Chord Qutest USB / System DAC

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 2s 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.

• 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
• 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