Qutest
What it is
On 9 January 2018 Watts said Qutest was in production, with delivery to dealers in February Head-Fi, Jan 2018. He said it was designed as a DAC only Head-Fi, Jan 2018 and called it a fixed-level DAC with no DX outputs Head-Fi, Jan 2018. In 2018 he said it was designed principally for speaker-based systems Head-Fi, Jan 2018, and in 2021 that it was designed to drive amplifiers, not headphones Head-Fi, Sep 2021.
Design
In February 2018 he gave the Hugo 2 and Qutest signal path as a 16FS WTA1 filter of 49,152 taps, a 256FS WTA2 filter, a third-order 2048FS filter, then a pulse array noise shaper at 104 MHz Head-Fi, Feb 2018. With an M Scaler connected, WTA1 is not used Head-Fi, Feb 2018. He later gave 48k taps (2022) Head-Fi, May 2022; a January 2025 post in the Qutest thread that does not name the product refers to 98,304 WTA1 taps, which is his Hugo TT2 figure elsewhere Head-Fi, Jan 2025Head-Fi, Aug 2018; see caveats. In a Passion for Sound interview published December 2019 (recording date not stated) he says Qutest has ten pulse array elements Passion for Sound 3:58.
In 2022 and 2025 he said the orange and red filters bypass WTA2 while white and green keep it Head-Fi, Aug 2022Head-Fi, Jan 2025, and in that January 2025 Qutest-thread post that WTA1 is unaffected by the filter options Head-Fi, Jan 2025. In a Passion for Sound interview published January 2020 (recording date not stated) he says the white and orange settings measure identically but sound different: "Things sound a little softer" Passion for Sound 3:38.
The amplifier gain section is fed from a boost voltage through low-dropout linear regulators, copied from Hugo 2 Head-Fi, Jan 2018. There are no coupling capacitors in the audio path; a digital DC servo holds DC to 100 uV Head-Fi, Jan 2018, taking 16 seconds to settle, which is why the rainbow display shows at start-up Head-Fi, Aug 2018. The output stage is the same as Mojo's Head-Fi, Nov 2018, which he described as a discrete design with a single global feedback path, pure Class A into 300 ohms or more Head-Fi, Sep 2021. He said it safely drives 25 ohm loads Head-Fi, Nov 2022. USB is isolated with RF digital isolators, not transformers Head-Fi, Mar 2019.
Inputs, outputs and power
USB runs at 32 bits, with 16-bit sources zero-padded Head-Fi, Apr 2018, and Qutest is UAC2 compliant Head-Fi, Oct 2023. Native DSD runs through the ASIO driver up to DSD512, and DoP up to DSD256 Head-Fi, May 2018. Optical runs at 192 kHz if the source and fiber allow Head-Fi, Sep 2019, and DSD64 is the maximum over optical Head-Fi, Jul 2019. The two BNC inputs are individually selected and switch automatically into dual data mode Head-Fi, Jan 2018; they take 768 kHz at 75 ohms without transformers Head-Fi, Jun 2020. Qutest accepts DX data but ignores the volume information in it Head-Fi, Jan 2018.
Output is a fixed level: 1 V red, 2 V green, 3 V blue Head-Fi, Nov 2019. The level is changed digitally, with the same noise at each setting Head-Fi, Jul 2018. Pressing both buttons during the rainbow start-up sets the level Head-Fi, Jan 2018.
Power is micro USB Head-Fi, Nov 2019. A 2A supply ships, but it works on a 1A 5 V supply Head-Fi, Jan 2018. The supply must meet 5 V +/- 0.25 V; he said 6 V would destroy the FPGA Head-Fi, Nov 2019Head-Fi, Dec 2020. He gave draw as 2.5 W in 2018 Head-Fi, Jan 2018, 2 and a quarter Watts in 2019 Head-Fi, Feb 2019, and 2 W when on but not processing in 2021 Head-Fi, Oct 2021.
How he says to use it
Send bit-perfect data: the source must not upsample, and a 44.1k file should show red Head-Fi, Apr 2018. The display is accurate, so a 96k file showing red has been sample rate converted by the source Head-Fi, Dec 2023 (see How do I make sure my player sends bit-perfect data at the native…, Should I upsample in software (HQPlayer, PGGB or my player) before…). The best output setting depends on the connected amp Head-Fi, Jul 2018Head-Fi, Mar 2023; if unsure, use 2 V Head-Fi, Jan 2019 (see Which output level should I feed my amp: Qutest's 1, 2 or 3 V…). He said Roon volume beats a pre-amp or passive volume control Head-Fi, Mar 2020 (see Should I use a pre-amp (tube or solid state), or run the Chord DAC…).
He said Qutest was designed to be power supply immune Head-Fi, Jan 2018 and suggested comparing a USB battery pack with the supplied supply Head-Fi, Jan 2018. He called the supplied supply as good as a battery in his set-up in 2018 Head-Fi, May 2018, reported tiny differences with a battery in 2019 Head-Fi, Mar 2019, and in a 2023 talk says it sounds the same as a 12-volt car battery Soundnews 40:35 (see Will a better supply than the 5V USB adapter shipped with Qutest…, Is battery power better than mains, and can I power the M Scaler…, Should I replace the supplied power supply with a linear or…). He said it was designed to be powered up 24/7 Head-Fi, Feb 2019Head-Fi, Oct 2021 (see Should I leave my Qutest, TT2, DAVE or M Scaler switched on all…).
For a buzz with a connected amp he said to earth Qutest through the BNC inputs, RCA outputs, an earthed USB supply or a chassis bolt, or to earth the amp Head-Fi, Aug 2020 (see Why do I hear a buzz or feel a tingle when the charger is…). In July 2018 he said to use optical as the benchmark input Head-Fi, Jul 2018; his USB-versus-optical account changed over the years (see Which input sounds best on a Chord DAC (optical, coax, USB or…, Which Chord inputs are galvanically isolated, and which setups…). In 2019 he told an owner that the white filter reconstructs transients more accurately, and that preferring orange suggests a system that is too bright and edgy Head-Fi, Mar 2019 (see Which filter setting should I use on Hugo 2, TT2 or Qutest, and…).
Compared with other Chord models
Hugo 2: he said they share common circuitry and identical FPGA audio code, Hugo 2's output stage is more advanced, and for headphones Hugo 2 outperforms Qutest with a separate amp Head-Fi, Feb 2018. Qutest stays in Class A driving amp inputs, so it does not need Hugo 2's second-order analog noise shaper Head-Fi, Nov 2018. TT2: he listed better noise shapers, Dave-derived reference circuitry, a second-order analog noise shaper and a simpler path than Qutest plus a headphone amp Head-Fi, Mar 2019. DAVE: the filter code from 16FS to 2048FS is identical, the differences being DAVE's noise shaper, 20-element pulse array and analog parts Head-Fi, Aug 2018; with an M Scaler, DAVE easily beats Qutest, with 30 times lower distortion Head-Fi, Sep 2018Head-Fi, Aug 2018. He put Qutest's WTA1 at 48k taps against DAVE's 164,000 Head-Fi, May 2022. Blu MKII: 49,152 taps against 1,015,808, "a 20 times capacity advantage" article, Apr 2018.
Mojo and 2Qute: Qutest has the same number and packaging of transistors as Mojo Head-Fi, Mar 2018, and at its 3 V setting the same output voltage as 2Qute Head-Fi, Mar 2018.
What he has not said
He gave no absolute Qutest noise or separation figure, only that Hugo 2's 144 dB separation is slightly better Head-Fi, Jan 2018. In February 2022 he said he had not started a replacement for Dave, adding that this also applied to Qutest Head-Fi, Feb 2022.
Release and official documents
- Launched at CES, January 2018. Source: New product launch: introducing Qutest, Chord Electronics, 2018-01-10.
From Chord Electronics. Links open Chord's own copies; reviews hosted on Chord's site are left out. Chord's Qutest page.
Manuals and guides
Drivers (Windows)
Other
Key figures
His own figures, dated. Where he gave different figures at different times, each appears.
Show all 31 figures
| Figure | Value | When | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| WTA1 taps (16FS) | 49,152 | 2018-02 | Head-Fi, Feb 2018 |
| WTA1 taps, Hugo 2 and Qutest | 49,152 | 2018-04 | article, Apr 2018 |
| WTA1 taps | 48 thousand, about 12-bit sinc accurate | 2019-12 | Passion for Sound 19:15 |
| WTA1 taps versus DAVE | 48k, against DAVE's 164,000 | 2022-05 | Head-Fi, May 2022 |
| WTA1 taps (Qutest-thread post; product not named, 98,304 is his Hugo TT2 figure elsewhere) | 98,304 | 2025-01 | Head-Fi, Jan 2025Head-Fi, Aug 2018 |
| Data window used by Hugo 2/Qutest filter (44.1k) | 67.5 mS | 2018-03 | Head-Fi, Mar 2018 |
| Filter stages | 16FS WTA1, 256FS WTA2, third-order 2048FS filter | 2018-02 | Head-Fi, Feb 2018 |
| Pulse array noise shaper clock | 104 MHz | 2018-02 | Head-Fi, Feb 2018 |
| Pulse array elements | ten | 2019-12 | Passion for Sound 3:58Passion for Sound 6:09 |
| Output level settings | 1 V (red), 2 V (green), 3 V (blue) | 2019-11 | Head-Fi, Nov 2019 |
| Level offsets from the 3 V setting | 2 V is 3.5 dB down; 1 V is 9.5 dB down | 2018-12 | Head-Fi, Dec 2018 |
| Output voltage at 0dBFS, 3 V setting | 3.0 V RMS, same as 2Qute | 2018-03 | Head-Fi, Mar 2018 |
| PCB | 4 layer, exactly the same spec as Hugo 2 | 2018-02 | Head-Fi, Feb 2018 |
| Output impedance (phono sockets) | 0.042 ohms at 1 kHz; the same 42 milli-ohms at 20 Hz | 2018-01 | Head-Fi, Jan 2018 |
| Measurement load | 300 ohms (not a minimum load) | 2018-01 | Head-Fi, Jan 2018 |
| DC offset held by digital servo | 100 uV | 2018-01 | Head-Fi, Jan 2018 |
| Time for the DC servo to settle | 16 seconds | 2018-08 | Head-Fi, Aug 2018 |
| Noise versus calculated value | within 0.5 dB of theoretical | 2018-01 | Head-Fi, Jan 2018 |
| USB isolation coupling capacitance | 2 pF in total | 2019-03 | Head-Fi, Mar 2019 |
| Supply voltage | 5 V +/- 0.25 V | 2019-11 | Head-Fi, Nov 2019 |
| Supplied power adapter | 2A, works on 1A 5V | 2018-01 | Head-Fi, Jan 2018 |
| Power consumption | 2.5 W | 2018-01 | Head-Fi, Jan 2018 |
| Power consumption | 2 and a quarter Watts | 2019-02 | Head-Fi, Feb 2019 |
| Power consumption, on but not processing | 2 W | 2021-10 | Head-Fi, Oct 2021 |
| Battery run time | 100 W/H lasts 40 hours | 2018-01 | Head-Fi, Jan 2018 |
| Battery run time (on paper) | 85 W/h gives 35 hours | 2018-10 | Head-Fi, Oct 2018 |
| USB word length | 32 bits (16-bit sources zero-padded) | 2018-04 | Head-Fi, Apr 2018 |
| DSD support over USB | native up to DSD512 (ASIO), DoP up to DSD256 | 2018-05 | Head-Fi, May 2018 |
| DSD over optical | DSD64 maximum via DoP | 2019-07 | Head-Fi, Jul 2019 |
| Optical sample rate | 192 kHz if source and fiber allow | 2019-09 | Head-Fi, Sep 2019 |
| BNC input | 768 kHz, 75 ohms, no transformers | 2020-06 | Head-Fi, Jun 2020 |
Quotes
“Qutest was designed to be powered up 24/7; it only consumes 2 and a quarter Watts, so don't worry about it.”2019-02-19 Head-Fi, Feb 2019
“It was indeed designed principally for speaker based systems.”2018-01-10 Head-Fi, Jan 2018
“The noise remains exactly the same absolute level with the three voltage settings - its a digital domain adjustment, no analogue changes whatsoever.”2018-07-05 Head-Fi, Jul 2018
“Qutest was designed to drive amps not headphones!”2021-09-28 Head-Fi, Sep 2021
Caveats and open points
- WTA1 tap count differs by date: 49,152 in February and April 2018, 'about 48 thousand' in a Passion for Sound interview published December 2019 and '48k' in May 2022, while a January 2025 Qutest-thread post that does not name the product gives 98,304, the Hugo TT2 figure (Head-Fi, Jan 2025, Head-Fi, Aug 2018). The archive holds no post reconciling them.
- The pulse array element count (ten), the 48 thousand taps figure, the white-to-orange description and the 2023 car-battery remarks come from interviews (the Passion for Sound series was published December 2019 to January 2020, recording dates not stated); check the audio before relying on them. No forum post in the archive states Qutest's element count outright: a February 2018 Qutest-thread post describes the example in a Chord video as a '10e pulse array' without saying it is Qutest's (Head-Fi, Feb 2018). The two prices in the closing line were said by hosts, not Watts.
- His filter-color descriptions differ: in January 2019 he gave the high frequency filter as on for green and red (Head-Fi, Jan 2019), and in August 2022 he wrote that green and orange remove more HF noise above 50kHz (Head-Fi, Aug 2022).
- On the output stage he said in January 2018 that Qutest's stage had been upgraded from 2Qute's with more drive and the Mojo output stage (Head-Fi, Jan 2018), and in March 2018 that Qutest's discrete stage is identical to 2Qute's (Head-Fi, Mar 2018).
- His account of the power supply work varies by date. In February 2018 he said the original Qute was sensitive to its supply and 2Qute showed no change on a car battery (Head-Fi, Feb 2018); in 2022 he said the Qute DAC was supply sensitive (Head-Fi, Mar 2022), and in a 2023 transcript and in an interview published October 2026 (recording date not stated; its transcript places the recording before May 2026) he said an earlier model (named 2Qute in both, and in 2026 the passage goes on to call it 'the Q') sounded much better on a car battery, after which Qutest got improved regulation and RF filtering (Soundnews 39:49, HiFi Buys 2:21:42, HiFi Buys 2:22:57).
- A 12 V supply is tied to Qutest in some accounts: a March 2022 forum post describes comparing a car battery with 'the supplied 12v PSU' on Qutest (Head-Fi, Mar 2022), and two 2023 talks mention a '12-volt input', once followed by 'sorry, that was 2Qute' (Soundnews 39:13, Soundnews 39:49, Eric's Hi-Fi 18:34). His January and February 2018 posts place the car-battery comparison on Qute and 2Qute (Head-Fi, Jan 2018, Head-Fi, Feb 2018), and his other posts give Qutest's supply as 5 V USB (Head-Fi, Jan 2018, Head-Fi, Nov 2019, Head-Fi, Dec 2020).
- Power draw is given as 2.5 W, 2 and a quarter Watts and 2 W in different posts (2018, 2019, 2021).
- On warranty his wording changed: in January 2018 a supply meeting USB specifications would not void it (Head-Fi, Jan 2018), and in June 2020 a non-stock supply would invalidate it (Head-Fi, Jun 2020). In 2018 he described his warranty comments as not official (Head-Fi, Oct 2018).
- His own supply results vary by date and he framed them as his system's: in May 2018 the supplied PSU was as good as a battery 'based on my listening with my set-up -YMMV' (Head-Fi, May 2018), in March 2019 a battery gave 'tiny differences' (Head-Fi, Mar 2019), and in a 2023 talk the supplied unit sounds the same as a car battery (Soundnews 40:35). He also said others report differently (Head-Fi, Jan 2018).
- An output impedance of 0.025 ohms was first said to be an error because it had not been measured (Head-Fi, Jan 2018); the measured 0.042 ohms followed a day later (Head-Fi, Jan 2018).
- The DAVE comparison in 'Compared with other Chord models' rests on posts in the M Scaler thread (Head-Fi, Aug 2018, Head-Fi, Aug 2018, Head-Fi, Sep 2018); the Head-Fi, Aug 2018 statement that filter code is identical covers the stages from 16FS to 2048FS only, not WTA1.
Indicator colors
What each light means on the Qutest, from Chord's manual: Indicator colors: Qutest.
Questions about this product
Owning and setting up
- Will a better supply than the 5V USB adapter shipped with Qutest improve it, and what voltage does it accept?
- Should I send DSD as DoP or native?
- Which output level should I feed my amp: Qutest's 1, 2 or 3 V setting, TT2's DAC mode or gain, or the volume control?
- How do I make sure my player sends bit-perfect data at the native sample rate?
- How many taps and pulse array elements does each Chord DAC have?
- Should I add an M Scaler to my Qutest or Hugo 2, or upgrade to TT2 first?
- Which Chord DACs accept 705.6/768 kHz from an M Scaler, and how do I connect Hugo 2 or Qutest to get the full 1M taps?
- Why do I hear a buzz or feel a tingle when the charger is connected, and should I earth my unit?
- Do I need the Chord driver on Windows, should I use ASIO or WASAPI, and will my DAC work with Mac, Linux, Android or an iPhone?
- Is Chord's digital volume control transparent, and does it lose resolution at low volume?
- Is my Chord DAC powerful enough for my headphones?
- Should I add an external headphone amp to a Chord DAC?
- Should I leave my Qutest, TT2, DAVE or M Scaler switched on all the time?
- Should I use a pre-amp (tube or solid state), or run the Chord DAC straight into a power amp?
- What DSD rates does each input on a Chord DAC accept?
- What do the colored indicators mean (volume, sample rate, charging), and is a volume color the same level across Chord DACs?
- What does the M Scaler actually do, and is it worth adding to my DAC?
- Which kind of source does Rob recommend feeding a Chord DAC?
- Why does Rob use a digital DC servo instead of coupling capacitors, and is there anything worth modding?
- Why does my DAC mute or click when the track or sample rate changes?
In depth
- Which Chord inputs are galvanically isolated, and which setups short the isolation out?
- How are Chord's filter stages split across 16FS, 256FS and 2048FS, and what does each stage do?
- Does source jitter matter with a Chord DAC, and would a reclocker, external clock or USB-to-SPDIF converter help?
- Should I replace the supplied power supply with a linear or aftermarket one, and will that affect my warranty?
- Which filter setting should I use on Hugo 2, TT2 or Qutest, and what does the HF filter do?
- Why might a brighter or more detailed change actually be a step backward?
- Do Chord DACs need burn-in or warm-up?
- Is battery power better than mains, and can I power the M Scaler or Qutest from a power bank?
- Should I upsample in software (HQPlayer, PGGB or my player) before a Chord DAC, and can it match an M Scaler?
- Should audio processing dither or noise-shape, and is 64-bit floating point transparent?
- Which input sounds best on a Chord DAC (optical, coax, USB or BNC), and why does Rob prefer optical when it is said to have more jitter?
- Will a USB purifier, JitterBug or USB isolator improve my DAVE, TT2 or Hugo?
- Does hi-res audio sound better than CD, and should I buy the 96k or the 44.1k release?
- How does a pulse array DAC work, how does it differ from R2R and delta-sigma, and why is it insensitive to jitter?
- What are the DX outputs for, and what happened to the pulse array power amplifiers?
- What do noise shaper order and speed buy, and why does DAVE's 350 dB noise shaper matter?
- What does Rob mean by 'starting and stopping of notes', timbre variation and 'sense of flow', and what causes them?
- What is noise floor modulation, how does Rob measure it, and why does he say it is audible below what can be measured?
- Which kinds of error does Rob consider audible, and which does he consider benign?
- Why does Rob design to -301 dB, how can that be verified, and how does small-signal accuracy relate to depth?