Next Steps - Chord 2Qute?

[kennyb123]

Tempted to swap my priorities a little though. Perhaps buy the Auralic Aries first and see what is does with the Rega DAC?

 

You should wait for some reports to roll in that compare the Aries to the microRendu.

 

I will have my microRendu on Monday and by the end of the week will likely post some thoughts.

 

The Aries was a nice improvement over a Mac with A+. Some friends got some worthwhile improvements moving to an Aurender N100H, so the Aries can be bettered at a higher cost. Might the microRendu better it at a lower cost? I will soon find out.

 

As far as upgrading source vs DAC, which to do first probably depends on which is the weaker link. I have no regrets from electing to go with the Aries last year instead of a DAC upgrade. The Mac was definitely hindering my DACs performance and would have hindered any DAC that followed.

 

I must reiterate that the Mojo is a stunning DAC. This $600 DAC has easily bettered my Mytek 192, which sold for a $1595 until recently and was said at one time to be a great value.

[hornytoad]

You should wait for some reports to roll in that compare the Aries to the microRendu.

 

I will have my microRendu on Monday and by the end of the week will likely post some thoughts.

 

The Aries was a nice improvement over a Mac with A+. Some friends got some worthwhile improvements moving to an Aurender N100H, so the Aries can be bettered at a higher cost. Might the microRendu better it at a lower cost? I will soon find out.

 

As far as upgrading source vs DAC, which to do first probably depends on which is the weaker link. I have no regrets from electing to go with the Aries last year instead of a DAC upgrade. The Mac was definitely hindering my DACs performance and would have hindered any DAC that followed.

 

I must reiterate that the Mojo is a stunning DAC. This $600 DAC has easily bettered my Mytek 192, which sold for a $1595 until recently and was said at one time to be a great value.

 

I might even say I like the Mojo as much as my 2qute .

That says a lot about the Mojo

[kennyb123]

I might even say I like the Mojo as much as my 2qute .

That says a lot about the Mojo

 

Would you say that the 2Qute is worth the addition cost over the Mojo?

[hornytoad]

Would you say that the 2Qute is worth the addition cost over the Mojo?

 

I love both but if you put a gun to my head I would say no . 600 vs 1800 bucks I believe it was , 3 times the price . The 2qute IMO is just slightly better but not 3 times better .

 

The Mojo is an incredible dac for 600 bucks .

 

I prefer the Yggy over the 2qute but everyone has their personal preferences .

[ecwl]

I think for OP, Mojo can work via Toslink with his Sonos Zoneplayer 90. But Mojo is much more sensitive (actually very sensitive) to USB noise so without a great USB source (like kennyb123's Aries) the Mojo might underperform a lot. Not to mention Mojo only has headphone jack out and requires charging of the battery. But no doubt, if you can live with the quirks, Mojo offers more bang for the buck. Of course, the quirks are actually part of the design features as it is meant to work with low power low noise cellphones and tablets as sources. 2Qute is built more for desktop use.

[ecwl]

On the other hand, I can see the new microRendu and Mojo combo can be a killer. Of course, setting a computer audio system for the microRendu maybe a more dedicated task... But then maybe not... I wouldn't know. Will have to wait for Chris Connaker's Part Two

[Stereolabb]

Kinda thinkinking 2Qute now and a Auralic Aries to follow quickly. Just waiting to hear more about the microRendu and doing a little more research on the stability of the Aries. Just want to make sure it's a rock solid product now and streaming via Airplay and via USB is a solid reliable experience. The Sonos may have its limitations but it's a mature faultless product that just works.

[kennyb123]

Kinda thinkinking 2Qute now and a Auralic Aries to follow quickly. Just waiting to hear more about the microRendu and doing a little more research on the stability of the Aries. Just want to make sure it's a rock solid product now and streaming via Airplay and via USB is a solid reliable experience. The Sonos may have its limitations but it's a mature faultless product that just works.

 

I'll need a few more days before I can say anything definitive as far as how the microRendu compares to the Aries.

 

As far as AirPlay, my experience thus far has been that it's sonically compromised. I tried streaming TIDAL to my Aries via AirPlay way back before I could stream it directly. Direct playback much better.

[Stereolabb]

I'll need a few more days before I can say anything definitive as far as how the microRendu compares to the Aries.

 

As far as AirPlay, my experience thus far has been that it's sonically compromised. I tried streaming TIDAL to my Aries via AirPlay way back before I could stream it directly. Direct playback much better.

 

Any guesses on how this would compare to playing Spotify or Apple Music via a Sonos.

 

For example:

 

Wireless

 

iPad (Spotify or Apple Music App) > Airplay > Auralic Aries > Chord 2Qute > Supernait

 

vs

 

Wireless

 

iPad (Sonos App) > Sonos ZP90 > Chord 2Qute > Supernait

 

Which would sound better?

[kennyb123]

Any guesses on how this would compare to playing Spotify or Apple Music via a Sonos.

 

I'm not the best person to ask don't listen to reduced bitrate music on my home audio system. I listen to only CD quality or better.

 

I would think that the Aries and the 2Qute are both overkill for this.

[Rexp]

I'm not the best person to ask don't listen to reduced bitrate music on my home audio system. I listen to only CD quality or better.

 

I would think that the Aries and the 2Qute are both overkill for this.

+100. Try Tidal (FLAC Quality) on your Sonos, if it doesn't sound way better than Spotify then your Sonos will have to go...

[SonicYouth]

Same situation for me. Think of an external DAC and 2Qute is my main interest. Always wanted a Chord and the 2Qute seems a really good choice for home systems. As other´s saying especially for Redbook the Chord DAC´s are the way to go. But I´m still looking for other stuff matching the 2Qute. Especially what´s the best linear power supply, there are a lot of choices but is there someone who tried more than one of them and could comment what´s best?

 

Yes a audio server/renderer would be another buy for me as well but I can´t decide which one. There is none what really does everything I would like. So will go with a Raspberry based in the beginning and try what´s capable.

Last Friday I got the 2Qute. It's the first new component in my setup for many years. It replaces the DacMagic and brings a lot improvement in SQ. My "renderer" is a PC (Surface Pro 2), which replaced a Squeezebox classic some years ago. UPNP is nothing for me because it cannot rate songs during playback. I would buy an Aries instead, but unfortunately it cannot be controlled by a windows app. For many years I have been using MediaMonkey and I have always been very happy with it, but now I am testing Foobar, JRiver and Roon, because MM will not support HighRes audio. It's a pity ... As soon as this software stuff is puzzled out, I will have a look at the amp and LS. I am not interested in other power supplies for the 2Qute, but I will add an Audioquest Jitterbug.

[SonicYouth]

Would you say that the 2Qute is worth the addition cost over the Mojo?

You need both. The 2Qute for stationary, the Mojo for mobile purposes. ?

[hornytoad]

You need both. The 2Qute for stationary, the Mojo for mobile purposes. [emoji28]

 

Ha . That is the best approach !

[Stereolabb]

Has anyone had any experiences with these:

 

https://wyred4sound.com/products/digital-converters/remedy-reclocker

 

Apparently a good upgrade for the Sonos.

 

I was thinking perhaps to do this:

 

iPad (Sonos App) > Sonos ZP90 > W4S Remedy > Chord 2Qute > Supernait

 

Not quite hi-res that the Aries would offer, but the Sonos will play Redbook CD's and has a nice interface, I could then just wait it out a bit till the Aries software is a little more mature.

[Melvin]

Has anyone had any experiences with these:

 

https://wyred4sound.com/products/digital-converters/remedy-reclocker

 

Apparently a good upgrade for the Sonos.

 

I was thinking perhaps to do this:

 

iPad (Sonos App) > Sonos ZP90 > W4S Remedy > Chord 2Qute > Supernait

 

Not quite hi-res that the Aries would offer, but the Sonos will play Redbook CD's and has a nice interface, I could then just wait it out a bit till the Aries software is a little more mature.

 

Back in late December I purchased the bLINK iteration of the Remedy Reclocker and have been very happy with it. The bLINK added Bluetooth and is why I got it in the first place. Since that time I've also used it to reclock streams via SPDIF on various hardware with terrific results. FWIW, right now my system looks like this:

 

iDevice (BluOS app) > Bluesound Node 2 (coax out) > W4S bLINK (TOSLINK out) > Chord Qute EX > etc. etc. etc.

 

This gives me a reclocked and electrically isolated stream into the Qute EX. The result, whether using Tune-in Radio streams, Spotify, TIDAL, or my own library of uncompressed FLACs, sounds better to me. There seems to be some improvement with files up to and including 24/96 (which it resamples to) but not so much for files above that. BTW, the Node 2 replaced my 2012 Mac mini about a month ago .. couldn't be happier. Best of luck whatever you decide.