Denafrips Pontus II vs Chord Qutest impressions (as well as the Denafrips Ares II)

[OldBigEars]

In summary, you really love the Pontus and prefer it to the Qutest. Thanks for all the insights.

[OldBigEars]

I need to update my signature but I recently upgraded my microRendu 1.4 to the opticalRendu.  I was really rather dubious as to the benefits of doing so, as the Etherregen was arguably cleaning up the signal in any case.  But anyway the outcome has been a sonic improvement way beyond my expectation.

 

With the opticalRendu now fully burned in I find I'm using the white (Incisive) filter almost all the time, except with poorly recorded music which occasionally has me switching to the orange (Smooth) filter. But as my musical preference is mainly jazz, most recordings are high quality and the Qutest delivers them beautifully. When I put on some old classic rock albums, I occasionally have issues.

[OldBigEars]

@Calvin & Hobbesdid you ever try your Qutest with a good optical feed?  I switched over from USB a few weeks ago, with a cheap Chinese converter no less, and the improvement in SQ has been game-changing in my system.  I hate to say it, but from my experience in my system all tests/comparisons of Qutest are off unless we're talking about using it this way. 

[OldBigEars]

10 hours ago, Calvin & Hobbes said:

@OldBigEars In what ways did the optical feed change the SQ of your Qutest? I did not try the Qutest with an optical feed.

Before replying I actually did a quick back-and-forth between USB and Optical just to make sure I wasn't suffering from some kind of delusion...these things can easily happen with hifi :)  But no, I'm not losing my marbles (thankfully).  My setup sounds almost like two different systems, the difference is so obvious and substantial.  In short, the optical input provides a bigger, richer, more textured and (yes) more analog sound than USB. Substitute your favorite adjective for 'more musically engaging'. My USB cable is a Curious Evolved link from my EtherRegen. But when connected to my cheap converter, and that in turn is linked to the Qutest via an ordinary AQ Cinnamon optical cable - a major transformation happens.  For example, the white filter is now my default - whereas with USB I'm an orange kind of guy.  Hope this helps....

[OldBigEars]

7 hours ago, matthias said:

 

May I ask which cheap converter do you use?

Thanks

 

Matt

 

I bought the Douk Audio U2 Pro...typically around $56.  Too cheap to work, right?  Apparently not, if my ears don't deceive me.  And the kicker is that it works better USB powered than when I tried an iPower X 5V PS.  Not saying you couldn't try a Farad etc if you wish.  And of course I haven't compared the Douk to a higher class DDC such as one of the Denafrip models, or the Audiowise product that feeds dual BNC into the Qutest. For all I know, these are even better.  But I can confirm that I wouldn't go back to USB after using the simple, inexpensive Douk converter. They do not sound alike.

[OldBigEars]

On 9/14/2021 at 11:02 PM, davide256 said:

So heard back from Douk, the Douk Pro device is limited to 192k for SPDIF out.

 

Yup 192K max for the Douk.  Not an issue for me, but this may be a drawback for some folks.  I'm curious of course to know how much improvement the optional upgraded clocks would deliver to the Douk (if any). 

[OldBigEars]

 

22 hours ago, al2813 said:

For those of you who tried the Qutest. Have you tried combining with a truly high end linear power supply? 

 

Depends on one's definition of 'truly high end'.  I just upgraded from an iPower X to an SBooster / Ultra 11 and the improvement is stark.  No doubt you could take it further with a more exotic PS.  Someone here mentioned that the Qutest + Sean Jacobs' PS is quite special.  My advice is to avoid using the USB, and also upgrade the PS at least to SBooster level.  But keeping the total cost in mind, the Qutest with these upgrades would need to rival the Denafrips Venus, rather than the Pontus.

[OldBigEars]

1 hour ago, Calvin & Hobbes said:

I've run the Qutest with a battery though not a truly high end linear power supply. I think the main difference that I heard between the Pontus and the Qutest is the nature of the sound. The Denafrips DACs sound more organic in nature while the Qutest has a more artificially Technicolor type of presentation. My guess is that a better power supply would not change that aspect of sound quality for the Qutest.

 

My experience is that is does. And using the Optical input instead of USB, even more so. You end up retaining the 'hyper detail' of the Qutest but adding a whole heap of musicality.  I won't try to guess how it compares to Denafrips Pontus or Venus but I can safely say it has improved my Qutest experience beyond belief.