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Chord 2Qute

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Jimmypowder

Jimmypowder

Posted
Posted
Just ordered the "black version" from Moon Audio.

 

This is replacing an Oppo HA-1 that I just returned from 20 day audition. The HA-1 was ok but I didn't need the headphone out (which is supposed to be its strong suit) and all those other input connections it offers. Plus I didn't like the heat output from the Oppo's class A headphone amp with no way to turn it off.

 

My Black 2qute shipped today . I have a Yggdrasil coming in hopefully

the end of July as Schiit appears to be having problems getting the Dac chip central to the Yggy .

 

I will be making some serious comparisons hopefully this month .

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Jimmypowder

Jimmypowder

Posted
Posted
Received 2Qute today. It's small!

Initial impression is wow. This is after demoing an Oppo HA-1 for the last 3 weeks.

  1. More analog sounding then the Oppo's ESS based chip
  2. larger sound stage
  3. superior clarity without fatigue

 

Just finished listening to Boney James - Futuresole - 96/24. This sounded good on the Oppo but the sound of the 2Qute is in another league. The sax sounds as if I could reach out and touch it and this is only in the first several hours of listening.

 

Yeah I know . I got mine yesterday and at its price level I've not heard a better dac .

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Jimmypowder

Jimmypowder

Posted
Posted

Well I did a brief comparison of the 2Qute's USB vs Coaxial input

 

This was using the Auralic Aries .

 

The USB is noticeably better . Of course I do also believe the Aries' best output is USB

 

If I was gonna use the 2Qute 's coax only I would not buy this dac but USB is terrific

 

USB much more musical , no treble harshness , notes have much more weight and yet

Are more detailed .

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Jimmypowder

Jimmypowder

Posted
Posted
Yes, not a fair fight. 2Qute's USB is galvanically isolated, and Aries digital outs (all of them) are nothing more than converted from USB. However, for a coax input at least Chord offers DoP. Several still don't.

 

I agree it's not a fair fight . This is one terrific dac . I look forward to your review .

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Jimmypowder

Jimmypowder

Posted
Posted
I also very curious. Because to me USB output on the Aries is veiled in comparison and USB output from MAC mini. And several users reported that Aries Coax was better...

 

I would have to differ with those who say the Aries coax is better than the USB output .

Add a USB Regen to your Dac and I prefer the USB output of the Aries even more .

With the 2Qute I noticed that I preferred the USB input without a Ifi Purifier attached that I had hanging around . The purifier seemed to hurt the sound quality . With most dacs this doesn't happen .

Both my Regens are on different systems so I will have to swap out one and try it with the 2qute.

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Jimmypowder

Jimmypowder

Posted
Posted
Trying the Regen tonight or tmrw (2Qute was back on the back burner while I tested a couple other dacs). And you bring up a test I want to do very soon and chatted with Alex this week about: does the Regen make a stock mobo USB out the equivalent of an expensive 3rd party PCIe USB card (JCAT, SOtM, etc) sans Regen. I already know that a Regen can be cumulative to a 3rd party card's benefit, but not everyone has the money or real estate needed to install a separate USB card.

 

This should be interesting . Ted , do you have a Yggy coming in anytime soon ?

I will be making a comparison later this month or early August .

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Jimmypowder

Jimmypowder

Posted
Posted
1) Yet, the newer version sounds leaner and brighter than the old series, which is not to everyone's liking. I loved the QuteHD but really didn't care for the Hugo.

Would you say the 2Qute is closer to the Hugo or the old Qute in terms of tonal balance? The first review (posted few months ago) said the Hugo and 2Qute were not exactly the same on that aspect, which is promising.

 

I find the 2qute to be natural and analog , far from bright and lean .tonal balance is quite good

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Jimmypowder

Jimmypowder

Posted
Posted
Yeah, 300 hours is what I found with almost all the Qute and Hugo series. It's quite linear after about 200 hours.

 

I will detail more in my review, but last night I installed the Amber Regen into the 2Qute. My source is the HQPlayer NAA (Caps dn2800MT) with JCAT card, and the card is powered by a Red Wine modded Acopian linear 5V. Card filter is off. The Regen is powered by an Uptone JS-2 at 7V (I think, maybe 9). The 2Quet is powered by a Hynes SR3-12. The improvement was substantial, both in terms of noise floor and soundstage solidity, a remarkable achievement given the level of optimization already on the table. (Note: The Regen requires an umbilical since there is no room for it at the USB port; on the back panel of the 2Qute the space between the USB and RCA outputs is too tight to fit interconnects and the Regen body/adapter. A 90 degree adapter would work, leaving the Regen on its side)

 

HQplayer was not upsampling redbook, only 24 bit stuff to either 176 or 192. Poly sinc-short-mp.

 

When you say umbilical ,are you using the extension cord provided with the Regen ?

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Jimmypowder

Jimmypowder

Posted
Posted
I just received my 2Qute this week and have the following experiences.

 

Background: Previous setup was QuteHD with Channel Island VDC 12 MKII Linear power supply, Audiophilleo with PurePower battery SPDIF converter. Pass XA30.8 amp with MBP source and Audirvana 2.1.1. This setup was very satisfying for me, very revealing and pleasant listening. The latest 1.35 firmware for the Audiophillieo was an improvement that was audible. I also use an Audio Revive virtual grounding device connected to the grounding pin on the Qute.

 

 

Day 1: Ditched the Audiophilleo and Linear PSU and went plain 2Qute with a USB connection. My first impression was that the virgin 2Qute USB was on par and maybe better than the full QuteHD-CIAudio-AP-PP setup and I was ecstatic that my setup was so simplified now.

 

Day 2: Experimented with going back to the Audiophilleo-PurePower setup to the Coax digital input on the 2Qute and still on the wallwart PSU. It clearly was not as good as the USB connection. I went back to the USB input after a few hours.

 

Day 3: Unlisted my sale for the Channel Island VDC 12 MKII PSU and hooked it up to the 2Qute even though the Chord designer said a PSU would not benefit the 2Qute. I do not know what to say but I am not going back to the wall wart. Norah Jones just sounds so very good on this setup. Even the Chris Cornell MP3 album touted on the front page of this forum sounds awesome.

 

Day 4: Ordered an iFi Purifier to see if it can help out the direct USB connection.

 

Summary: The 2Qute is definitely an improvement over my QuteHD setup. I almost wish I had kept my First Watt J2 Amp to try out on this setup. Granted that this device is not broken in yet and acknowledged that one week of listening is not critical listening.

 

I found that the ifi purifier was detrimental to sound quality in my setup . I will probably buy a Regen for my 2qute.

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Jimmypowder

Jimmypowder

Posted
Posted
Yeah, 300 hours is what I found with almost all the Qute and Hugo series. It's quite linear after about 200 hours.

 

I will detail more in my review, but last night I installed the Amber Regen into the 2Qute. My source is the HQPlayer NAA (Caps dn2800MT) with JCAT card, and the card is powered by a Red Wine modded Acopian linear 5V. Card filter is off. The Regen is powered by an Uptone JS-2 at 7V (I think, maybe 9). The 2Quet is powered by a Hynes SR3-12. The improvement was substantial, both in terms of noise floor and soundstage solidity, a remarkable achievement given the level of optimization already on the table. (Note: The Regen requires an umbilical since there is no room for it at the USB port; on the back panel of the 2Qute the space between the USB and RCA outputs is too tight to fit interconnects and the Regen body/adapter. A 90 degree adapter would work, leaving the Regen on its side)

 

HQplayer was not upsampling redbook, only 24 bit stuff to either 176 or 192. Poly sinc-short-mp.

 

Ted , I found the 2Qute preferable in my system without the Regen Amber . Maybe it's the galvanic isolation or the fact you need to use the extension cord with the 2Qute .

 

I love the Uptone Amber Regen just not with the 2Qute .

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Jimmypowder

Jimmypowder

Posted
Posted
Thats disappointing. Just ordered a Regen a week ago. Maybe I should cancel my order.

 

Going to to try a linear PS on the 2Qute hopefully this weekend if it arrives tomorrow.

 

I have two Amber Regens and they made significant positive audio improvements with most dacs and particularly with computer to Dac setups .

I just didn't see the improvement attaching one to a 2Qute in my setup .

I'm using a Primaluna Amp and Auralic Aries with the 2Qute .

 

Ted indicated he saw sound improvement with the Regen and 2Qute in his setup so

maybe in your setup it will improve audio quality .

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Jimmypowder

Jimmypowder

Posted
Posted
It sounded like he used the white extension cable. A lot of folks have reported that this harms the sound and should be avoided.

 

You have to use the extension cable with the 2Qute because of where USB is .

I found the 2Qute preferable without the Regen . I can't say that about any other Dac I've tried .

 

I'm using an Aries not a computer with that setup .

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Jimmypowder

Jimmypowder

Posted
Posted
Regarding the reports of "blurry" bass after 4 days of breakin. Anyone notice

any smoothing out of the bass after the Ted recommended 200-300 hrs. of

breakin?

 

My interest in this dac stems from what I perceived as sterility and listener

fatigue from my previous ESS 9018 Sabre dac. In this price range the

trade-off for an analog sound seems to be a sacrifice of detail. I switched

from D power to a tube pre and tube hybrid amp which made the Sabre

listenable but still too digital. From all I"ve read I suspect the Yggdrasil

leans more toward the Sabre than the 2qute. If only I could have both

in my home for a month with no restock fees.

 

pb-

I wouldn't call the 2Qute bass blurry. It has a natural sound and the dac doesn't overemphasize the bass

which would make it ,well unnatural.

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Jimmypowder

Jimmypowder

Posted
Posted
I purchased the 2Qute for that very reason. I am Sabre shy cause of just those reports. The 2Qute does not disappoint in the natural sound arena. It has a liquid analog type sound but with all the detail one would hope for in a DAC of this caliber. I havent even thought of the word "fatigue" for a split second. Its very easy to listen too and has great tone. In my system I have no problem calling the bass fat, but the LPS turned it into the best and deepest most articulate bass I ever heard.

 

I will let you know when the Yggy arrives , whenever that may be . I don't think even Schiit knows as

they seem to being having difficulty getting the dac chip integral to the Yggy .

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Jimmypowder

Jimmypowder

Posted
Posted
Cool, how does it sound with the bass drum? I tried the Hugo and felt it robbed the power from John Bonham's drumming (The IFI Micro was better in this regard).

Just listened to remastered version of Moby Dick on small kef ls50's ,not exactly rock speakers.

Using 2Qute with Primaluna integrated amp and KT120 tubes(good for rock) and I see plenty of Bonham's power

and didn't even turn it up very loud. Cymbals shimmered with outstanding clarity and decay.

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Jimmypowder

Jimmypowder

Posted
Posted
ifi great DAC for the price but 2Qute is in a whole other league. I have had/auditioned 3 other DACs in the $1200 or less range. In my system the 2Qute just blew them away. My redbook stuff never sounded so good. If I didn't know I would swear some of it was HI-Res material. My Hi-res files 96 & 192K sound awesome as well. DSD sounds good to.

 

I was buying mostly SACDs and ripping them with a ps3 because my previous DACs sounded the best with these hi res files. I feel that now I can buy more redbooks and lower hi res material and save money because the 2Qute does a fantastic job with the lower formats over other DACs.

 

The 2qute destroys my Benchmark 2 hgc but the Benchmark is great with headphones and has a preamp .the Benchmark will likely be my last sabre dac .

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