Chord Electronics Qutest DAC Trade-In

Chord Electronics Qutest DAC

Chord Electronics launched the Qutest DAC at CES 2018. The most advanced compact DAC from Chord Electronics, the Qutest is based on the latest proprietary Rob Watts’ FPGA technology developed for the award-winning Hugo 2 DAC & headphone amp. All of this is housed in a newly designed, precision machined aluminium chassis.

As stated above the Chord Electronics Qutest uses the same award-winning DAC design and software coding as the Hugo 2. The similarities with the Hugo 2 don’t stop there, the Chord Qutest DAC also uses two spherical buttons, one for frequency-shaping filters and the other for input selection.

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.

Who is Chord Electronics?

Chord Electronics (not to be confused with Chord Company cables) are a quality manufacturer of hifi components based in Kent, UK. Chord has seen renowned success, especially in the digital market, for their build quality, sound quality and aesthetic design. Chord Electronics hifi products incorporate a signature look and all feature the same design philosophy of reproducing the best and most accurate level of sound quality possible for the price.