Chord Qutest

[Blake]

Tweaks to Qutest:

 

My personal experience is that adding a Denafrips Gaia DDC, as well as an Uptone LPS to Qutest was rather large. I'd even say 'transformative' (on a audio enthusiast scale).  

 

 

 

[KATARRAZZI]

 

I just ordered a SRC•DX USB adapter for my Qutest? Hopefully it will be a worthwhile upgrade!

[zek4u]

I love mine and got two Atlas Mavros BNC-BNC cable to use between it and the Qutest.  I use a CAD usb cable from my Melco N1Z.  Next I want to try a Jcat XE Ethernet card feeding the Melco. 

[Middy]

3 hours ago, KATARRAZZI said:

 Yes it will, the main thing is bypassing the USB input and its chip.. I made a couple of short low capacitance BNC cables and finally got rid of the cheap ones.

 

That also helped. Upstream matters always but you will hear an improvement. I did weigh up other DDCs but never tried them Just went off the advice at the time but no regrets... post your thoughts later.... Good luck

 

 

 

3 hours ago, KATARRAZZI said:

 

I just ordered a SRC•DX USB adapter for my Qutest? Hopefully it will be a worthwhile upgrade!

 

 

 



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[davide256]

@OldBigEars

Just wanted to share that over time/use with two different Chord Mojo's, the micro USB port has become problematic for on the go use...if cable is jostled at all play is stopped.

The Douk Audio U2 DDC  has a much more solid micro USB port, no wiggle room, can reuse any USB cable bought for the Mojo.

I'm finding that it really shines for iPhone use with mini coax input to the Mojo, a cleaner, more relaxed sound than my USB  dongles or the USB port to the Mojo. 

Don't know if there are other mobile DAC's with coax or SPDIF input but I think the Douk device has value as a mobile DDC/electrical isolator for iPhones

and DAP's with the Mojo family

[gritty]

Hi Team. Hey i'm just wondering if you can help? I'm having a weird problem with my Qutest and i don't understand whats going on or what the cause might be. I'd really appreciate your input. There appears to be a fault that causes the right channel to go completely dead when using some, but not all, interconnects.

My main interconnects are Chord Clearway and Wireworld Eclipse 7. When I use either of these interconnects the right channel will not work .

> If i swap channels on these interconnect pairs (so that the right interconnect is now on the left channel and vice versa) the fault does not swap sides. Again the left channel works fine and the right channel dead.

> If i swap then interconnects out for some cheap no name brand then both channels of the Qutest work perfectly fine.

> If i try another dac with these chord/wireworld interconnects then both channels work fine.

> Wiggling or moving in/out the interconnect plug at the Qutest end makes zero difference. It is completely dead. Not cutting in or out.

So the fault appears to have something to do with the Qutest. The right channel works fine with some interconnects, but not others. Do you have any idea what might be going on here? Why would the Qutest pass a signal through one interconnect but not another?

Thanks so much for helping me understand this. Do you have any suggestions on how i might go about resolving this issue?

[Music123]

Gritty,

 

I assume you are referring to the BNC interconnect cables without knowing all the factors in your situation. If that is the case, ensure the Qutest's input selection is consistent every time you turn the Chord DAC back on after switching cables. Make sure the source is also the same when compared to other cables.

 

For BNC, there are three choices- Coax (BNC) 1, Coax (BNC) 2, and Dual Data Mode.

 

If you feed a high-resolution file with up to 768kHz mode but do not turn on dual data mode, you may get a single channel only when Coax 1 or Coax 2 is selected.

 

If the above doesn't solve your issue, then someone else with more knowledge will need to help you.

 

Cheers!

 

Edit: If you feed the Qutest's DAC with resolutions up to 384kHz, then Coax 1 or Coax 2 will play stereo on your system. But once you feed a high-resolution file with 768kHz, you must select dual data mode to play stereo.

.

[gritty]

22 hours ago, Music123 said:

Gritty,

 

I assume you are referring to the BNC interconnect cables without knowing all the factors in your situation. If that is the case, ensure the Qutest's input selection is consistent every time you turn the Chord DAC back on after switching cables. Make sure the source is also the same when compared to other cables.

 

For BNC, there are three choices- Coax (BNC) 1, Coax (BNC) 2, and Dual Data Mode.

 

If you feed a high-resolution file with up to 768kHz mode but do not turn on dual data mode, you may get a single channel only when Coax 1 or Coax 2 is selected.

 

If the above doesn't solve your issue, then someone else with more knowledge will need to help you.

 

Cheers!

 

Edit: If you feed the Qutest's DAC with resolutions up to 384kHz, then Coax 1 or Coax 2 will play stereo on your system. But once you feed a high-resolution file with 768kHz, you must select dual data mode to play stereo.

.

 

 

Hey thanks heaps for your speedy response. Much appreciated :)

 

Sorry I should have been a bit clearer in my description. Its the RCA output that is causing the troubles. Inputs are all working as they should.

 

Its a weird problem aye?

[Middy]

7 hours ago, gritty said:

 

Hey thanks heaps for your speedy response. Much appreciated :)

 

Sorry I should have been a bit clearer in my description. Its the RCA output that is causing the troubles. Inputs are all working as they should.

 

Its a weird problem aye?

Could be a few things but again a bit of trouble shooting before getting an RMA from Ed at Chord. Some alcohol and interdental plastic brushes to ensure the contact pins are clean the internals. It could be a cracked solder joint or intermittent component on the circuit....

[gritty]

Thanks Middy. I'll give things a cleanup this weekend as you have suggested and see what happens.

Yeah i was thinking a cracked solder joint too but giving the plug a wiggle does not change things. If the RCA interconnect works then wiggling it will not trigger the channel to cut out. And if the RCA does not work then wiggling the rca will not cause the channel to momentarily reconnect. both states are stable...

[Middy]

It could be the cable....one way is to try again and slowly rotate the cable RCA plug in the channel socket

Gravity... if there is an intermittent break in the solder joint at the shell will be the side it will pull away or push towards or give it a wiggle in all directions.... Swap the ends around and try again in all point of the clock.

 

When they are encapsulated in plastic you can't just unscrew the cap and have a look..... 

Intermittent problems are a pain...

Sorry I am not much help my friend..