Chord Electronics Qutest Dac Review
Written by Terry Ellis
Like a Kid at Christmas - we all know the feeling
Leading up to the release of the Chord Qutest Dac I was feeling very excited, I had a feeling it was going to be knock out product. To be honest it was more of an educated guess from the specification rather than a feeling, I was still pumped to get one in for review. On paper this was potentially the perfect Dac for me, it had all that I wanted, and nothing that I didnt. Even down to the fact I could power it from an external source, something I personally find missing from the dacs higher up in the Chord range.
Like a Kid at Christmas - we all know the feeling
Leading up to the release of the Chord Qutest Dac I was feeling very excited, I had a feeling it was going to be knock out product. To be honest it was more of an educated guess from the specification rather than a feeling, I was still pumped to get one in for review. On paper this was potentially the perfect Dac for me, it had all that I wanted, and nothing that I didnt. Even down to the fact I could power it from an external source, something I personally find missing from the dacs higher up in the Chord range.
I received the call from Nintronics that the first batch of UK Qutest had arrived with them, pretty much an hour later I had one in my hands. Huge thanks to Nintronics for giving me access to one to review from their very limited initial stock, there is still a long wait for them, demand is still extremely high - no surprise there.
Initial Buyers Impression
Its often said first impressions count, normally with hifi components we remove our new prized possession from a plain white or brown cardboard box and that's it, we get a manual and if were lucky some white gloves not to finger print our new treasure. In the instance of the Qutest Chord have actually thought about their retail packaging and made a fine job of it.
Its a 2 layer box design with a shelf that pulls out from the bottom containing our power supply, usb cable etc and in the top section we have the Dac. The overall quality of the packaging, the unique design starts the buyer off in a very positive place.
I quickly discarded (put back in the box) the wall switching power supply and cables that accompanied the Qutest, I had far grander plans for it than using these.
Started with an Anker
One of the features that excited me the most about the Qutest wasnt the latest FPGA chipset from the Hugo 2, it wasn't the incredible price, it wasnt the opportunity to upgrade it with a Blu MkII Scaler (despite how cool that is) it was the fact it needs an external 5V power supply. I have had a lot of experience with different battery and linear 5V power supplies thanks to years of building dedicated computers as high end music sources. I went straight for the most obvious power supply you can think of, the portable phone charger. Anker products are available via Amazon and appear to be robust and very well made. I have owned several of them for years, never looked after them or treated them with any care like I do all my system components and yet they have worked faultlessly. This provided the Qutest with a power supply that was off the grid, away from mains noise and anything that might hinder its perfomance.
It was a very solid start for the Qutest, a nice and clean sound as I would expect from a Chord FPGA Dac, but with nice smoothness and richness to the sound. You can get an idea of where it started from these song demonstration videos below
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Never settle, there is always more to be had
I am a serious audiophile tweaker and I always want to maximise the sound quality from every product that's in my system, so as a reviewer I want to hear the best a product is capable of producing for my own interest, but I feel duty bound to report the honest truth of a products quality, not a marred version of the truth.
By adding some isolation products underneath the Qutest and on top of it, then powering the Qutest from a very high quality linear power supply in the JCAT 200 watt I was astonished by the sound quality from the Qutest. So much so I went out on a limb and said its sounding more like a Dave Dac remembering back to my limited time with it.
To explain that big statement better, I was getting a far grander scale of sound, more refined sound, bigger and more powerful bass with a more well defined sound stage and space. Things were really starting to cook with the Qutest and it was at this point I decided to keep it as my new Reference Dac.
Reference Dac
The decision to keep the Qutest and use it as my Reference Review Dac was a very easy one. The sound quality was good enough that I would be happy listening to it for hour after hour, day after day and week after week, a factor that cannot be over estimated. The sonic performance after I added the JCat Linear Power Supply and Isolators set a new review performance criteria bar for me at an extremely high level for any other Dac to follow. There will clearly be better Dacs out there which is very exciting, however there is a big BUT attached to that statement - how much will it cost to better the Qutest and JCat Linear Power Supply pairing? That is a million dollar question because the price for performance value proposition of the Qutest Dac is so high that it sets a new expectation bar for this review criteria as well.
What Mode do you fancy today?
Chord introduced an element of sound tailoring into their Dacs and it was developed further with the Hugo 2 and continued with the Qutest. It has 4 different modes starting with the Incisive mode which has an ultra linear frequency response and as you cycle through the other 3 modes using the colour changing Filter button it gradually rolls off the top end and essentially makes the sound presentation warmer and warmer still, you get the picture. This should be considered a nice feature as it removes the situation or worry of potentially a too hard, harsh or clinical sound.
In our review system its the Incisive mode that clearly wins out, once I had became accustomed to the clarity and definition within the overall sound stage its a presentation I could not be without. Watch the video above where I demonstrate the differences between the filter modes and see what you think is best, for me its very clearly the incisive mode. In the incisive mode I am struck by the way instruments stand out, they have bite and character to them which elevates the listening experience to one step closer to the real thing. I am able to look deep into the layering of the music, there is outstanding sound stage clarity but most importantly this does not come at a price. There is no harshness, or hardness, the sound does not lose its musicality, its as seductive to listen to as it is technically good.
What Mode do you fancy today?
Chord introduced an element of sound tailoring into their Dacs and it was developed further with the Hugo 2 and continued with the Qutest. It has 4 different modes starting with the Incisive mode which has an ultra linear frequency response and as you cycle through the other 3 modes using the colour changing Filter button it gradually rolls off the top end and essentially makes the sound presentation warmer and warmer still, you get the picture. This should be considered a nice feature as it removes the situation or worry of potentially a too hard, harsh or clinical sound.
In our review system its the Incisive mode that clearly wins out, once I had became accustomed to the clarity and definition within the overall sound stage its a presentation I could not be without. Watch the video above where I demonstrate the differences between the filter modes and see what you think is best, for me its very clearly the incisive mode. In the incisive mode I am struck by the way instruments stand out, they have bite and character to them which elevates the listening experience to one step closer to the real thing. I am able to look deep into the layering of the music, there is outstanding sound stage clarity but most importantly this does not come at a price. There is no harshness, or hardness, the sound does not lose its musicality, its as seductive to listen to as it is technically good.
3 Months later what do I think now - Not one negative thought
I did something a little unusual with the Qutest, I didnt create a full video review for it as I do every other product, in fact I am writing this review before making a video review (first time ever). I was singing the Qutest praises so highly throughout every video and there is a whole playlist of them you can watch, maybe I didnt feel the need to, everyone already knew how great I think it is. Anyone can read a spec sheet and see what formats it supports and what comes included in the box, however its what the product is capable of that is really important to report about in a review. Its actually taken me over 3 months to find that out but before I get into it I want to say on record there has not been a single moment where I have thought anything negative about the Qutest. Its impressed me since day one and now its amazing me in ways I was not expecting and has me questioning where actually is the performance ceiling for the Qutest, it seems boundless. The video below is a fantastic example of just how incredible the mid range on the Qutest is - how natural it is.
A Star among more expensive stars
Over the months I have had the Qutest here I have added some fantastic products to the system which have really elevated the systems performance. The IsoAcoustics GAIA II speaker isolators under our KEF Reference 3 Speakers was a major step forward.
At the time of writing this we have some serious reference quality equipment in the system with the Luxman C700U and M700U pre and power combination, the Tellurium Q Black Diamond Speaker Cables and Ultra Black Balanced Interconnects. After we added the Tellurium Q Silver Diamond SPDIF BNC Digital cable to link from our new and improved Music Server to the Qutest for another big improvement in sound quality. If that wasnt enough we added some extremely impressive Furutech NCF Booster and Signal Boosters to the system as a pre review little look and listen.
The Qutest among products of this calibre and price is more than holding its own and the fact the sound quality is still improving as we add these products is a clear indicator the Qutest is far from the weakest link. Its a star among far more expensive stars. The video below will give you an idea of just how high the sound quality is now.
Closing thoughts - more to come I feel
Make no bones about it the Qutest is a seriously impressive Dac, its well built, its nicely finished, its small and easy to accommodate and its upgrade-able (we can add the Blu Mk 2 Scaler). It doesnt have balanced analogue outputs but it does have Galvanic Isolation on its USB input. It supports about all the files you will ever want to play with the exception of MQA.
I think the Qutest is a no brainer purchase for anyone without a better Dac, its a simple as that. If your one of the lucky few who own a better Dac than this it might not be for you, for the rest this is a Dac you should be getting a demonstration of. Its a fantastic way into Chord FPGA Dac technology and could end up being the last Dac you ever buy due to its outstanding sonic performance.
When you get a demonstration pay attention to what power supply is being used, if you have a good quality portable phone battery charger such as an Anker take it and use it, even if just to try it.
When you factor in all you get, all the performance you get from the Qutest once you add a good Linear Power Supply into the equation. Then you factor in what you actually have to pay for it, its still less than what a Chord Hugo 2 costs.
This Dac is incredible in every way and especially in outright performance terms and outright value for money, how often do you see that in HiFi? To think it can still get a lot better yet by bolting on a MK2 Blu Scaler - wow the thought of it.
