching, the tiniest volume difference can skew opinions. Even two files with one channel less than half a dB higher can be heard as a 'difference' but it then becomes confusing as it's borderline 'obvious.'

We did calibrate the volume for each track for each dac using a SPL meter…