Chord Qutest standalone DAC

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 What Hi-Fi?’s Best DAC (£500-£1500) and a What Hi-Fi? Best DAC winner every year its inception (2018-2022), is a proven class-leader and 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.

Specifications:

• Chipset: Chord Electronics custom coded Xilinx Artix 7 (XC7A15T) FPGA
• Tap-length: 49,152
• Pulse array: 10 element pulse array design
• Frequency response: 20Hz – 20kHz +/- 0.2dB
• Output stage: Class A
• THD: <0.0001% 1kHz 3v RMS 300Ω
• THD and noise at 3v RMS: 117dB at 1kHz 300ohms ‘A’ weighted (reference 2.5v)
• Noise 2.6 uV ‘A’ weighted: No measurable noise floor modulation
• Channel separation: 138dB at 1kHz 300Ω
• Weight: 770g
• Dimensions: 4.5cm (H) 16cm (W) 8.8cm (D)
• Boxed Weight: 1500g