I have been listening to the quetest . I almost can't believe how huge an improvement it is to my naim cd5xs internal dac. Quetest is an great dac, i do prefer to use no.3 filter (warm filter)
That luxman piece is just killer. I was at Musicdirect last year in their showroom and heard the luxman gear along with their turntable and I was blown away. The one thing I learned about home audio is that you are never done.
I'm glad I found your channel, man. I consider myself an audiophile of simple means and humble knowledge and I appreciate the fact that you give it to your viewers straight. You talk about things in layman's terms and in direct correlation to the MUSIC, not just the "sound" and the millions of buzzwords that reviewers use to describe it. Then you let us hear a little bit, even if it is through this audio-compressed medium of youtube. Thank you so much. Oh, and I can tell you are enthusiastic about audio. I think that's what makes these so entertaining :) .
What I think is that you saved my Qtest. I got mine and was not bad, but very bad at the same time. You could never point on something being wrong, but sounded so boring that you were losing interest in music, and that was with a 50$ iFi PSU. After watching this videos, I try it with my phone 10A power bank (I had the battery, and it is free to try). Immediate and outstanding difference, more space, sounds better defined, everything was alive. I actually had to reconsider my upgrades, since the Qtest was last one to come and first to go. Now I am looking to a 1700Euro JCAT PSU to drive the Qtest. Thank you. great videos.
Hello Please i need you d’advice I’m french and watching for you as possible I havé a chord qutest with tellurim black diamond digital and rca What are thé possibilities for me to optimize thé sound of thé qutest? Linear power supply and Watch device? On your vidéo i havé not all inderstand on the foots underground thé qutest. CAN you reply to me Please… Best regards Thierry
Hello, I like your videos. I am from the United States. Please, I have a Denon AVR-X 4700H which streams music to my front tower speakers. I am planning to get either Chord hugo tt2 or Chord Qutest ASAP to use with my receiver for better sound quality. Do you mind guiding me on how to connect it to my AVR receiver and the things I need to buy to achieve the perfect connection for the best sound quality? Your input will be greatly appreciated. Thanks.
So the company coloured the music with this amp and add a button to bypass all the process and they market it as a killer feature, wow, great feature :).
Its a fine tuned instrument a hifi. When your irked by the sound. You fiddle and tweek and try various ideas within your system all the time learning from even miniscule changes bring refinements. It is a labour of love. When after silly hours / months it sings and you go Ahhhh. And you mates say that sounds awesome, you can smile. But don't tell them how you arrived cause they'll think you ill.
Listening to this through a Hugo 2, I wonder, If you record a dac playing from its output (or in a transparent system) many times over, It should eventually make incredibly obvious its character or colorations. Would be an interesting experiment to me. Also wonder if some might eventually lead to a better sounding recording depending (though I'm thinking in most cases not).
Trzeba podłączyć Qutest-a pod powerbank wtedy dopiero zacznie grać! Przeskok jakości niesamowity i dużo większy niż wszystko co tu piszesz. Pozdrawiam serdecznie Jarek
nice video, as well as the other ones you're recording. but I would like to ask you something, do the power cables turn on "correctly", or are they plugged into the phase on the power outlet? Somebody ignores it, and I understand it as very serious
Pursuit Perfect System you can rotate the power cable in the wall outlet (in the case of Europe and some countries), but if it is not turned at the correct stage, the sound is not good. for example: the euro jack of the power cable that connects on the side of the device has a marked L (live), N (neutral) and earth. if you turn the fork in the wall outlet so that on the other side of the cable where the phase (L) should be neutral (N) the sound is not very good, or "not in the phase". I do not know if it's clearer now ...
Love the videos ! Looking to build a small footprint system around the Qutest, looking for recommendations for modestly priced speakers for modern pop/rock/various from a Bluesound. Can you help ?
Let's establish some common ground. We clearly both love music and enjoy experimenting with gear to get the best sound we can in our living space. I love trying out new gear and have discovered vintage hifi over the last 12 months and love some of the things what were made in the 70s, 80s, 90s and early 2000s. Hifi is quite a niche interest so we can probably agree on more than we can disagree on. Fair play to you for making a profession out of it👍Anyone who gets to work with their passion is doing something very right. The issue I think a lot of people have is audiophile claims that have no data or science to back them up, that then result in constant upgrades at a large expense. As you will know audio capture and playback was solved in the late 1800's. We had amplification 100 years before we had the smart phone. The first moving magnetic coil cone speaker is literally 100 years old and it is still used today. The LP as we know it, which some people believe to be the best audio format, is nearly 80 years old, and the compact disc which to my ears is still the best digital sounding format is 40 years old. The best sounding audio media I have is an LP I picked up from a charity shop for £1, an original analogue master. Huge jumps in home audio are over. It is effectively a solved problem with the exception of room acoustics. I hope that science and actual measured data, rather than the very unreliable human perception, is used to measure audio equipment in reviews just the same way it is used to measure visual products like monitors and TV's. It is scientific fact that human perception is massively flawed. We believe things to be moving in an optical illusion when they are not. We feel better taking placebo medicine. Human perception is hugely flawed and I think this is what props up the entire audiophile industry. All the best 👍
Here is the problem with the measurement argument for audio - there are no standards of measurements for sound quality - some believe there is an audible threshold that others do not. Who is anyone to say someone can or cannot hear what they say they do and even the best designers of all the products we listen to make judgements on the products design from listening and not measuring - that is where we are at and this has not changed since the 70's and is unlikely to. I think if there were standards in place for recording or production and then back to the end user for listening it would be for the better but I dont think ever will. Its also important to remember this hobby is for enjoyment and its very easy to strip that away and make it properly boring.
Great videos, and I love your passion. But we can't surely hear those differences by the time we've streamed the video from youtube and put it through our lesser systems?
it's a tricky one because it's the same with anything recorded the better the playback system the more you will get out of the recording. Yet millions of us get a lot out of recordings on systems far lesser in quality than what exists or ideal. I look at it like this - in 2 ways really. The more of my recording videos you watch through your chosen medium the more familiar you will become with that sound - then changes and differences will be more obvious. I think a better play back medium for my videos is good headphones because they are naturally more monitor like compared to speakers and remove room acoustic issues etc. I have made some changes recently to improve consistency. I now use the same recording equipment in all my videos so all the sound from shows and what I make personally can all be compared. My aim in these recordings is to support what I say in my reviews. Normally a reviewer uses describing words to explain sound quality and the reader has to use their imagination. I am going one step further to try and give the viewer a bit more of the product and a bit less imagination needed Hope that comes across in the right way :)
part of the development for the Cera-Disc was trying different materials and material combinations, aluminium, delrin, sorbuthane and a few others all changed the sound but didnt always change it for 100% the better - quite often it can soften the sound. You will notice this if you A/B with some stillpoints - all the benefits no negatives. To put a whole system up on stillpoints would be mega but also mega money - I managed to get the Cera-Disc out performing the smallest stillpoints for about 1/3 the cost which makes a big difference when you buy enough for a whole system which is what you want. Sorbuthane is a rubber - it will be locking the vibration within the component that sits on top of it - Stillpoints and the Ceradisc act as drains to the internal vibration within the component which is why maximum contact is better - i.e. my suggestion to move each cera-disc until they all bite tight. If you get a chance to compare please do but its very interesting the result. Thanks for watching and commenting
Alex Tomlins bro I had an M-DAC+ and found it to be the best under £1000.. until I heard a Chord Mojo. Honestly maw if you every consider changing/upgrading your DAC - go Chord, you won’t look back.
Thanks Michael. I will indeed most likely go FPGA next, when I finally get around to upgrading my MDAC. Just like the flexibility of inputs as use 2x coax plus 2x optical as well as the usb. Chord gets expensive tor this level.of flexibility of inputs, as I understand it. Thanks again amigo.
I was expecting the same track (or part of it) played twice, one with the isolators and one without the isolators under Qutest. Correct me if I'm wrong but is the Qutest sitting on a speaker there?! That's a big no-no...
Where does the qutest stand vs the Hugo tt2 for just a stand alone dac? You could add the mscaler to the qutest and would only be slightly more money than the Hugo tt2
I think it depends on circumstances. The Hugo TT 2 offers more in the sense of balances outputs a headphone amplifier / main system amplifier and the ability to work as a top level preamplifier. If you want to use any of those features then the Hugo TT 2 is the right option. If you only ever want to use single ended Phono connections and a pure dac my money would go Qutest and M Scaler most probably.
Pursuit Perfect System thanks. That’s what I was thinking too. I have had an all naim system (superuniti+nap250dr) but all the chord dac reviews and the endless naim upgrades, have me considering other streaming +dac options. I’d like to continue using naim for my preamp and amp. Challenge is finding the right streamer to pair with the chord DACs. Speakers are b&w 804d3 and tellurium q black speaker cables
Could you put together some videos of basic information? Love those you've put together, but I'm looking to outfit a multipurpose room - TV and music, but it seems as if all of the separates are for music only. Does some of the equipment shown conflict with AVRs? How many separates do you really need and what is their purpose? Pointing me in another direction is also quite fine.
Dave Johnson Hi Dave. You want some instruction type videos of how to integrate stereo with home cinema in the best fashion?? please let me know so I make the right videos??
A little about me might help. I bought my gear (Rotel receiver / NAD CD player / Technics turn table) a little over 30 years ago. I really enjoy music and have performed vocally most of my life, but my wife is much less in tune with sound (she's ok with tv speakers). We're now in at a point where I can buy the equipment, have a media room (12 x 18 x 9) that the prior owners used extensively for movies. I know (or think) I need new equipment particularly to take advantage of the new formats and want a set up that will serve movies as well as music. I generally see TV, AVR, and some sort of surround sound. But I also see amps, pre-amps, dacs, tubes, conditioners, etc. I think a good AVR, a couple fronts, and a center, and the existing ceiling speakers (4) would work fine, but want to learn more - what is the benefit of separate pre-amp, amp, dac, etc. How does a separate dac work with the AVR dac? When would you use a pre-amp and amp as opposed to just an amp? Does the turn table need different equipment? So, basically a fidelity 101, 201, 301.... Thanks
Hi Dave, Thanks very much for this long message, I am more than happy to put together some videos to help you out. Can you please bear with me - this weekend is show weekend, I am preparing for it this week then will be concentrating the content on the show for a short period before returning to normal after. Happy to make some videos then for you, I literally cant do it any quicker - hope that is ok :)
I would say take your time and do your research - where in the world do you live, I can suggest a few good people to speak to as a starting point if your in the UK. I think you have suggested some great video ideas and will make them definitely. I appreciate the kind words. All the best
Rushr13 Hi Steve I have added the link to the video description now thanks for pointing it out. if you buy some please say I recommended them to you. All the best Terry
Matthew Todd yes its a standard dac you dont need to use a computer. I normal computer wont be as good as a cd player anyway an audio pc is a full project on its own. I hope to make some videos on that in the future. You can use the Qutest with your CD player using your CD player as a transport only. you can connect to the qutest via optical or bnc spdif. you can do a test then if the qutest is better than the internal dac in your Roksan cd player. sure people be interested in your feedback on that.
That would be fine - optical has benefits but I never use it. depending on what connectors the strereovox cable has you might need adaptors but these are cheap and easy to buy on amazon, ebay etc. Try and get copper adaptors if you can, worth the few quid extra in my experience
Pursuit Perfect System it has adapters it’s hooked up to my roksan caspian m2 amp, and MF XDac V8 which I think I will be partx for the Qutest, can’t audition it as I live in Spain ,thanks very much for your kind help
Looks more muscular & more aggressive than whit the HD Plex Linear PSU. At this stage I would compare the exact voltage output of both power sources, bc we're playing with circuits who also reacts on voltage levels, not only on source quality. Seems to me the DAC is somewhat overvolted here, wether that's 0.05V, 0.1V or 0.2V ? A very little voltage hedge could change the sound. That's one of the possible culprit I see right now. But might be wrong.
Wesley Teoh Hi they are from a company called Plinth Design www.plinth-design.com They are called the Cera Disc. I made another video on them I will add the link in a second
GraveNoX thats a hard one to confirm at the moment. I need to get a hugo 2 in to test as the system is different to when I had the hugo 2. However I wasnt getting sound like this when I had the hugo 2 thats for sure but doesnt mean I wouldn't get it from it now. just being honest there
There’s bass chuffing there. Overall great dynamic range a little sharp missing or in need of mid boost. Sounds better than your top Dave test I just listened to.
Ok listened to another of your Dave test. Indeed it’s a more holographic presentation. The Qutest was a more forward and likely higher volume presentation. But hey those isolators work wonders, well done on their design.
@@JingoLoBa57 I do measure and have an exacting freq response and room rt60 so know the bass in this room inside and out. What your hearing is some "fat" on the sound not the speakers chuffing.
@@JingoLoBa57 they are not my designs but have a lot of my ideas. When I said sounds like the Dave I only had the Dave for a few days and had to take it back and the bits that stood out to me I felt I was able to get the Qutest to do them. Once I lived with the Dave for a while and changed things here to get more out of it the difference is very apparent and justified in the difference in price etc
George Pg what are you listening back on? The sound is balanced nicely on my headphones in fact there is a touch too much bass and not enough clarity in this video I address later in the series
OK, then why would it make a difference? And have you ever seen anyone recommend putting electronics on a speaker cabinet? All speaker cabinets have resonances btw...
@@jeffreymakuch2493 everything has a resonant frequency. I don't put it there to sound good I didn't put it there to sound good I put it there to make it easier to video. My situation is different to a normal one I need to be able to access kit to make lots of changes but also film it which is very hard when it's hidden in a rack. My point was it's not a first choice solution but not the end of the world either. There are expensive HiFi racks either side of the centre speaker the isolators still effect the Qutest when it sits on those racks.
I love your enthusiasm, you remind me of my self, do you eat, drink & sleep audio, & do you piss off you wife, sorry for the bad language, I do, I love your video's, keep it up👍
System performance was all I thought about - wife and kids as well obviously. Now since I am doing this channel I have to focus on it as well so in a way its even more thinking about it. Anyone who makes a room pitch black in their house is going to upset their better half - my strategy was do it bit at a time so one day when it was all black she wouldnt actually notice - almost worked :) Thanks for the kind words
Have you checked out my channel, I make fabulous handmade cables, I don't come across that well & my video quality hasn't been that good, we've now got a better camera, so it should be better. I've had my cables tested against all the mainstream names & everyone has been amazed how good they are, I first started making cables in 2000, so I have 18 years of experience behind me, would you consider subscribing to my channel, I've manage to get some serious audiophiles to subscribe, one of them being Steve Guttenberg the audiophiliac, also if you like, I can send you a set of my analogue interconnect for review, I'd love to hear your opinion, you can keep them, let me know👍
Shame you didn’t read the Luxman manual first....🙄 Glad you have discovered the importance of speaker positioning. The isolation under the Qutest has moved it away from that bloody great magnet in the speaker! Jeez!
Steven Dean its funny because there is sensitive electronics all around "bloody great" magnets in this room. When I place them on top of isolators it moves the electronics closer to the magnets and yet the system sounds much better everytime regardless. I have also had electronics close to these magnets for years and they all still work perfectly still. Watch the whole video series for what I have created so far and you can hear the differences things have made such as the Linear Supply. I dont know if the comments on speaker positioning are intended to be condescending thats how they have come across - factor in everything in this room is measured and set up from an acoustics point of view.
Power supply for the Qutest? Not needed so don't waste your money. At least that's what Rob Watts of Chord himself says: www.head-fi.org/threads/chord-electronics-qutest-dac-official-thread.869417/page-43 And as for isolating the Qutest - use a bit of foam.
I have tried battery and Linear - Huge difference between the 2. Not small massive so power supply matters Anyone can use what they want- Linear sounds best ime by far
Pursuit Perfect System So is Rob Watts wrong? He’s saying he’s tried all power supplies including battery and it makes no difference. His product and I would think his ears are pretty fine tuned as well.
Each to try their own thing, the difference in my testing was massive if it was no different I would have saved myself a few hundred quid. The Qutest sounded a bit above average off the battery, it now sounds pretty incredible off the Jcat Linear.
This might be true to your ears. And as you say each to his own. But MASSIVE or HUGE difference? I think anyone professing to be an audio expert, builds credibility by being careful with their language. I heard the original Hugo against the Chord Dave a while ago. There was a difference, but it was subtle and marginal. And often comparing between two manufacturer's DACs can be down to the sound one person prefers. And finally, it's a law of diminishing returns - gaining marginal improvements can often be achieved only by spending crazy amounts of money when you get into the more expensive set-ups.
Mike Cryer in the last year I have had the Qutest Dave Hugo TT Hugo 2 and 2Qute so got to listen to all of them. I have got the best sound by far from the Qutest Linear Power Supply combo so that's why I feel so strongly about it. That is also why I record our demo system so it's not just strong words it's recorded real sound that you can listen to and compare as well. I am not forcing anyone to do anything just saying it and recording it as I find it
Too bad that the speakers are not good enough to give the proper sound of the title you have played. No bass at all on those speakers and the highs are too shouty. At the end of the song, you can hear big waves of bass. Here, nothing. I use a qutest + Mscaler combo so it comes from the speakers i guess...
No bass on the kef reference 3 have you measured them to confirm that - they deliver a lot of bass and in my room with a very much equal loudness shape overall - recording this is a challenge and back when I made this video I was still learning the ropes.
Hi Andrew the content is designed to be scaleable right up to a full system - i.e. good quality audio and video but like everything related to this the better the system you use the more you get out of the content. However I dont expect everyone to have that in order to enjoy the content and get something out of it - I suggest a good pair of headphones and a mobile phone - these are very readily accessible and headphones being very monitor in nature make a lot of sense for being good tools to get out of the videos whats intended. I have made a video explaining this in more detail and may be of interest for you to watch - ua-cam.com/video/uA-sfYN8oOU/v-deo.html. Thanks for watching and commenting
If Dave is like Qutest , than nooooo thanks. But I don't think so. 2Qute beats the hell out of Qutest. There is no comparison in liveliness, timbre and sheer musicality
No way Terry, you lost the plot if you think overkill pucks intended for analogue devices better suited on the bottom end of speaker stands as an alternate to spikes. Use you hands and feel for mechanical transfer of resonants. Move it all further back out of airborne resonants perhaps. Your a bad influence, buddy. 😝
Its internal micro vibrations I think we are concerned with rather than what you feel. Isolation is powerful done a few a/b sound demos on this and done blind testing too
I just don’t get this - all the time, money, subtle tweaks and talk about the speaker position and room acoustics and then you demo it on UA-cam via some bog standard mike onto video that will get mangled and compressed by the UA-cam algorithm, then spit out onto a random device, d to a’d probably through a cheap as chips chip onto the device speakers or perhaps headphones and you seen to fully expect this listener to discern the differences? I’m baffled
I cant remember what mic setup I used for this video probably low level professional setup, now days I have a medium level recording setup that cost quite a few thousand pounds. For compression and youtube a music studio spends tens of thousands maybe hundreds of thousands of pounds producing a record and it ends up on Spotify and the radio and people listen to it on phone speakers which does no justice to the record quality. Does it stop them making the music? However some people will play the record on good audio systems and get much more from it. My sound demo videos are no different compression doesn't change sound it only makes it worse so if someone watches my videos with a good playback system they get an accurate representation of my recording. If myrecording is good and it is then its an accurate representation of the original sound source - therefore giving the viewer a good idea of how the system sounded more than just spoken words alone which is the norm - spoken words = pure imagination from the viewer.
it's this simple the Dave separates its self from other Dacs with its transient clarity transparency and then it has a really big and solid sound. The first 2 are a result of Rob Watts design tape length filters used etc. You cant get the Qutest to do that without the mscaler. But you can get it to sound bigger and bolder and a solid sound like the Dave does instead of the soft and squidgy sound by comparison it has. Sound being like something else doesn't mean the same or better but like. The get the best from the Dave takes a bit of work as well so it's no different to what I suggest here for the Qutest.
No I don't believe it. Just bought the qutest and sounds no better than my Sony blue ray player for £80. If I have to spend more on the qutest to get it to sound better, then we are being conned.. At £1200 id expect it to sound magical up against my Sony blue ray at £80 but it isn't.. And chord has the liberty in wanting me to spend £3.500 on the m scaler to make the qutest sound better. Sorry con..
if the qutest doesnt sound better than your blu ray player I would be looking at my setup before and after it - spend the time and money there not on any more dac tech The Qutest is capable of amazing sound it's there you just need to get it
@@PursuitPerfectSystem terry terry terryyyyy lol.. I've been buying hifi for over 40 years experimenting. Different cables amps speakers etc etc. Fundamentally before the qutest the sound of my system wasn't 2 bad. But using the Sony blue ray as cd reproduction was definitely the weakest link. So when I bought a cd transport and qutest I'd expect for the price some kind of better sound reproduction but no.. It's a bit like the person who buys a Ferrari for 80 grand then being expected to pay 3 grand on better low profiles. Come on it's a bit of a liberty no.
@@oohtob6685 not really you dont need to buy anything the Qutest will give you great sound on it's own out of the box. I used a linear because I think it sounds better. I am using the included smps at the moment. If it doesnt sound better than an £80 blu ray player to you send it back and get a different dac. I really dont think that is the case maybe there is another reason but I dont know what it is
I have been listening to the quetest .
I almost can't believe how huge an improvement it is to my naim cd5xs internal dac. Quetest is an great dac, i do prefer to use no.3 filter (warm filter)
Qutest, not Quetest.
That luxman piece is just killer. I was at Musicdirect last year in their showroom and heard the luxman gear along with their turntable and I was blown away. The one thing I learned about home audio is that you are never done.
I'm glad I found your channel, man. I consider myself an audiophile of simple means and humble knowledge and I appreciate the fact that you give it to your viewers straight. You talk about things in layman's terms and in direct correlation to the MUSIC, not just the "sound" and the millions of buzzwords that reviewers use to describe it.
Then you let us hear a little bit, even if it is through this audio-compressed medium of youtube. Thank you so much.
Oh, and I can tell you are enthusiastic about audio. I think that's what makes these so entertaining :) .
What I think is that you saved my Qtest. I got mine and was not bad, but very bad at the same time. You could never point on something being wrong, but sounded so boring that you were losing interest in music, and that was with a 50$ iFi PSU. After watching this videos, I try it with my phone 10A power bank (I had the battery, and it is free to try). Immediate and outstanding difference, more space, sounds better defined, everything was alive. I actually had to reconsider my upgrades, since the Qtest was last one to come and first to go. Now I am looking to a 1700Euro JCAT PSU to drive the Qtest. Thank you. great videos.
Wow! Been comparing the Demo # 1 and this, it's a night and day! Thanks for this vid
power pack would be better than a Sbooster BOtweco mkii , how the power supply affects the sound result ?
Hello
Please i need you d’advice
I’m french and watching for you as possible
I havé a chord qutest with tellurim black diamond digital and rca
What are thé possibilities for me to optimize thé sound of thé qutest?
Linear power supply and Watch device?
On your vidéo i havé not all inderstand on the foots underground thé qutest.
CAN you reply to me Please…
Best regards
Thierry
Hello,
I like your videos.
I am from the United States.
Please, I have a Denon AVR-X 4700H which streams music to my front tower speakers.
I am planning to get either Chord hugo tt2 or Chord Qutest ASAP to use with my receiver for better sound quality.
Do you mind guiding me on how to connect it to my AVR receiver and the things I need to buy to achieve the perfect connection for the best sound quality?
Your input will be greatly appreciated.
Thanks.
Awesome sound ... thanks a ton.
So the company coloured the music with this amp and add a button to bypass all the process and they market it as a killer feature, wow, great feature :).
I’ve owned three amps with tone controls and a bypass button. Pressing it disables tone controls. That’s it. There’s no audible change to sound.
Would be great to make a head to head comparison with the Dave and let the viewers decide... in the meantime... both thumbs up!
Its a fine tuned instrument a hifi. When your irked by the sound. You fiddle and tweek and try various ideas within your system all the time learning from even miniscule changes bring refinements.
It is a labour of love. When after silly hours / months it sings and you go Ahhhh.
And you mates say that sounds awesome, you can smile. But don't tell them how you arrived cause they'll think you ill.
Espectacular !!!!! Congratulations by the record !!!!
I'm guessing this won't affect the sound in Qutest headphone systems?
Listening to this through a Hugo 2, I wonder, If you record a dac playing from its output (or in a transparent system) many times over, It should eventually make incredibly obvious its character or colorations. Would be an interesting experiment to me. Also wonder if some might eventually lead to a better sounding recording depending (though I'm thinking in most cases not).
Trzeba podłączyć Qutest-a pod powerbank wtedy dopiero zacznie grać! Przeskok jakości niesamowity i dużo większy niż wszystko co tu piszesz. Pozdrawiam serdecznie Jarek
nice video, as well as the other ones you're recording. but I would like to ask you something, do the power cables turn on "correctly", or are they plugged into the phase on the power outlet? Somebody ignores it, and I understand it as very serious
milosevic bojan hi sorry I don't really understand the question can you please explain what your asking?? Thanks v much
Pursuit Perfect System you can rotate the power cable in the wall outlet (in the case of Europe and some countries), but if it is not turned at the correct stage, the sound is not good. for example: the euro jack of the power cable that connects on the side of the device has a marked L (live), N (neutral) and earth. if you turn the fork in the wall outlet so that on the other side of the cable where the phase (L) should be neutral (N) the sound is not very good, or "not in the phase". I do not know if it's clearer now ...
I thought about this: ua-cam.com/video/CV-ItoWRpQw/v-deo.html
Hey i think if he is from the uk they dont have the option to turn the jack because they have 3 forks on it
Love the videos ! Looking to build a small footprint system around the Qutest, looking for recommendations for modestly priced speakers for modern pop/rock/various from a Bluesound. Can you help ?
Wharfdale diamond linn index 2nd hand good stands and cable essential
Sounding great
Let's establish some common ground.
We clearly both love music and enjoy experimenting with gear to get the best sound we can in our living space. I love trying out new gear and have discovered vintage hifi over the last 12 months and love some of the things what were made in the 70s, 80s, 90s and early 2000s. Hifi is quite a niche interest so we can probably agree on more than we can disagree on. Fair play to you for making a profession out of it👍Anyone who gets to work with their passion is doing something very right.
The issue I think a lot of people have is audiophile claims that have no data or science to back them up, that then result in constant upgrades at a large expense. As you will know audio capture and playback was solved in the late 1800's. We had amplification 100 years before we had the smart phone. The first moving magnetic coil cone speaker is literally 100 years old and it is still used today. The LP as we know it, which some people believe to be the best audio format, is nearly 80 years old, and the compact disc which to my ears is still the best digital sounding format is 40 years old. The best sounding audio media I have is an LP I picked up from a charity shop for £1, an original analogue master. Huge jumps in home audio are over. It is effectively a solved problem with the exception of room acoustics.
I hope that science and actual measured data, rather than the very unreliable human perception, is used to measure audio equipment in reviews just the same way it is used to measure visual products like monitors and TV's. It is scientific fact that human perception is massively flawed. We believe things to be moving in an optical illusion when they are not. We feel better taking placebo medicine. Human perception is hugely flawed and I think this is what props up the entire audiophile industry.
All the best 👍
Here is the problem with the measurement argument for audio - there are no standards of measurements for sound quality - some believe there is an audible threshold that others do not.
Who is anyone to say someone can or cannot hear what they say they do and even the best designers of all the products we listen to make judgements on the products design from listening and not measuring - that is where we are at and this has not changed since the 70's and is unlikely to.
I think if there were standards in place for recording or production and then back to the end user for listening it would be for the better but I dont think ever will. Its also important to remember this hobby is for enjoyment and its very easy to strip that away and make it properly boring.
@@PursuitPerfectSystem it’s the Bristol show soon. I’ll ask Rob Watts myself 😂🙏👍 Thanks for engaging with comments
How are the isolator feet help with the dac?
Big Fan of your work... can't thank you enough... an audiophile's dream...
Which filter are you using on the Qutest...looks like the white one ??
Hi yes I use the most resolving filter cant think name off top my head
Great videos, and I love your passion. But we can't surely hear those differences by the time we've streamed the video from youtube and put it through our lesser systems?
it's a tricky one because it's the same with anything recorded the better the playback system the more you will get out of the recording.
Yet millions of us get a lot out of recordings on systems far lesser in quality than what exists or ideal.
I look at it like this - in 2 ways really.
The more of my recording videos you watch through your chosen medium the more familiar you will become with that sound - then changes and differences will be more obvious.
I think a better play back medium for my videos is good headphones because they are naturally more monitor like compared to speakers and remove room acoustic issues etc.
I have made some changes recently to improve consistency.
I now use the same recording equipment in all my videos so all the sound from shows and what I make personally can all be compared.
My aim in these recordings is to support what I say in my reviews. Normally a reviewer uses describing words to explain sound quality and the reader has to use their imagination. I am going one step further to try and give the viewer a bit more of the product and a bit less imagination needed
Hope that comes across in the right way :)
@@PursuitPerfectSystem Good points! It certainly sounded tasty here.
Which luxman is it ?
Funny, I have just been experimenting with 6mm sorbathane pads under my M-DAC. Big difference, for the better.
part of the development for the Cera-Disc was trying different materials and material combinations, aluminium, delrin, sorbuthane and a few others all changed the sound but didnt always change it for 100% the better - quite often it can soften the sound. You will notice this if you A/B with some stillpoints - all the benefits no negatives.
To put a whole system up on stillpoints would be mega but also mega money - I managed to get the Cera-Disc out performing the smallest stillpoints for about 1/3 the cost which makes a big difference when you buy enough for a whole system which is what you want.
Sorbuthane is a rubber - it will be locking the vibration within the component that sits on top of it - Stillpoints and the Ceradisc act as drains to the internal vibration within the component which is why maximum contact is better - i.e. my suggestion to move each cera-disc until they all bite tight.
If you get a chance to compare please do but its very interesting the result. Thanks for watching and commenting
Alex Tomlins bro I had an M-DAC+ and found it to be the best under £1000.. until I heard a Chord Mojo. Honestly maw if you every consider changing/upgrading your DAC - go Chord, you won’t look back.
Thanks Michael. I will indeed most likely go FPGA next, when I finally get around to upgrading my MDAC. Just like the flexibility of inputs as use 2x coax plus 2x optical as well as the usb. Chord gets expensive tor this level.of flexibility of inputs, as I understand it. Thanks again amigo.
I am thinking of taking the plunge on a set of ceradiscs. Cheers Terry.
Dear all,
What's the song played at 7.20 male voive?
thanks for the video! Wondering which of the three user-selectable output voltages (1, 2 and 3V) you chose to go with the Luxman?
Mario Raulino I have only used it with the stock voltage. not played around with any of the settings yet
Hi I'm planning to purchase the chord qutest how do you hook up the streamer to it, I'm using Node 2i as a streamer thanks
Via coaxial lead - you'll need a BNC adaptor to attach to Qutest
I was expecting the same track (or part of it) played twice, one with the isolators and one without the isolators under Qutest. Correct me if I'm wrong but is the Qutest sitting on a speaker there?! That's a big no-no...
Where does the qutest stand vs the Hugo tt2 for just a stand alone dac? You could add the mscaler to the qutest and would only be slightly more money than the Hugo tt2
I think it depends on circumstances.
The Hugo TT 2 offers more in the sense of balances outputs a headphone amplifier / main system amplifier and the ability to work as a top level preamplifier. If you want to use any of those features then the Hugo TT 2 is the right option.
If you only ever want to use single ended Phono connections and a pure dac my money would go Qutest and M Scaler most probably.
Pursuit Perfect System thanks. That’s what I was thinking too. I have had an all naim system (superuniti+nap250dr) but all the chord dac reviews and the endless naim upgrades, have me considering other streaming +dac options. I’d like to continue using naim for my preamp and amp. Challenge is finding the right streamer to pair with the chord DACs. Speakers are b&w 804d3 and tellurium q black speaker cables
I also can tell when my speakers are not in there spots .. it takes a bunch of time in the same room same speakers ..
"Isolators" under speaker cables for me personally made difference. Try lift those snake cables from the floor, you'll be surprised again, imo:)
kef ref.3 great speaker also.
Could you put together some videos of basic information? Love those you've put together, but I'm looking to outfit a multipurpose room - TV and music, but it seems as if all of the separates are for music only. Does some of the equipment shown conflict with AVRs? How many separates do you really need and what is their purpose? Pointing me in another direction is also quite fine.
Dave Johnson Hi Dave. You want some instruction type videos of how to integrate stereo with home cinema in the best fashion?? please let me know so I make the right videos??
A little about me might help. I bought my gear (Rotel receiver / NAD CD player / Technics turn table) a little over 30 years ago. I really enjoy music and have performed vocally most of my life, but my wife is much less in tune with sound (she's ok with tv speakers). We're now in at a point where I can buy the equipment, have a media room (12 x 18 x 9) that the prior owners used extensively for movies. I know (or think) I need new equipment particularly to take advantage of the new formats and want a set up that will serve movies as well as music. I generally see TV, AVR, and some sort of surround sound. But I also see amps, pre-amps, dacs, tubes, conditioners, etc. I think a good AVR, a couple fronts, and a center, and the existing ceiling speakers (4) would work fine, but want to learn more - what is the benefit of separate pre-amp, amp, dac, etc. How does a separate dac work with the AVR dac? When would you use a pre-amp and amp as opposed to just an amp? Does the turn table need different equipment? So, basically a fidelity 101, 201, 301.... Thanks
Hi Dave, Thanks very much for this long message, I am more than happy to put together some videos to help you out. Can you please bear with me - this weekend is show weekend, I am preparing for it this week then will be concentrating the content on the show for a short period before returning to normal after.
Happy to make some videos then for you, I literally cant do it any quicker - hope that is ok :)
Sure, no rush. I want to get it right. In the mean time I'll keep surfing other videos and absorbing what I can. Thanks! BTW, you do a great job.
I would say take your time and do your research - where in the world do you live, I can suggest a few good people to speak to as a starting point if your in the UK.
I think you have suggested some great video ideas and will make them definitely. I appreciate the kind words. All the best
A shame the maximum bit rate of the audio of this video is 161756 bps, which is 158 kbps. Not enough to do justice to whatever Chord DAC.
No ,I don't believe it !
wow perfect
The we balls didn't work for me, so placed it on 200kg sandbag and sprinkled it with pixie-dust,
made no difference.
Wow what a difference, great use of the isolators, what’s the name of them again , is there a link ?
Cheers Steve .
Rushr13 I need to add the link to the description. they are called cera-discs from plinth design
Rushr13 Hi Steve I have added the link to the video description now thanks for pointing it out. if you buy some please say I recommended them to you. All the best Terry
@@PursuitPerfectSystem How can I listen to music from UA-cam to Chord Dave? Please help Thank you.
@@cool28990 maybe from a computer motherboard or sound card optical or usb out
…no way.The Dave has got a much firmer soundstage with „muscels“
Anyone know why the wave storm reference digital cable comes as a pair?
Sounds impressive,would I be able to hook up the Qutest to my amp and CD player as it looks like computer only outputs ,thanks
Matthew Todd yes its a standard dac you dont need to use a computer. I normal computer wont be as good as a cd player anyway an audio pc is a full project on its own. I hope to make some videos on that in the future.
You can use the Qutest with your CD player using your CD player as a transport only. you can connect to the qutest via optical or bnc spdif. you can do a test then if the qutest is better than the internal dac in your Roksan cd player. sure people be interested in your feedback on that.
Pursuit Perfect System thanks very much ,great video
Pursuit Perfect System so I would connect my stereovox 75 ohm cable to the bnc ,sorry but I’m not to good with technology .many thanks
That would be fine - optical has benefits but I never use it.
depending on what connectors the strereovox cable has you might need adaptors but these are cheap and easy to buy on amazon, ebay etc. Try and get copper adaptors if you can, worth the few quid extra in my experience
Pursuit Perfect System it has adapters it’s hooked up to my roksan caspian m2 amp, and MF XDac V8 which I think I will be partx for the Qutest, can’t audition it as I live in Spain ,thanks very much for your kind help
Looks more muscular & more aggressive than whit the HD Plex Linear PSU.
At this stage I would compare the exact voltage output of both power sources, bc we're playing with circuits who also reacts on voltage levels,
not only on source quality. Seems to me the DAC is somewhat overvolted here, wether that's 0.05V, 0.1V or 0.2V ? A very little voltage hedge could change the sound.
That's one of the possible culprit I see right now. But might be wrong.
What isolator are you using for your qutest?
Wesley Teoh Hi they are from a company called Plinth Design www.plinth-design.com
They are called the Cera Disc.
I made another video on them I will add the link in a second
Wesley Teoh Here is a link to the other video I made about them ua-cam.com/video/HgdJBOuxZ7A/v-deo.html
Nice thanks! I chanced upon the Audioquest Jitterbug from my dealer. Do you have any opinions on it?
Wtf with the haters... There are a lot of jealous people.
So Qutest sounded better than Hugo 2 ?
GraveNoX thats a hard one to confirm at the moment. I need to get a hugo 2 in to test as the system is different to when I had the hugo 2. However I wasnt getting sound like this when I had the hugo 2 thats for sure but doesnt mean I wouldn't get it from it now. just being honest there
Pursuit Perfect System put both DACs to the same volume/voltage to compare.
Michael The Sociopath hopefully I will get to do that test all being well.
Does it out perform the 2qute?
with double the taps? yes. heh.
There’s bass chuffing there. Overall great dynamic range a little sharp missing or in need of mid boost. Sounds better than your top Dave test I just listened to.
don't get bass chuffing from KEF Reference speakers
Opinions...need measurements lol to validate. Every speaker can chuff if they are pushed outside their parameters.
Ok listened to another of your Dave test. Indeed it’s a more holographic presentation. The Qutest was a more forward and likely higher volume presentation. But hey those isolators work wonders, well done on their design.
@@JingoLoBa57 I do measure and have an exacting freq response and room rt60 so know the bass in this room inside and out.
What your hearing is some "fat" on the sound not the speakers chuffing.
@@JingoLoBa57 they are not my designs but have a lot of my ideas.
When I said sounds like the Dave I only had the Dave for a few days and had to take it back and the bits that stood out to me I felt I was able to get the Qutest to do them.
Once I lived with the Dave for a while and changed things here to get more out of it the difference is very apparent and justified in the difference in price etc
I am using this DAC, but in this video, the bass is missing.
George Pg what are you listening back on? The sound is balanced nicely on my headphones in fact there is a touch too much bass and not enough clarity in this video I address later in the series
might be worth a a/b with the hugo2. Word is the qutest is "better".
You have your DAC on a speaker cabinet, and are so surprised that isolators made a difference? hmm...
what is a speaker cabinet other than about a 30+kg inert wood structure - what is a hifi rack - a lot of them are pretty much the same thing
OK, then why would it make a difference? And have you ever seen anyone recommend putting electronics on a speaker cabinet? All speaker cabinets have resonances btw...
@@jeffreymakuch2493 everything has a resonant frequency. I don't put it there to sound good I didn't put it there to sound good I put it there to make it easier to video. My situation is different to a normal one I need to be able to access kit to make lots of changes but also film it which is very hard when it's hidden in a rack.
My point was it's not a first choice solution but not the end of the world either.
There are expensive HiFi racks either side of the centre speaker the isolators still effect the Qutest when it sits on those racks.
Hello - test please YBA Passion 350
I love your enthusiasm, you remind me of my self, do you eat, drink & sleep audio, & do you piss off you wife, sorry for the bad language, I do, I love your video's, keep it up👍
System performance was all I thought about - wife and kids as well obviously. Now since I am doing this channel I have to focus on it as well so in a way its even more thinking about it.
Anyone who makes a room pitch black in their house is going to upset their better half - my strategy was do it bit at a time so one day when it was all black she wouldnt actually notice - almost worked :)
Thanks for the kind words
Have you checked out my channel, I make fabulous handmade cables, I don't come across that well & my video quality hasn't been that good, we've now got a better camera, so it should be better. I've had my cables tested against all the mainstream names & everyone has been amazed how good they are, I first started making cables in 2000, so I have 18 years of experience behind me, would you consider subscribing to my channel, I've manage to get some serious audiophiles to subscribe, one of them being Steve Guttenberg the audiophiliac, also if you like, I can send you a set of my analogue interconnect for review, I'd love to hear your opinion, you can keep them, let me know👍
iI admire your enthusiasm. But...elemetary, my dear Watson.
Haha
Shame you didn’t read the Luxman manual first....🙄 Glad you have discovered the importance of speaker positioning. The isolation under the Qutest has moved it away from that bloody great magnet in the speaker! Jeez!
Steven Dean its funny because there is sensitive electronics all around "bloody great" magnets in this room. When I place them on top of isolators it moves the electronics closer to the magnets and yet the system sounds much better everytime regardless. I have also had electronics close to these magnets for years and they all still work perfectly still. Watch the whole video series for what I have created so far and you can hear the differences things have made such as the Linear Supply.
I dont know if the comments on speaker positioning are intended to be condescending thats how they have come across - factor in everything in this room is measured and set up from an acoustics point of view.
Power supply for the Qutest? Not needed so don't waste your money. At least that's what Rob Watts of Chord himself says: www.head-fi.org/threads/chord-electronics-qutest-dac-official-thread.869417/page-43 And as for isolating the Qutest - use a bit of foam.
I have tried battery and Linear - Huge difference between the 2. Not small massive so power supply matters
Anyone can use what they want- Linear sounds best ime by far
Pursuit Perfect System So is Rob Watts wrong? He’s saying he’s tried all power supplies including battery and it makes no difference. His product and I would think his ears are pretty fine tuned as well.
Each to try their own thing, the difference in my testing was massive if it was no different I would have saved myself a few hundred quid. The Qutest sounded a bit above average off the battery, it now sounds pretty incredible off the Jcat Linear.
This might be true to your ears. And as you say each to his own. But MASSIVE or HUGE difference? I think anyone professing to be an audio expert, builds credibility by being careful with their language. I heard the original Hugo against the Chord Dave a while ago. There was a difference, but it was subtle and marginal. And often comparing between two manufacturer's DACs can be down to the sound one person prefers. And finally, it's a law of diminishing returns - gaining marginal improvements can often be achieved only by spending crazy amounts of money when you get into the more expensive set-ups.
Mike Cryer in the last year I have had the Qutest Dave Hugo TT Hugo 2 and 2Qute so got to listen to all of them.
I have got the best sound by far from the Qutest Linear Power Supply combo so that's why I feel so strongly about it.
That is also why I record our demo system so it's not just strong words it's recorded real sound that you can listen to and compare as well.
I am not forcing anyone to do anything just saying it and recording it as I find it
Too bad that the speakers are not good enough to give the proper sound of the title you have played. No bass at all on those speakers and the highs are too shouty. At the end of the song, you can hear big waves of bass. Here, nothing. I use a qutest + Mscaler combo so it comes from the speakers i guess...
No bass on the kef reference 3 have you measured them to confirm that - they deliver a lot of bass and in my room with a very much equal loudness shape overall - recording this is a challenge and back when I made this video I was still learning the ropes.
@@PursuitPerfectSystem OK so it comes from the microphone then ? Because it missed the whole low spectrum on the recording.
@@laiguilleetlefeu3240 I would have to check I made this years ago but I have mostly used pro mics so it won't be them.
Never put 4 points under a flat surface it will only ever lay on 3 points, it’s just basic math.
Yeah, but if you take your time you can get 4 snug underneath and then its better
How is it possible to make a judgment when most of us are listening through speakers on a p.c ?
Hi Andrew the content is designed to be scaleable right up to a full system - i.e. good quality audio and video but like everything related to this the better the system you use the more you get out of the content.
However I dont expect everyone to have that in order to enjoy the content and get something out of it - I suggest a good pair of headphones and a mobile phone - these are very readily accessible and headphones being very monitor in nature make a lot of sense for being good tools to get out of the videos whats intended.
I have made a video explaining this in more detail and may be of interest for you to watch - ua-cam.com/video/uA-sfYN8oOU/v-deo.html.
Thanks for watching and commenting
If Dave is like Qutest , than nooooo thanks. But I don't think so. 2Qute beats the hell out of Qutest. There is no comparison in liveliness, timbre and sheer musicality
That is not what I say in the video and not really what I meant
No way Terry, you lost the plot if you think overkill pucks intended for analogue devices better suited on the bottom end of speaker stands as an alternate to spikes. Use you hands and feel for mechanical transfer of resonants. Move it all further back out of airborne resonants perhaps. Your a bad influence, buddy. 😝
Its internal micro vibrations I think we are concerned with rather than what you feel. Isolation is powerful done a few a/b sound demos on this and done blind testing too
I just don’t get this - all the time, money, subtle tweaks and talk about the speaker position and room acoustics and then you demo it on UA-cam via some bog standard mike onto video that will get mangled and compressed by the UA-cam algorithm, then spit out onto a random device, d to a’d probably through a cheap as chips chip onto the device speakers or perhaps headphones and you seen to fully expect this listener to discern the differences? I’m baffled
I cant remember what mic setup I used for this video probably low level professional setup, now days I have a medium level recording setup that cost quite a few thousand pounds.
For compression and youtube a music studio spends tens of thousands maybe hundreds of thousands of pounds producing a record and it ends up on Spotify and the radio and people listen to it on phone speakers which does no justice to the record quality. Does it stop them making the music?
However some people will play the record on good audio systems and get much more from it. My sound demo videos are no different compression doesn't change sound it only makes it worse so if someone watches my videos with a good playback system they get an accurate representation of my recording. If myrecording is good and it is then its an accurate representation of the original sound source - therefore giving the viewer a good idea of how the system sounded more than just spoken words alone which is the norm - spoken words = pure imagination from the viewer.
hahahaha... qutest like dave? Are you serious?
it's this simple the Dave separates its self from other Dacs with its transient clarity transparency and then it has a really big and solid sound. The first 2 are a result of Rob Watts design tape length filters used etc. You cant get the Qutest to do that without the mscaler. But you can get it to sound bigger and bolder and a solid sound like the Dave does instead of the soft and squidgy sound by comparison it has. Sound being like something else doesn't mean the same or better but like. The get the best from the Dave takes a bit of work as well so it's no different to what I suggest here for the Qutest.
No I don't believe it. Just bought the qutest and sounds no better than my Sony blue ray player for £80. If I have to spend more on the qutest to get it to sound better, then we are being conned.. At £1200 id expect it to sound magical up against my Sony blue ray at £80 but it isn't.. And chord has the liberty in wanting me to spend £3.500 on the m scaler to make the qutest sound better. Sorry con..
if the qutest doesnt sound better than your blu ray player I would be looking at my setup before and after it - spend the time and money there not on any more dac tech The Qutest is capable of amazing sound it's there you just need to get it
@@PursuitPerfectSystem terry terry terryyyyy lol.. I've been buying hifi for over 40 years experimenting. Different cables amps speakers etc etc. Fundamentally before the qutest the sound of my system wasn't 2 bad. But using the Sony blue ray as cd reproduction was definitely the weakest link. So when I bought a cd transport and qutest I'd expect for the price some kind of better sound reproduction but no..
It's a bit like the person who buys a Ferrari for 80 grand then being expected to pay 3 grand on better low profiles. Come on it's a bit of a liberty no.
@@oohtob6685 not really you dont need to buy anything the Qutest will give you great sound on it's own out of the box. I used a linear because I think it sounds better. I am using the included smps at the moment.
If it doesnt sound better than an £80 blu ray player to you send it back and get a different dac.
I really dont think that is the case maybe there is another reason but I dont know what it is
Mine sounds better than a bluray player fo sure.
🤡🤥