Chord Electronics Qutest DAC

Chord Electronics are a renowned British Hi-Fi company but it’s their Digital to Analogue Converters that really sets them apart from the pack. Here we have a very nice example of the award-winning Qutest DAC… comes in original packaging with manual, power supply unit, various plug adaptors and3 months warranty from us as authorised Chord Electronics dealers.
Chord say….
Qutest is our ‘pure’ DAC (it does not contain headphone amplification or rechargeable batteries like some of its range stablemates) and is designed to improve sound quality in the home. It is the latest evolution of our most affordable standalone DAC, the multi-award-winning 2Qute, which it directly replaces.
Qutest, which is a What Hi-Fi? Star of CES 2018, is based on our award-winning proprietary FPGA technology developed for the class-leading Hugo 2 DAC/headphone amp, giving it proven class-leading technical and sonic performance. Perfectly equipped to bring the benefits our digital technology to a wide range of connected devices, it features a galvanically isolated USB-B, optical and coaxial digital input, giving an instant performance upgrade, plus the ability to modernise ageing digital source components.
The Qutest chassis is all-new, too. It has significantly greater mass than its predecessor and has been precision-machined from solid aircraft-grade aluminium billet. The Qutest PCB nestles within a shallow cavity in the solid aluminium chassis, giving the circuit board greater protection within the casework and additional isolation from external vibration compared to previous designs.
Qutest offers Hugo 2’s proprietary user-selectable frequency-shaping filters and input selection controls, available via two fascia-mounted spheres, introducing useful flexibility. It also features RCA analogue outputs for connection to integrated amplifiers, preamps and headphone amps, plus high-resolution dual-data digital inputs for connection to future Chord Electronics products.
A further new feature is a user-selectable output voltage available in 1, 2 and 3V RMS outputs for flexible connectivity with a wide range of partnering devices.
Features:
Materials: Precision machined aluminium casing with polycarbonate buttons and glass viewing portal. Available only in Jett Black.
Device power supply: 5v 2amp Micro USB
Tap length filter: 49,152 – 10 element Pulse Array design
Connectivity (input): USB Type B (White): 44.1kHz to 768kHz – 16bit to 32bit
2x BNC Coax (Red): 44.1kHz – 384kHz – 16bit to 32bit
1x Dual data mode input (using both BNC coax inputs together): 44.1kHz to 768kHz – 16bit to 32bit
Optical (Green): 44.1kHz to 96kHz – 16bit to 24bit
Connectivity (output): 1x stereo pair of RCA (Left and Right)
PCM support: 44.1kHz, 48kHz, 88.2kHz, 96kHz, 176.4kHz, 192kHz, 352.8kHz, 384kHz, 717.6kHz, and 768kHz. 16 – 32bit
DSD support: Native playback supported. DSD64 (Single) to DSD512 (Octa-DSD)
Variable output: Fixed, but selectable between 3v (blue), 2v (green), and 1v (red) via dual press of ‘Filter’ + ‘Input’ upon start-up
Driver support: Driverless with Mac OS X and Linux, driver required for Windows OS
Digital designer: Rob Watts
Mechanical designer: John Franks
Country of manufacture: England
Specifications:
Chipset: Chord Electronics custom coded Xilinx Artix 7 (XC7A15T) FPGA
Tap-length: 49,152
Pulse array: 10 element pulse array design
Frequency response: 20 Hz – 20 kHz +/- 0.2 dB
Output stage: Class A
THD: <0.0001% 1 kHz 3 v RMS 300 Ω
THD and noise at 3 v RMS: 117 dB at 1 kHz 300 ohms ‘A’ weighted (reference 2.5 v)
Noise 2.6 µV ‘A’ weighted: No measurable noise floor modulation
Channel separation: 138 dB at 1 kHz 300 Ω
Dimensions: 160 (W) x 88 (D) x 45 (H) mm
Weight: 770 g

To read a review from What Hi-Fi? magazine please click here

For a second opinion from US publication “The Absolute Sound!” please click here