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    Chord Electronics Qutest DAC Review

    Chord Electronics of England is a high-end audio manufacture known for its somewhat quirky product design and high performance. Over the last couple of years, Chord has made quite a splash in high-end circles with its Digital-to-Analog-Converters (DAC for short). Starting with the iconic (and very expensive) “Dave” model DAC/Preamp in 2015, Chord released a number of DACs using the unique FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array) based multi-bit DAC designs of Rob Watts. Watts' designs use the FPGA to incorporate a “practical” approximation of the theoretical “ideal infinite interpolation filter” in a DAC as described by Nyquist and others. Most DACs have filters with about a hundred coefficients or “taps” which give most digital filters decent sound. Watts feels that most DACs have far too few taps to give good transient performance. According to Watts, transient performance in a digital reconstruction of an audio signal is probably the most important part of that reconstruction because human hearing depends on our perception of transient information to accurately hear such musical cues as pitch, timber, and image specificity as well as the overall accuracy of the soundstage. The Dave DAC/Preamp has 164,000 taps which is more than ten times the number of taps in any previous Chord DAC.

     

    After the Dave Chord produced the Hugo and the Hugo 2, which are DAC/headphone amplifier combos using Rob Watts’ unique multi-bit decoding but with fewer taps. There is also the Hugo TT which is supposedly the tabletop version of the Hugo 2, without the battery powered headphone amp but with twice the number of taps as the Hugo 2. The Hugo 2 has 49,152 taps and the Hugo TT has 93,304!

    More recently, Chord has introduced the “Qutest” which is supposed to be the non-portable version of the Hugo 2, but sans that unit’s headphone amplifier and Bluetooth support. The Qutest also replaces Chord's earlier effort at a less expensive multi-bit, multi-tap converter, the “2Qute” at US$1495. While the Hugo 2 sells in the US for $2,695 the Qutest is much more affordable at US$1,895. 

     

    Qutest-Isometric-Right-1-900x675.jpg

     

     

    First Look

     

    While the Hugo 2 is an aluminum rectangle of 10cm (3.94”) wide, by 13.1cm (5.16”) deep and 2.3cm (0.9”) high and weighs 450g (16 oz), the Qutest is 16cm (6.3”) wide by 8.8cm (3.46) deep by 4.5cm (1.77) high and weighs 770g (27 oz. Yes the smaller Qutest is heavier than the Hugo 2). Both units are available in either silver aluminum finish or black aluminum finish. 

     

    Anyone who has ever seen a Chord component (or even a picture of one) knows that their design is somewhat quirky to say the least and definitely outside of what would be considered the normal audiophile equipment look. While this is certainly true, one look at either the Hugo II or the Questest will certainly attest to the build quality of these components. The Qutest, which is our interest today is shaped like a slightly smaller version of a standard paving brick. The corners are all hard, right angles and the case seems to be machined out of a solid billet of aluminum. On the top of the unit there is a central, oval shaped window of glass that seems to be a magnifying glass lens of around 2 inches in diameter. When powered-up the interior of the box, through the window, lights up with the sampling rate indicator displaying the sampling rate through the light changing color from red, through blue and purple to indicating DSD.  One can see the printed circuit board with the word “Chord” stenciled on the board in white, followed by the words “Designed by Robb Watts”. In the upper right-hand corner of the outside case is a chromed plaque riveted to a recess in the casework with the Chord Logo embossed in black.

     

    The front lip of the case has two scalloped-out recesses each holding what look like clear marbles set into each. The front of the case identifies these as push-button controls, labeled, left to right as “Filter” and “Input” respectively. 

     

    Turning to the back of the unit we see a number of I/O connections starting with the type “B” USB jack (up to 32-bit/768KHz PCM and 512 DSD) located on the extreme left. Next to the USB input are a pair of gold plated BNC receptacles labeled BNC IN, 1 and 2 (24-bit/384KHz dual-data mode capable to 768 KHz). These are primarily intended to connect the Chord's optional and not cheap digital Hugo M up-scaler (although one suspects that they can be used as coaxial SPDIF inputs as well) and as an interface to the M scaler is beyond the scope of this review (for more information about the Hugo M scaler, see @austinpop's review of the HugoTT 2/M scaler posted here on Februrary 21, 2019 entitled: “My Quest for a New DAC, Part 5”). Dead center to the back panel is a single Toslink optical digital input (SPDIF 24-bit/192KHz and DSD 64) and to the right of that, we find the obligatory analogue outputs consisting of two gold-plated RCA jacks marked Right and Left. To finish off the back panel is the 5volt USB power input jack of the Micro-B type. That constitutes the entire I/O and control facilities of the unit. 

     

    Qutest-Connectivity-1-900x675.jpg

     

     

    Using The Qutest

     

    After connecting the digital input to the Qutest via either USB, coaxial or optical (Toslink) SPDIF, one selects that input by stepping through the available selections by color: USB – Clear, Coax 1 – Yellow, Coax2 – Red, Optical (Toslink) – Green. All functions and sample rates are indicated on the Qutest by colored LEDs. Next, one can step through the available filters: Incisive neutral – clear, Incisive neutral with High-Frequency Roll-off – Green, Warm – Orange, Warm with High-Frequency Roll-off – Red. 


    One can set the variable line level output by holding down both the Filter and the Input button  for the first 16 seconds on power-up. After 16 seconds release both bottons and press them again repeatedly to set one of the three desired fixed audio output levels. 1 volt RMS is Red, 2 volt RMS is Green, and 3 volt RMS is Blue. Most audiophile equipment is designed around a line-level input of about 2 volts. My suggestion is to start there, and adjust up or down as needed to best equal the input level of one’s other analog inputs to one’s amplifier. This will avoid drastic changes in volume when switching from input to input on one’s stereo amplifier.

     

    That’s pretty much it for setup and operation. The Qutest will automatically switch between sample rates and PCM/DSD modes based on the inputs. Now all that is needed is to sit back and listen.

     

     

    Listening to the Qutest

     

    Back in February of this year, an audiophile buddy of mine bought a Chord Hugo 2 DAC/Headphone amplifier. He brought it by and left it with me for about a week. I was flabbergasted, gobsmacked, and delighted by what I heard. I have a live recording that I made many years ago of a very good symphony orchestra playing Ravel’s complete “Daphne et Chloe” ballet complete with large chorus. I always thought that the recording sounded very good, very natural. But through the Hugo 2 and the HiFiMan Jade 2 electrostatic headphones, I heard things in that recording (16-bit, 48 KHz) that I wasn’t even aware were present in the recording. Now, I had listened to this recording through the Jade 2 ‘phones before, and while they were undeniably a great pair of transducers, they didn’t really unveil anything in that recording with which I was not familiar. The Hugo 2 changed all that. Of course, I couldn’t keep the Hugo, it didn’t belong to me so it went back to its owner at the end of the week. I'd read that the  Qutest was the same DAC sans the headphone amplifier and the battery power, so I arranged to borrow one from Chord for a review. 

     

    Fast forward to July. I received the Chord Qutest from Bluebird Audio and started to “burn it in”. After letting it “cook” for about a week, I cued up the “Daphne” and sat down to enjoy, once more, the magic that I had experienced in February with the Hugo 2.  No Joy! While the Qutest is indeed a very good DAC for its approximately $1900, the magic of the Hugo 2 was missing. Now, my normal “reference” DAC is a Schiit Yggdrasil v.2 and it sounds generally better than most DACs in it’s price range, but the Hugo 2 is more expensive and with its almost 50,000 filter coefficients (taps), it should have vastly better performance than the Yggy. That being the case, I wasn’t too surprised that my buddy’s Hugo 2 bested my Yggy. Since the Hugo 2 and the Qutest shared the same DAC circuitry, I expected nothing less than the same jaw dropping sound that the Hugo 2 produced. 

     

    To say I was disappointed was an understatement. I again prevailed upon my friend to borrow his Hugo 2 and compared the two directly. With the Hugo, the magic was back, when I switched to the Qutest – not so much. The Qutest reminded me so much of the Yggdrasil, that in a double-blind-test, I’d be hard put to tell the difference. Now, That’s not bad at all. A ladder DAC (R2R) that sounds as good as a multi-bit Yggdrasil and yet costs about $500 less is a bargain in anyone’s language, but I was determined to find out why two different iterations of the same circuit should sound so different. 

     

    I started out looking at the differences. The Hugo 2 is a battery-powered device with a built-in headphone amplifier. The Qutest, on the other hand, is powered directly from it’s own 5 Volt USB wall-wart and has no headphone amp. Now I wasn’t using the headphone amp (although, through the headphone amp powering a pair of HiFiMan Edition X v.2 phones, the “magic” of the Hugo 2 was still much in evidence. I decided that the headphone amp was not the problem, and indeed was irrelevant. That left the power supply as a possibility. Even though the Hugo 2 was powered by a battery, that battery was charged with with, again, a 2 amp USB charger. 

     

    I own one of those emergency car battery eliminators that can be used to start a car in case of a battery failure. You know the type,  About the size of a construction brick, consists of a large enough Lithium Ion battery to start a car or pickup truck several times using the included jumper cable set. One charges the battery with the AC in one’s home or garage, and carries it in the car for emergencies. Mine has an added feature of a 5 Volt USB port, meant to recharge cell phones when one is away from home or other sources of USB recharging power. Brainstorm! Why not replace the Qutest’s USB wall-wart power supply with the emergency battery eliminator! 

     

    I connected the Qutest to said auxiliary battery supply figuring that, now the Qutest is being powered exactly like the Hugo 2. So if it’s in some way the pure DC from a battery that’s accounting for the difference in sound performance I was experiencing, this should level the playing field. Again, I noticed no difference between the Qutest on battery power and the Qutest on mains-derived 5 V USB power. There has to be some other reason why these two supposedly identical D-to-A circuits sounded so different. All other things being equal the difference would almost have to be in each unit’s analog output stage. I have no way of knowing how the two line-level output stages differ, but clearly they do.  The web-site spec sheets are no help as the Qutest shows the specs for the line-level output and the Hugo 2 spec sheet shows the specs for the headphone driver amp – which when listening through the line-level outputs has no relevance to to the Qutest output. 

     

     

    Conclusion

     

    The Chord Qutest is a very high-quality, well made Digital to Analog Converter. It is small, inconspicuous and presents performance on par with much more expensive R2R (ladder) DACs. From what I can deduce, the audible performance is almost identical to that of a Yggdrasil with the improved filter and at US$1895 it’s $500 cheaper than the US$2399 Schiit Yggdrasil. 

     

    But If you want the performance of a Hugo 2 then you will have to buy a Hugo 2 (or, better yet, a Hugo 2 TT). In spite of the similarities with regard to the actual Digital-to-Analog Conversion, while the two units are certainly similar, the Hugo 2 gleans more detail from high-quality material than does the Qutest. Having said that, I still believe that if you are in the market for a quality DAC under Two thousand dollars, you’d be hard pressed to find a better sounding one, and believe me, I’ve auditioned most of them.

     

     

     

    Product Information:

     

     




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    17 hours ago, Sonis said:

    I took the power supply “brick” apart and there is no switching regulator for the 5v USB power. It seems to be a standard 5V IC regulator. Looking at the output with my 100 MHz Tektronix scope, It looks clean as a whistle. No noise. And the wall-wart is equally clean. 

    Are you sure that the regulator is non-switching?  I mean did you check the PN?

     

    I am assuming the Hugo 2 uses LiFePO4 batteries, the potential advantage of LiFePO4 batteries is that the have very, very low output impedance (at least when charged up).  Only the best linear regulators will equal a good (yes there are good and bad ones) LiFePO4 battery in terms of output impedance.  The supply I designed for my brother's Qutest utilized a super low output impedance and settling time, discrete, regulation circuit.  He found much better sound with this supply over the supplied wall wart...

     

    I am not saying that you are wrong, but it does seem odd that your findings contradict the majority of other users...

     

    This: "And the wall-wart is equally clean" suggests that there is something wrong with the measurement.  Even the very best SMPS (and these are much bigger than any wall wart) still have orders of magnitude higher noise than the best linear supplies.  Check out the specifications for even the very best SMPS, they have at least hundreds of µVs of noise, usually a few mV.  The best linear regulated supplies have noise levels in the 10s of µVs.

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    17 hours ago, rossb said:

    However, I agree with the conclusion in this review. I think the Hugo 2 sounds noticeably better than the Qutest. I actually think that the Hugo 2 is the best sounding of all the Chord DACs. DAVE sounds thin. TT2 sounds small and hard. Qutest has a slightly astringent sound. And the Blu 2/M Scaler is massively overrated. 

    I think it is always interesting in terms of how differently we feel about different products and how audio component synergy affects sound. I own Blu2, DAVE and Hugo 2 and I definitely would not say Blu2 is overrated or Hugo 2 is the best sounding. But I think as long as people are enjoying the DACs that they currently own and they think it's the best one for their system, kudos.

    However, it does make it hard for people who don't have access to these DACs for audition to decide which ones to buy.

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    2 hours ago, barrows said:

    Even the very best SMPS (and these are much bigger than any wall wart) still have orders of magnitude higher noise than the best linear supplies. 

     

    As well as oodles of common-mode AC leakage--which will sail right through the entire DAC.  So even if the local regulators (and battery systems in the case of some of the Chord units) on the DAC board take care of the less-than-stellar DC noise performance of an SMPS, there is still that pernicious AC leakage--which is happy to travel over all sorts of DC connections, digital and analog.

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    The Qutest has obviously just been awarded an EISA award this year.

    I bought a Qutest last year and I am using it with an Chord Hugo MScaler.

    To my ears and with my headphones HD800 and HEKV2 the Qutest on its own was a better option for me with a good headphone amp added.

    Hugo 2 did not drive either of my headphones with enough authority and weight with LARGE SCALE NON COMPRESSED classical music.

    With an Mscaler added I am closer to both a TT2 and a DAVE/HMS than I would be with a Hugo 2.

    The Mscaler is imho absolutely essential with all Chord dacs, including DAVE. 

    To me its influence to the end result is so important that I prefer my Qutest /HMS combo over a DAVE on its own.

    PS it sounds better with a battery powered psu compared to the supplied smps as well.

    Cheers Chrille

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    On 8/27/2019 at 9:10 PM, rossb said:

    The Qutest does benefit from a linear PSU and a power conditioner,

    What about a Ford F150 Daisy or Ballerina.  They would be flying off the dealer lots!

     

    I keep flopping back and forth between the wall wart and my CI Audio MKII 5v LPS.  I am not sure I hear a difference but to qualify this, I am streaming Spotify pop and rock.  Some songs sound great ( especially acoustical) and some sound dull and flat which points back to the source code.  So in my case I think the source has more effect on my sound enjoyment than the power supply.  I have settled on the optical input too.  I have a dedicated line too.  When music is stopped my speakers are dead quiet, no ocean noise.

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    36 minutes ago, photonman said:

    What about a Ford F150 Daisy or Ballerina.  They would be flying off the dealer lots!

     

    I keep flopping back and forth between the wall wart and my CI Audio MKII 5v LPS.  I am not sure I hear a difference but to qualify this, I am streaming Spotify pop and rock.  Some songs sound great ( especially acoustical) and some sound dull and flat which points back to the source code.  So in my case I think the source has more effect on my sound enjoyment than the power supply.  I have settled on the optical input too.  I have a dedicated line too.  When music is stopped my speakers are dead quiet, no ocean noise.

    Most electronic pop and rock is so “overproduced” and dynamically compressed that dull and flat (as in lifeless, not flat as in a linear frequency response from DC to daylight) seem to be the sound that the producers of these genres are going for! The rock albums that I have bought or saved to Tidal as favorites (because I like the music, not because they sound good) are very mediocre. Even rock and pop labeled “master” is nothing to write home about! I mean you could transfer Edison cylinders to DSD or 32-bit, 768 KHz LPCM, and it still wouldn’t sound any better than it did as an acoustically recorded cylinder. There has to be something “there” on the recording in the first place for so-called Hi-Res to improve the presentation. Nothing can make-up for poor or badly produced recordings.

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    5 hours ago, chrille said:

    The Qutest has obviously just been awarded an EISA award this year.

    I bought a Qutest last year and I am using it with an Chord Hugo MScaler.

    To my ears and with my headphones HD800 and HEKV2 the Qutest on its own was a better option for me with a good headphone amp added.

    Hugo 2 did not drive either of my headphones with enough authority and weight with LARGE SCALE NON COMPRESSED classical music.

    With an Mscaler added I am closer to both a TT2 and a DAVE/HMS than I would be with a Hugo 2.

    The Mscaler is imho absolutely essential with all Chord dacs, including DAVE. 

    To me its influence to the end result is so important that I prefer my Qutest /HMS combo over a DAVE on its own.

    PS it sounds better with a battery powered psu compared to the supplied smps as well.

    Cheers Chrille

    Well, the Qutest does sound good. No doubt about it. But “good” is a relative thing. After all, sounding very much like a current-build Schiit Yggdrasil, for $500 less money is certainly nothing to sneeze at. In my opinion (for what it’s worth), that makes it eligible for an EISA award in my book.

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    If you are not willing to buy M scaler I would personally avoid Chord DACs. With out it I can’t stand to listen to those DACs

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    On 9/8/2019 at 6:27 AM, mentt said:

    If you are not willing to buy M scaler I would personally avoid Chord DACs. With out it I can’t stand to listen to those DACs

    What are you using as a DAC now?

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    On 9/8/2019 at 4:27 AM, mentt said:

    If you are not willing to buy M scaler I would personally avoid Chord DACs. With out it I can’t stand to listen to those DACs

     

    Having owned three Chord DACs and the M-Scaler, I don’t think this is very good advice.  If one “can’t stand” the sound of Chord DACs they should look to another brand.  Buy M-Scaler only if you are already fond of the sound of Chord’s DACs, as you will simply just get much more of that same goodness.

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    Just bought one of these. Here in a few days.

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    I have to regard this review as unhelpful because it has not been reviewed with a quality PS. The Hugo 2 may make a great portable but its lack

    of normal DAC input options makes it impractical as a main system DAC...you would have to go to a Hugo TT which is triple the price of a Qutest.

    Has anyone seen a review where the Uptone Audio  power supplies or like PS was used with Qutest? I need to  move on from the multibit Gungnir because its

    inexpensive AC power supply solution is causing bass sustenuto and transient dynamics deficiencies compared to my previous Metrum Octave DAC.

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    4 hours ago, davide256 said:

    I have to regard this review as unhelpful because it has not been reviewed with a quality PS. The Hugo 2 may make a great portable but its lack

    of normal DAC input options makes it impractical as a main system DAC...you would have to go to a Hugo TT which is triple the price of a Qutest.

    Has anyone seen a review where the Uptone Audio  power supplies or like PS was used with Qutest? I need to  move on from the multibit Gungnir because its

    inexpensive AC power supply solution is causing bass sustenuto and transient dynamics deficiencies compared to my previous Metrum Octave DAC.

    I reviewed this DAC in what I considered the manner in which most buyers would use it. From that standpoint, I disagree with your characterization of the review as unhelpful. I did, briefly, try a high-output battery supply on the Qutest, but didn’t find that if made much, if any discernible difference. Even that was “cheating” because it’s not using the product the way the manufacturer designed it. I tried the battery supply because I wanted to make the Qutest sound as much like the Hugo 2 as possible (which comes with a built-in battery supply). Aside from the lack of it’s own battery supply and built-in headphone amplifier, the Hugo 2 and the Qutest are supposed to be the exact same DAC circuit, but I could never get the Qutest to sound as good as the Hugo 2.

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    3 hours ago, Sonis said:

    I reviewed this DAC in what I considered the manner in which most buyers would use it. From that standpoint, I disagree with your characterization of the review as unhelpful. I did, briefly, try a high-output battery supply on the Qutest, but didn’t find that if made much, if any discernible difference. Even that was “cheating” because it’s not using the product the way the manufacturer designed it. I tried the battery supply because I wanted to make the Qutest sound as much like the Hugo 2 as possible (which comes with a built-in battery supply). Aside from the lack of it’s own battery supply and built-in headphone amplifier, the Hugo 2 and the Qutest are supposed to be the exact same DAC circuit, but I could never get the Qutest to sound as good as the Hugo 2.

    Which leaves the question begging of will a good PS make a difference. Some times it doesn’t , but most of the time it will. Battery power supplies IME are inferior to a wall powered good DC power supply. 

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    On 8/28/2019 at 6:10 AM, rossb said:

    I've owned all the Chord DACs - DAVE, TT2, Hugo 2, and Qutest. I also had the Blu 2 with the DAVE and the M Scaler with the TT2 and Qutest. I've now sold them all because I have moved on to other things. 

     

    However, I agree with the conclusion in this review. I think the Hugo 2 sounds noticeably better than the Qutest. I actually think that the Hugo 2 is the best sounding of all the Chord DACs. DAVE sounds thin. TT2 sounds small and hard. Qutest has a slightly astringent sound. And the Blu 2/M Scaler is massively overrated. 

     

    The Qutest does benefit from a linear PSU and a power conditioner, and the optical input is the best sounding input. But the Hugo 2 still sounds better. 

    In most reviews I have read, for example on the Darko.Audio site, the opinion is that the Qutest sounds slightly better then the Hugo.

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    What is the effect of usb cable on sound of Qutest, Hugo2? Which cable do you use with Hugo 2 considering that micro usb cable is much less present in the hifi world?

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    6 hours ago, naum said:

    What is the effect of usb cable on sound of Qutest, Hugo2? Which cable do you use with Hugo 2 considering that micro usb cable is much less present in the hifi world?

     

    I use this Audioquest adapter:

     

    https://www.amazon.com/Audioquest-USB-B-Micro-Adaptor/dp/B00M0H4J6C/ref=sr_1_2?crid=2QUAO1GOA8WN8&dchild=1&keywords=audioquest+-+usb+b+to+micro+adapter&qid=1593616140&sprefix=audioquest+usb+micro+adap%2Caps%2C225&sr=8-2

     

    USB cables definitely make a difference for me with my Qutest, even with the intervening Audioquest adapter.

     

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    I did try a car battery jumpstart battery pack to power my Qutest. Output of the battery pack is 5 volts and 2.4 amps max compared to the stock power supply at 5 volts and 2 amps. My results with the battery pack were quite good. Noise floor is noticeably lower due to music sounding "cleaner". Sound is both smoother and more detailed at the same time. The sense of flow to music is also better. Surprisingly, the Qutest also sounds more dynamic in sound with the battery pack.

     

    Perhaps some battery packs have better ability to deliver peak current & that might make a difference in how lively or dead the Qutest sounds when powered by a battery pack. My layperson's thought is that lack of current might limit the Qutest's ability to provide more computing power when needed.

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    On 8/28/2019 at 2:05 PM, creativepart said:

    Yes, a simple BNC/RCA adapter is all you need. I too planned to sell my Eitr I had used with another DAC and decided to give it a try. What have you got to lose? Run the USB from the IsoRegegn into your Eitr and then the S/PDIF from the Eitr into BNC #1.  Use an adapter ($3 item) or buy an RCA/BNC cable.

     

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    I bought a Chord Qutest based on the generally positive reviews and then it broke after 9 months.

    Now this is a premium product yet my retailer, Peter Tyson UK, believes 6 weeks+ is an acceptable amount of time for my DAC to be repaired. Three times I’ve been told “Mitch at Chord has been emailed” and yet nothing. I’m based in the UK and generally prefer to buy UK made products, bummer

    Feel let down, disappointed and a little embarrassed.

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    13 minutes ago, Chris66 said:

    I bought a Chord Qutest based on the generally positive reviews and then it broke after 9 months.

    Now this is a premium product yet my retailer, Peter Tyson UK, believes 6 weeks+ is an acceptable amount of time for my DAC to be repaired. Three times I’ve been told “Mitch at Chord has been emailed” and yet nothing. I’m based in the UK and generally prefer to buy UK made products, bummer

    Feel let down, disappointed and a little embarrassed.

    Bummer. I hope you were enjoying your DAC at least. Before Matt became the general manager, I used to take my broken Chord products to my dealer and at the same time, email Matt at Chord directly to see what’s going on. They used to respond quite quickly, even if they can’t do the repair right away. With worldwide supply chain issues, I can see why there might be delays in the repair

     

    It may be worthwhile to email Chord yourself by using the Contact Us link on their webpage. My suspicion is that it might not get your Qutest repaired faster but at least you get an update as to what’s going on. 

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    2 hours ago, ecwl said:

    Bummer. I hope you were enjoying your DAC at least. Before Matt became the general manager, I used to take my broken Chord products to my dealer and at the same time, email Matt at Chord directly to see what’s going on. They used to respond quite quickly, even if they can’t do the repair right away. With worldwide supply chain issues, I can see why there might be delays in the repair

     

    It may be worthwhile to email Chord yourself by using the Contact Us link on their webpage. My suspicion is that it might not get your Qutest repaired faster but at least you get an update as to what’s going on. 

    Had no issues with a Mojo warranty claim 6 months ago. But that was before the supply chain issues became their own epidemic. Now there are  many things

    that aren't available because of Covid impacts on factories and the bottlenecks affecting container ship turn around. If its components come from Asia

    the next 6 months look rocky for warranty support.

     

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