Chord Electronics unveil Qutest DAC

Chord Electronics have launched the Qutest DAC at CES 2018. The most advanced compact DAC from Chord Electronics, the Qutest, retailing for £1195, is based on the latest proprietary Rob Watts’ FPGA technology developed for the award-winning Hugo 2 DAC & headphone amp. All of this is housed in a newly designed, precision machined aluminium chassis.

As stated above the Chord Electronics Qutest uses the same award-winning

DAC design and software coding as the Hugo 2. The similarities with the Hugo 2 don’t

stop there, the Chord Qutest DAC also uses two spherical buttons, one for frequency-shaping

filters and the other for input selection.

The Chord Qutest DAC offers a significant saving over the

Hugo 2 (RRP £1799), sidestepping the headphone amplifier, rechargeable Li-on

batteries and crossfeed functionality sections.

Designed to not only replace the award winning 2Qute as Chord Electronics most affordable standalone DAC, but to go above any beyond in terms of performance. The latest FPGA and advanced WTA (Watts Transient Aligned) filters have been brought forward in to the Qutest, bringing a wide variety of performance improvements over the 2Qute in a number of areas. Performance gains have been made in timing accuracy, noise reduction, dynamic range and tap length, the technical indicator of how complex the interpolation filter is, has almost doubled compared to its predecessor, from 26,368 to 49,152.

The Chord Qutest was tasked with bringing the benefits of

Chord Electronics’ critically acclaimed design to a wide range of connected

devices.

Featuring a galvanically isolated USB-B, optical and dual

coaxial digital inputs. The Qutest also has RCA analogue outputs for easy

connection to amplifiers. The dual-data digital inputs can also be used for

connection to Chord Electronics’ devices including the 705/768kHz-ready

M-Scaler-technology BLU MKII digital/CD transport.

The new Qutest DAC design benefits from using 5V Micro USB

powering which offers improved flexibility over its predecessor.

Qutest offers support for up to 32-bit/768kHz PCM and DSD512

via its galvanically isolated USB-B input, 24-bit/384kHz PCM and DSD128 via

coaxial (BNC) and 24-bit/192kHz data on Optical TOSLink. DSD 64 to DSD 256 is

supported via DoP and ASIO native DSD format is also supported up to 512.

Crafted from solid aircraft-grade aluminium billet the

Qutest DAC comes with a newly designed aluminium chassis. The PCB is housed

within a shallow cavity of the casework giving the circuit board more

protection within the casework and additional isolation from external vibration

compared to the 2Qute.

The newly designed chassis retains the signature Chord

Electronics port hole, allowing you to peer in and gaze upon the custom Chord

Electronics’ circuit board within.

The Qutest’s control spheres (for user-selectable frequency-shaping and input selection) glow with useful colour-coding information denoting sample frequency and filter used; brightness settings are user-adjustable. A further new feature is a user-selectable output voltage available in 1, 2 and 3V RMS outputs for flexible connectivity with partnering devices.

Trade In

Of course, at Fanthorpes we love to trade in, so if you want to trade in your existing HiFi against the Qutest, contact us and we will let you know what it is worth as a trade in.

Finance Available

We can also offer buy now pay later on the Chord Qutest, allowing you to spread or defer your payments over a year.