Chord Qutest

[asdf1000]

23 minutes ago, The Computer Audiophile said:

Ayre uses optical isolation inside the QB-9

 

There was a hilarious discussion on a forum about Merging possibly using it in NADAC when somebody shared pics inside.

 

They thought the tube from ethernet input to digital board was some kind of advanced optical isolation.

 

It turned out to just be a light guide for the network interface LED 😄

 

Some weren't happy with the amount of empty space here too. Well they solved that issue with Anubis !!

 

[ASRMichael]

2 hours ago, barrows said:

 I have experimented a lot with battery power to avoid mains borne noise, and have concluded that there is no advantage to using battery power for anything, versus properly designed and implemented mains powered components. 

Surely you’re open to a well designed battery supply? Take my amp for example. It has 4 boxes. 1 pre, 2 power & battery supply for the pre input stage. 

 

I find it hard to believe ASR would go to the bother of designing something if it didn’t make an improvement. 
 

My battery power supply
 

 
 

 

 

[Middy]

Ive saw crazy pcb design simulation software with just small changes having a big effect on the output. Its a skill in its self tranposing engineering design into a working populated PCB. Accuracy of the tracks placement..

. Id love to see how DCS do ceramic boards. Lucas Aerospace use to make Ceramic tiles and drill holes in them.  Easy to criticise as an end user but the work to get what we have now is pretty amazing, i am a low level prole in manufacturing engineering it bends my mind and how many people it takes...

[barrows]

25 minutes ago, ASRMichael said:

Surely you’re open to a well designed battery supply? Take my amp for example. It has 4 boxes. 1 pre, 2 power & battery supply for the pre input stage. 

 

I find it hard to believe ASR would go to the bother of designing something if it didn’t make an improvement. 
 

My battery power supply
 

 
 

 

 

My point is, after many experiments with battery based supplies, that there is no advantage to such versus a well designed AC based supply.  I am not suggesting battery supplies are worse though, either way can provide virtually perfect (and neither is totally perfect) clean DC to the working circuitry when well designed.

As to ASR, indeed the amps I have heard from them have sounded great, but no better than many other very good amps with AC based supplies: there is more than one way to skin the cat.  

[Superdad]

3 hours ago, The Computer Audiophile said:

Ayre uses optical isolation inside the QB-9

As with virtually any DAC with digital "galvanic" isolators (of whatever stripe), those are on the I2S lines--AFTER the USB input stage.  They do not isolate the USB input stage itself from what comes before. Just sayin'... 

[The Computer Audiophile]

24 minutes ago, Superdad said:

As with virtually any DAC with digital "galvanic" isolators (of whatever stripe), those are on the I2S lines--AFTER the USB input stage.  They do not isolate the USB input stage itself from what comes before. Just sayin'... 

They just offer a moat. 

[barrows]

21 minutes ago, Superdad said:

As with virtually any DAC with digital "galvanic" isolators (of whatever stripe), those are on the I2S lines--AFTER the USB input stage.  They do not isolate the USB input stage itself from what comes before. Just sayin'... 

Which is where they "should" be, after all the I2S signal going to the DAC conversion stage is what matters here, including its ground plane(s).  Now we all know at least most "isolators" are not "perfect" and they still let some noise through.  Whether or not this noise is significant in the context of the entire design is a question...  Certainly many of use have experienced DACs where the USB input is well isolated by Opto couplers, GMRs or SiO2 isolators, still being improved when the USB source is improved.

[Gavin1977]

Quote

 

”Yes sure; all mains powered DAC/amps will have isolation. And USB sounds very close to optical - sometimes I could hear no difference going back and forth, sometimes I got the impression that USB had better resolution, and optical perhaps better depth. If there is a difference, it's inconsequential - at least via my mains powered MSI lap-top on headphones.”

 

https://www.head-fi.org/threads/hugo-tt-2-by-chord-electronics-the-official-thread.879425/page-19#post-14245637
 

I’m going to have to compare again, just to confirm my thoughts

[Middy]

The proof of the audiophile puddings in the eating always....

Lucky the local design chefs know their stuff.....😀

 

Interested to what you think @Gavin1977

 

+ thanks @barrows + @Superdadalways a pleasure gents..😁

[DeathFugue]

I just received a Chord Qutest, and DSD files are pure fuzz via my HP laptop with with either Audirvana or JRiver. I tried re-installing the driver to no avail. The settings for both software programs seem fine (JRiver set to Bitstream DSD--tried DSD over PoP--didn't work, either). It does work perfectly and sounds fantastic on my MacBook, but I prefer the HP. Any suggestions?

[barrows]

4 minutes ago, DeathFugue said:

I just received a Chord Qutest, and DSD files are pure via my HP laptop with with either Audirvana or JRiver. I tried re-installing the driver to no avail. The settings for both software programs seem fine (JRiver set to Bitstream DSD--tried DSD over PoP--didn't work, either). It does work perfectly and sounds fantastic on my MacBook, but I prefer the HP. Any suggestions?

You have to use DoP for the Qutest.  Make sure your software is set to output DSD as DoP.

[DeathFugue]

30 minutes ago, barrows said:

You have to use DoP for the Qutest.  Make sure your software is set to output DSD as DoP.

When I do that, I still get the pure fuzz with Audirvana, and with JRiver I don't get DSD--176 PCM according the the Qutest display.

[ecwl]

1 hour ago, DeathFugue said:

I just received a Chord Qutest, and DSD files are pure fuzz via my HP laptop with with either Audirvana or JRiver. I tried re-installing the driver to no avail. The settings for both software programs seem fine (JRiver set to Bitstream DSD--tried DSD over PoP--didn't work, either). It does work perfectly and sounds fantastic on my MacBook, but I prefer the HP. Any suggestions?

I just tested this with my JRiver and Hugo 2.

What driver are you using within JRiver?

Digital output (Chord Async USB 44.1-768kHz) [Direct Sound] doesn't work with DSD

I had to choose Chord Electronics Ltd Streaming [Kernel Streaming] in order to be able to playback in DSD.

Moreover, you have to make sure Bitstreaming is set to DSD (not None)

 

See if that works.

[ecwl]

1 hour ago, DeathFugue said:

I just received a Chord Qutest, and DSD files are pure fuzz via my HP laptop with with either Audirvana or JRiver. I tried re-installing the driver to no avail. The settings for both software programs seem fine (JRiver set to Bitstream DSD--tried DSD over PoP--didn't work, either). It does work perfectly and sounds fantastic on my MacBook, but I prefer the HP. Any suggestions?

Also, ASIO Chord 1.05 [ASIO] driver also worked for me in JRiver.

It's just the Digital Output (Chord AsynUSB 44.1-768kHz) [Direct Sound] doesn't work for DSD.

[DeathFugue]

I'm using the ASIO Chord 1.05 driver.

[ecwl]

2 minutes ago, DeathFugue said:

I'm using the ASIO Chord 1.05 driver.

Sure, then try the Kernel Streaming.

Or maybe you can take a photo of your JRiver settings and post it onto the forum.

[DeathFugue]

1 hour ago, ecwl said:

Sure, then try the Kernel Streaming.

Or maybe you can take a photo of your JRiver settings and post it onto the forum.

I tried the Kernal Streaming--no joy. It's probably a glitch in my laptop somewhere. It works perfectly fine with my MacBook, and since the sample rate light glows white, I am getting DSD, so I'm good!

[Miska]

On 2/5/2021 at 10:23 PM, Superdad said:

They do not isolate the USB input stage itself from what comes before. Just sayin'... 

 

Why should they?

 

[DeathFugue]

My Qutest has rebooted on its own several times this morning, which causes a loud pop in my system, so I'm returning it.

[DomieMic65]

11 hours ago, DeathFugue said:

My Qutest has rebooted on its own several times this morning, which causes a loud pop in my system, so I'm returning it.

Is this with the Chord power supply?

[DeathFugue]

10 hours ago, DomieMic65 said:

Is this with the Chord power supply?

Yes.

[DeathFugue]

I found the cause of the Chord DAC turning off/on by itself (long story), fixed it, and all is well...as long as I use my MacBook Pro. It definitely sounds better than my other 2 DACS (oddly enough, the differences are more audible through my full system than through my headphones), so unless some other weird thing occurs, I'll keep it.

[ecwl]

1 hour ago, DeathFugue said:

I found the cause of the Chord DAC turning off/on by itself (long story), fixed it, and all is well...as long as I use my MacBook Pro. It definitely sounds better than my other 2 DACS (oddly enough, the differences are more audible through my full system than through my headphones), so unless some other weird thing occurs, I'll keep it.

Make sure you’re not clipping your headphone amp by accident. Some amps can only handle 2V or even 1V output so you can always try setting Qutest to a lower output voltage and see if it makes a bigger difference to your headphone sound. 
 

As for making Qutest work with Windows JRiver, I’ve attached a screenshot of my own setup with Hugo2 that works for JRiver settings

 

 

[Apmusson]

On 2/4/2021 at 1:49 PM, jos said:

Yes, I did this with a few young people and they all choose Toslink, using a 192khz Qed toslink cable, see: https://www.hansaudio.nl/product/qed-reference-optical-quartz/

 

In addition: At first I was using the ultraRendu with USB out, but then I decided to buy a Yamaha streamer with optical and coaxial out for internet radio, without using the DAC in the steamer, directly to the Qutest. So I did make a comparison with a very good Qed BNC cable. After that, I did sell my UltraRendu.

I use the same Toslink cable with my Chord Mscaler.  Rob Watts says optical is the best connection as it eliminates electrical interference.  I think he also implements excellent jitter correction in his DACs which is really good for Toslink.

 

I compared to USB connection and found the QED Toslink was slightly more relaxing to listen to for long periods of time but equally as musical and detailed as USB.

[Middy]

Hi all, reading back through the thread sort of makes sense more to what I've discovered/ tried. With a fairly easy and cheap MOD on the Qutest. 

 

Gavin1977s trial of the Audiowise SRC-DX spurred me on to try some RF  shielding techniques. ( i slightly hijacked the thread and more relevant here apologies Gavin)

Bypassing the USB in gives a nice boost to SQ and beyond what i expected. From reference to the USB implementation holding back the Chords on the WBF extreme PC thread a while back. I can use my old USB chain into SRC DX into the BNC... a lot better than the Chords USB and makes the DAC shine... For me at least.😁 

 

 

AudioWise designer  is RF Conscious and made me look back at my chain again and implement what others here have done.. Good EMC practice in various degrees... in their computers cables interconnects ect..

 

i went a step further researching as a non EE.

Holland shielding some have layman's explanations of applying EMI absorbing sheeting what devices cause issues in general.

This is a specific professional field of expertise normally for regulatory or design issues of functionality Or testing..

 

I got some cheap 3M AB5010, 5030 and 5050 cheap just to try it. £10 per roll. 1 size is more than enough for many devices.

 

My basic understanding: very basic*

Devices like CPU's FPGAs, RAM ics clocks ect produce RF/EM noise..

This can affect the devices ..victims../circuits around them radiated* and reflected* off the inner case...

 

Simple to me then as the tape can or partially attenuate this RF EM noise and hopefully benefit  the output sigal..

 

Simple answer yes very much so in the Qutest.. pure luck. I don't know if i added to much  Absorbing tape, not enough or the right places. A better more specific tape or attenuation range would improve things. I don't know...

 

I chased my USB chain from the NUC to the Qutest adding the tape/ shielding  to the above devices where practicable.

 

Intona ISOREGEN 

Small changes in my opinion valid and tangible. Intona old base model and my ISO Regen. I left the Transformers alone as i am sure i read about impedance issues???

Note!!! its what i have accumulated and is there as a reference baseline.. for what the Qutest can become..

 

The Qutest i got good results in SQ in my final step in RF shielding/absorbing. 

 

I was Conservative in application and just the Spartan + local clock.

I not sure if the USB circuit is live unused Off?

But covered the controller hub IC?  Clock And near device only!

Thicker AB5050 0.5mm, thicker is better i read...

Then the back faces of the USB BNC AND RCA connectors.

 

For reflective RF i lined the inner case with 3M 5010  0.1mm absorbing  tape 

 

Simply put it worked beyond what i could hope for, aping basic EMC techniques with cheap tape.

For OCD all screws where cleaned ultra sonically and Deoxited. PCB bonding pads scrubbed.. just incase it helped?

 

This MOD is reversable and easy to apply. Cut tape away from the PCB and use ESD protection as a minimum..

 

I could try more especially under pro advisement..  in where to add more.

Any pitfalls, ideas... could this scale to the  Mojo TT2 Dave other devices?

 

What i did worked out great and should be seen as a proof of concept stealing EMC Techniques.  More of everything i hoped the Qutest would be.. the total accumulated changes are fantastic with bypassing the USB.

But i feel any Qutest owner would be happy with just the change to adding the Absorbing tape.. But bypassing the USB is a must..

 

If you haven't read my journey on the great SRC DX thread slog through that if you want to for greater details... or my craziness..

 

 

Here is some details about my reference material and application images.. i sincerely want someone to confirm a positive change or prove me wrong...

 

I got lucky.. i hope to pass that luck and SQ boost on.. with a cheap easy MOD.. 

 

But feel free to ask questions, critique or offer advice but I don't much beyond the above...

 

I really do hope it works for you..

 

Good luck

Dave

 

https://hollandshielding.com/Flexible-EMI-absorber-sheets

 

https://interferencetechnology.com/introduction-to-composite-electromagnetic-noise-absorber-technology-1/amp/