Great and really helpful, well presented review. That's helped me a lot...I like your style. Thanks. I've ordered a Qutest and also an MCRU linear power supply for good measure. I'm moving up from the Topping E70v DAC. Thanks again
Regarding the Coax sound you can not fairly compare one to the other when you have one running from a bridge and different cable etc all of which will slightly alter the sound. I think you need to be more clear with such a distinction.
Enjoyable review. I'm a U.K based headphone user who has had a Qutest in his system for over a year now, and like a few other people have already mentioned, i do think it is worthwhile trying the Qutest with a linear power supply, as it really did blacken the background when i got one. FWIW I am (finally) really happy with where my set up is now, having paired the Qutest with a tube amp (Auris HAS-2SF) and Meze Empyreans - it's detailed enough, but also warm enough to make listening to practically any track a pleasure (whereas when i had the Qutest with Focal Clears - and particularly when also used with a solid state amp - there were many tracks i couldn't enjoy due to harshness/brightness). Thanks again for reviewing a product that is a very common 'next step' DAC for U.K audiophiles.
Thank you for your very good review. Even though it's two years old, I still have a comment. I'll come to Qutest in a moment. I was looking for a DAC for my home stereo as an upgrade from my Node. I ended up with the Mojo 2 based on many reviews. Everything glorious that can be read everywhere is true... except for one issue. The Mojo 2 (and the Hugo 2) are headphone amps only with an output impedance of less than 1 ohm. When I plug the Mojo 2 into my preamp (Quad 34, MC C22CE or EAR 864), the mids and highs, the wide and holographic stage are like heaven. But the bass is very unpleasant, boomy, resonant and lacking in energy in the lower octave. As a layman, I suspect that an HP amp is just a compromise to supply a preamp. Unfortunately, I had to sell Mojo2 again because I couldn't stand the bass drone. On the other hand, I can't go back from the chord sound. As a temporary solution, I have a Schiit Multibit 2 that at least drives the preamps “correctly”, very nice dry and controlled bass. If I'm going to buy a Chord DAC, then definitely the Qutest because it has 300 Ohm output impedance and thus fits a preamp input. I foresee that it will not be boomy. With the Hugo 2, I would fear that there would be the same matching problem as with the Mojo 2 in terms of bass. I have not found a single review on RUclips or the web that warns against using the Hugo2 or Mojo2 as a source for a preamp. But I had a bad experience with the Mojo2.
Great comparison review of these two DAC's. A lot of talk of them over time up to this point, you added a more clear understanding to what others have said to more clarify the sound of that technology. It's a lot of processing power in small boxes. A tube amp might be good.
Thanks for this excellent review, it was very useful. I would like to know how would you compare the chord to the soekris 1421? And what output do you recommend using with the chord? Thanks again for your help 😊
Very interesting review! Let me ask you just a question. When you compared both DACs did you use both dacs powered from their own SMPSU or did you use the Hugo 2 powered with its internal batteries? I´m asking cause to me there is clear difference in sound quality using the Hugo 2 powered from its internal battery than from the SMPSU that comes with it. Thanks!
The “leanness” comes from a lack of smearing in the time domain of the lower frequencies. You notice this from comparing the mojo OG to the mojo 2 as well.
I find the Chord Hugo 2 lean as you brought up. It is not necessarily the sound signature of Chord DAP. The Mojo appears to be away from that leanness . I heard that the Hugo TT2 completely flash out the lean sound go Hugo 2. This needs to be experienced by myself though.
Thank you for the great comparison! Don't know if you're using Roon, but it'll be also interesting to see your review on Hugo2 + 2go. This combination enhances not only usability but also sound quality significantly, I think.
@@razisn many other dacs can also amegliorated with an lps. In my experience some smps introduce some changes to the sound of a system (dependent perhaps on sensitivity of the system), in tonality, and by adding bit in harshness. The good thing is you may use this for your purpose, or you choose not to and shell out bigger money on dac, amp and speakers, while 350€ on a lps could do alot for you as well.
Yes but the Sbooster gets his ass kicked in every aspect by the ipower elite. I had an Sbooster and was very surprised by that. Especially because the Sbooster costs more. The elite with the Qutest is faster, more detailed, way more bass and detailed bass, more punch. Equal or better in soundstage.
I agree, the only thing I don’t get people adding a sbooster… Of that was my first try with the qutest I would have trown it in the bin. Gone all the sparkle I like with the qutest. I have it know with a allo shanti, amazing!!!!
My experience is the qutest has got meat to the bones. What's the voltage do you run the DAC? I use on my HIFI by the way now headphones. Punch is really good on my Arias running from a roksan amp
I think this pairing may sound great overall (imaging machine) but there’s a possibility you’ll find it’s on the thin side as WaveTheory describes. GSX Mini doesn’t add much more in terms of “meat on the bone”.
Impressive. But about the Coaxial cables: you used two, why? and than the RCA switch between it: I think this was perhaps influencing the sound and the 'height'? And you didn't mention at all: what powersupply did you use? It really needs a good Lineair Power Supply.
The only thing that is worth the money in Chord is the Mojo1 ang Hugo2. The rest sounds the same and only some features were added but soundwise no improvement.
I'm sorry. FPGA is not a digital to analog decoding method. It is the way some digital circuit is implemented. It can be delta sigma or not or it might be just an upsampler or a digital filter or whatever. It is virtually a programmable chip. They do not have the volume to justify having a custom chip made for them, no audio manufacturer does, so they use an FPGA. Downside is the FPGA chip is huge, slow and consumes a lot of power. The FPGA allows them to also update the code if they want to. Chord use delta sigma conversion btw regardless if that is not based on using a standard off the shelf chip. Also, a resistor ladder can be implemented on a chip. In fact this is the way they were implemented in the old days but such chips are not manufactured anymore. If you want to go into technical terms, please make sure you are accurate and know what you're talking about. Otherwise you just add to the noise and confusion. We have too much of that already.
"In fact this is the way they were implemented in the old days but such chips are not manufactured anymore." If that is the case, then how does Schiit do it.
Just to clarify. There is no such thing as FPGA dac. FPGA is used for basically maths that are needed to "prepare" digital signal to be converted to analog. Actual conversion is made using discrete components. And also chord dacs are actually delta sigma. Cheers
This is not accurate. It would be more accurate to say the FPGA does a DDC and outputs PDM. The PDM signal is the approximation of analog as it passes through a pulse array.
Prior to listening to such devices descriptions like "roomy, trasparent, lean, good soundstage" didn't make any sense. But now I agree to every word about this device. At least comparing to RME, which is detailed, but kind of flat to my taste
Sorry, I can't take seriously a dac called "qutest" that looks like a toy for children. The same goes for Shiit products, although at least they look like real hardware.
There just something about the chord product that turns me off. It looks like a cheap toy from the 80s or early 90s. It wasnt night bright it was something else where it would light up like that and make patters that you would have to follow.
Hard pass. I dislike the footprint, the thing looks like it came from Fisher-Price which I dislike, I dislike that it is not balanced, I really dislike the price tag, and from what you have described, I would dislike the sound signature as well. Not a lot going for it in my book other than a high price tag.
Great and really helpful, well presented review. That's helped me a lot...I like your style. Thanks. I've ordered a Qutest and also an MCRU linear power supply for good measure. I'm moving up from the Topping E70v DAC. Thanks again
Regarding the Coax sound you can not fairly compare one to the other when you have one running from a bridge and different cable etc all of which will slightly alter the sound. I think you need to be more clear with such a distinction.
Enjoyable review. I'm a U.K based headphone user who has had a Qutest in his system for over a year now, and like a few other people have already mentioned, i do think it is worthwhile trying the Qutest with a linear power supply, as it really did blacken the background when i got one.
FWIW I am (finally) really happy with where my set up is now, having paired the Qutest with a tube amp (Auris HAS-2SF) and Meze Empyreans - it's detailed enough, but also warm enough to make listening to practically any track a pleasure (whereas when i had the Qutest with Focal Clears - and particularly when also used with a solid state amp - there were many tracks i couldn't enjoy due to harshness/brightness).
Thanks again for reviewing a product that is a very common 'next step' DAC for U.K audiophiles.
Thank you for your very good review. Even though it's two years old, I still have a comment. I'll come to Qutest in a moment. I was looking for a DAC for my home stereo as an upgrade from my Node. I ended up with the Mojo 2 based on many reviews. Everything glorious that can be read everywhere is true... except for one issue. The Mojo 2 (and the Hugo 2) are headphone amps only with an output impedance of less than 1 ohm. When I plug the Mojo 2 into my preamp (Quad 34, MC C22CE or EAR 864), the mids and highs, the wide and holographic stage are like heaven. But the bass is very unpleasant, boomy, resonant and lacking in energy in the lower octave. As a layman, I suspect that an HP amp is just a compromise to supply a preamp. Unfortunately, I had to sell Mojo2 again because I couldn't stand the bass drone. On the other hand, I can't go back from the chord sound. As a temporary solution, I have a Schiit Multibit 2 that at least drives the preamps “correctly”, very nice dry and controlled bass. If I'm going to buy a Chord DAC, then definitely the Qutest because it has 300 Ohm output impedance and thus fits a preamp input. I foresee that it will not be boomy. With the Hugo 2, I would fear that there would be the same matching problem as with the Mojo 2 in terms of bass.
I have not found a single review on RUclips or the web that warns against using the Hugo2 or Mojo2 as a source for a preamp. But I had a bad experience with the Mojo2.
I run my Qutest with an MScaler and it's awesome!
Great comparison review of these two DAC's. A lot of talk of them over time up to this point, you added a more clear understanding to what others have said to more clarify the sound of that technology. It's a lot of processing power in small boxes. A tube amp might be good.
Comparison starts here: 17:50
Thanks for this excellent review, it was very useful. I would like to know how would you compare the chord to the soekris 1421? And what output do you recommend using with the chord? Thanks again for your help 😊
Very interesting review! Let me ask you just a question. When you compared both DACs did you use both dacs powered from their own SMPSU or did you use the Hugo 2 powered with its internal batteries? I´m asking cause to me there is clear difference in sound quality using the Hugo 2 powered from its internal battery than from the SMPSU that comes with it.
Thanks!
How do these compare to the Mojo 2? Much appreciated
Any chance you are going to review chord anni?
Be interesting if you got the chance to pair the Qutest with its obvious new partner, the Anni amp.
The “leanness” comes from a lack of smearing in the time domain of the lower frequencies. You notice this from comparing the mojo OG to the mojo 2 as well.
For non-native speakers, Qutest is pronounced 'cutest'...there's no hyphen, so no pause between the syllables.
I find the Chord Hugo 2 lean as you brought up. It is not necessarily the sound signature of Chord DAP. The Mojo appears to be away from that leanness . I heard that the Hugo TT2 completely flash out the lean sound go Hugo 2. This needs to be experienced by myself though.
I had the Hugo2 and from what I know, the Hugo2 is just the Quest with an amp/preamp. Great review as always!
You are comparing a Dac to a Dac + amp.
You need to compare Hugo2 with Qutest + Anni. Otherwise this is not a proper comparison.
Thank you for the great comparison! Don't know if you're using Roon, but it'll be also interesting to see your review on Hugo2 + 2go. This combination enhances not only usability but also sound quality significantly, I think.
Do you think the Hugo 2 sounds good with just a laptop (using Roon)(computer as core) and an end game IEM ?
@@yatharth7449 no
The Qutest deserves a good linear power supply, like the Sbooster. Its a night and day difference, and adds more meat to the bone.
Wow! night and day! You don’t say! So why Chord didn’t add this to their device? They would have knocked every other dac out.
@@razisn many other dacs can also amegliorated with an lps. In my experience some smps introduce some changes to the sound of a system (dependent perhaps on sensitivity of the system), in tonality, and by adding bit in harshness. The good thing is you may use this for your purpose, or you choose not to and shell out bigger money on dac, amp and speakers, while 350€ on a lps could do alot for you as well.
I use the ifi elite 5v to power my Qutest and it is way better than most lps I could find on the market.
Yes but the Sbooster gets his ass kicked in every aspect by the ipower elite. I had an Sbooster and was very surprised by that. Especially because the Sbooster costs more. The elite with the Qutest is faster, more detailed, way more bass and detailed bass, more punch. Equal or better in soundstage.
I agree, the only thing I don’t get people adding a sbooster… Of that was my first try with the qutest I would have trown it in the bin. Gone all the sparkle I like with the qutest. I have it know with a allo shanti, amazing!!!!
Can you connect a ifi zen amp to this
My experience is the qutest has got meat to the bones. What's the voltage do you run the DAC? I use on my HIFI by the way now headphones. Punch is really good on my Arias running from a roksan amp
Would you recommend pairing Qutest + GS-X Mini + Focal Utopia? Thanks.
I think this pairing may sound great overall (imaging machine) but there’s a possibility you’ll find it’s on the thin side as WaveTheory describes. GSX Mini doesn’t add much more in terms of “meat on the bone”.
Impressive. But about the Coaxial cables: you used two, why? and than the RCA switch between it: I think this was perhaps influencing the sound and the 'height'? And you didn't mention at all: what powersupply did you use? It really needs a good Lineair Power Supply.
The only thing that is worth the money in Chord is the Mojo1 ang Hugo2. The rest sounds the same and only some features were added but soundwise no improvement.
I'm sorry. FPGA is not a digital to analog decoding method. It is the way some digital circuit is implemented. It can be delta sigma or not or it might be just an upsampler or a digital filter or whatever. It is virtually a programmable chip. They do not have the volume to justify having a custom chip made for them, no audio manufacturer does, so they use an FPGA. Downside is the FPGA chip is huge, slow and consumes a lot of power. The FPGA allows them to also update the code if they want to. Chord use delta sigma conversion btw regardless if that is not based on using a standard off the shelf chip. Also, a resistor ladder can be implemented on a chip. In fact this is the way they were implemented in the old days but such chips are not manufactured anymore. If you want to go into technical terms, please make sure you are accurate and know what you're talking about. Otherwise you just add to the noise and confusion. We have too much of that already.
"In fact this is the way they were implemented in the old days but such chips are not manufactured anymore." If that is the case, then how does Schiit do it.
Do you ever respond to comment?!
Chord Dave is the most fleshed out.
Have you seen the price of it?
@@dixienormous2440 After four years I finally managed to purchase one.... and it was well worth it! Got one used of course.
@@DigitalBliss69Lottery win...?😂
The qutests power supply is poor add a better power s suppy and it will be every bit as good as hugo or even better ?
Well the designer Rob Watts does not agree.....he says he compared many power supplies and the std one is as good as a battery!
Just to clarify. There is no such thing as FPGA dac. FPGA is used for basically maths that are needed to "prepare" digital signal to be converted to analog. Actual conversion is made using discrete components. And also chord dacs are actually delta sigma. Cheers
This is not accurate. It would be more accurate to say the FPGA does a DDC and outputs PDM. The PDM signal is the approximation of analog as it passes through a pulse array.
@@lwwells no
@@IHearEverythingDude Yes.
Prior to listening to such devices descriptions like "roomy, trasparent, lean, good soundstage" didn't make any sense. But now I agree to every word about this device. At least comparing to RME, which is detailed, but kind of flat to my taste
Q Test?
I really do not understand when both of them sound exactly the same when doing real a/b
Sorry, I can't take seriously a dac called "qutest" that looks like a toy for children. The same goes for Shiit products, although at least they look like real hardware.
There just something about the chord product that turns me off. It looks like a cheap toy from the 80s or early 90s. It wasnt night bright it was something else where it would light up like that and make patters that you would have to follow.
I agree the lights thing is annoying, the sound hower… there are only a few mostly more expensive that sound so so good
Hard pass. I dislike the footprint, the thing looks like it came from Fisher-Price which I dislike, I dislike that it is not balanced, I really dislike the price tag, and from what you have described, I would dislike the sound signature as well. Not a lot going for it in my book other than a high price tag.
You've obviously never picked one up! 😂