QUTEST

The Qutest digital to analogue convertor

Qutest is a What Hi-Fi? Award-winning DAC with a performance that belies its compact dimensions. With DAC architecture based on our class-leading FPGA tech, Qutest offers unrivalled sound quality gains.

DESCRIPTION

The Qutest DAC is designed to improve system sound quality, instantly. It is the latest evolution of our most affordable ‘standalone’ DAC, in other words, one that does not contain a built-in headphone amplifier, like the Mojo 2 and Hugo 2.

The Qutest is What Hi-Fi?’s ‘Best DAC’ 2023 £1,000+ and a What Hi-Fi? ‘Best DAC’ winner every year its inception (2018-2022). It is a proven class-leader and is based on our award-winning proprietary FPGA technology giving it unrivalled 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.

The What Hi-Fi? ‘Best DAC’ 2023/24 Qutest is the definitive small audiophile DA convertor.

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 startup

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

KEY FEATURES

• Chord Custom FPGA DAC
• 49,152 Taps
• 4x Selectable Filters
• Selectable Output Voltage
• 768kHz USB Type B Input
• 96kHz Optical Input
• USB Galvanic Isolation
• 2x 384kHz BNC Coax Input
• 1x 768kHz Dual Data Mode Input
• 1x Stereo RCA Outputs
• Supports up to 768kHz PCM
• Native DSD 512 (8x) Capable
• Solid Aluminium Chassis
• Roon tested

INCLUDED ACCESSORIES

REVIEW & AWARDS

Chord Qutest review

"So satisfied are we with the improvements accompanying the Qutest, we ask ourselves (as we did with the 2Qute): where next for Chord’s ‘budget’ powered DAC line?

We don’t know the answer, or even what such a successor would be called. Qutester doesn’t work. But, from experience, we reckon Chord might well find another way to hoist the benchmark another notch when it's ready. No pressure.

Until then, or until a superior DAC from another brand comes along, the Qutest occupies the gap in the pecking order between the Chord Mojo 2 and Chord Hugo 2 as the DAC that lesser rivals look up to at this price mark." - What Hi-Fi? 

Chord Electronics Qutest DAC Review

"There is no sense beating around the bush with this one. If you need a DAC and you don’t need a volume control, headphone socket or streaming front end, for any budget up and including £2,000, you should buy the Qutest. It has enough connectivity and features to keep rivals honest and it then goes on to deliver a level of performance that is untouchable for the asking price. As the Qutest is more focussed than the Hugo2 there is less subjectivity to whether it delivers what you need that can crop up with the preamp and headphone sockets of its cousin. The Qutest is simply a perfectly transparent window on the music you choose to play on it and for that reason, it is an unquestionable Best Buy." -  Ed Selley

Qutest DAC from Chord Electronics: For Home Audio

"Based on the latest proprietary Rob Watts’ FPGA technology developed for the Hugo 2 DAC/headphone amp. Qutest uses an all-new precision-machined aluminium chassis and includes several new features, including fascia controls." -  The Audiophileman

Chord Electronics Qutest Digital-to-Analogue Converter

"At this price I’m hard pressed to find any negatives. Sonically, the Qutest is further confirmation of Rob Watts’ prowess as one of the preeminent digital audio designers on the planet today. Aesthetically, it’s the sort of device I would want to put in a prominent position within my equipment rack. The fact that its footprint is so small yet the sound is so big does make me wonder…" -  Barry Jones

Chord Electronics Qutest DAC Review

"The Qutest gives the listener a clearer window into recordings, perhaps better than you may have ever heard before. I would love to listen to it with the M Scaler. Some tell me that it's an impossibly good upgrade, transforming the pair into reference grade sound equipment. " - MARK GUSEW

Chord Electronics Qutest

"You can read in this issue’s “As We See It” (p.3) that there is a dichotomy between D/A processors that sound superb because they’re faithful to the digital data they decode, and those that sound superb because they tell lies. Chord’s Qutest is firmly in the former camp, especially with its Incisive Neutral filter, and for that, designer Rob Watts is to be
commended. As I wrote of Chord’s Hugo TT D/A headphone amplifier in November 2015, the Qutest is an “extraordinarily wellengineered component.” However, the important distinction is that while the Hugo TT costs $4795, the Qutest costs only $1895. Yes, it lacks a volume control, remote handset, Bluetooth capability, balanced outputs, MQA decoding, and a headphone jack—but it offers close to the state of the measured digital art ca 2019, and it sounds simply superb. It may not quite reach the sonic heights offered either by Chord’s DAVE or by PS Audio’s DirectStream DAC, but at less than one sixth the price of the former and less than one-third the price of the latter, it can be strongly recommended" - JOHN ATKINSON

Chord Qutest

"While the proprietary FPGA technology behind the Qutest may be mind-meltingly complex, you don’t need to understand how it works to appreciate the nuance and detail it reveals. That being said, offering gloriously detailed sound and exhilarating to listen to, the Qutest is a fabulous desktop DAC.

There are minor caveats, like the lack of MQA support and Bluetooth - and the design is definitely idiosyncratic - but there’s no question that it’s an immaculate musical performer. The Chord Qutest is a perfect fusion of science and art." - Steve May

Chord Electronics Qutest DAC Review

"I’ve been reading about and hearing about Chord digital products for a number of years, but the Qutest was my first hands-on experience with a Chord DAC. I know that Chord’s flagship products have become many audiophiles’ reference standards. And while I did not compare the Qutest with its higher-priced brethren, I did hear that it possesses a certain “rightness” to its sound that I could live with happily for a long time. The Qutest is both neutral and incisive—just like my favorite of its filters says it will be.

If you have a basic but flagship-level DAC that is more than ten years old, and you have been thinking about modernizing I would strongly recommend trying the Qutest before you replace your DAC with something with an additional zero at the end of its price tag. The Qutest qualifies as a solid piece of engineering at a reasonable price that delivers digital music with power and finesse. What’s not to like?" - Steven Stone

Chord Qutest, another brick in the wall (of Chord fame) 

"Assim, termino com uma afirmação arrojada que proferi quando testei o DAVE e que volta a cumprir-se na integra: ‘todos os DACs Chord concebidos por Robert Watts são invariavelmente ‘melhor-compra’ na sua categoria…’. O Qutest não é excepção mas confirma a regra, por excesso." - José Victor Henriques

SPECIFICATIONS