chord qutest

[Blacksabbath25]

He has just bought 4grands worth of amplifier to power floorstanders why would he now want to buy active book shelf speakers - its not a sensible recommendation Andrew in this situation

I have tried quite a few very good upper eschelon products in the last year some have had FPGA dacs and some havent - the FPGA dacs Hugo 2, PS Audio Directstream, Dave and now Qutest have always sounded that bit clearer.

Its not to say the other products sounded bad - far from it its just the FPGA Dacs mentioned seems to have an extra level of clarity and organisation to the sound thats very addictive.

I was not trying to sell him active speakers as you suggested. But I was trying to make a point about a pointless upgrade and hopefully save him some money.

He's already blown loads of money and now he's looking for more clarity.

My point was it is achievable without such cost if clarity is what he's after.

You cant honestly believe that just buying a pair of active speakers as you mentioned gives you as much clarity as you can possibly get from any audio system that you can possibly buy - come off it man it doesnt work like that and even if it did its not as simple as that either.

Bigger speakers will give a bigger scale of sound generally - why is it wrong to want more clarity to accompany that scale - to me thats a very sensible goal.

As I mentioned before I have had some top kit in to listen to and I didnt get the clarity that I am now getting with the Qutest dac, its true, I even said it at the time

Maybe I would get it with a benchmark dac as well but that doesnt mean buying a new dac is a bad idea - and depending on what dac is currently being used it might be a great idea.

The Qutest is capable of incredible sound quality and its very well spec'd with the exception of MQA and far from silly money. Its a very good long term purchase

that’s how I look at it the chord will be a long term thing for me and can be impermanented in weather I buy a better streamer or buy a Nas drive but no one has answered my question what’s the difference between a top streamer and the Yamaha wxc50 ?

they both play flac files and both do tidal hifi

 

[ellisdj]

FPGA is my explanation way of determining the difference between non and fpga.

It just so happens from my experience that improved clarity has been a sonic tademark of all the ones I have listened to - most notably with the Hugo 2 onwards.

I havent loved everything with all of them but the clarity has always been impressive and hard to come back from.

 

[ellisdj]

BS - sound quality is the difference dude same as everything that might appear the same on paper, which is a lot of things

 

[insider9]

He has just bought 4grands worth of amplifier to power floorstanders why would he now want to buy active book shelf speakers - its not a sensible recommendation Andrew in this situation

I have tried quite a few very good upper eschelon products in the last year some have had FPGA dacs and some havent - the FPGA dacs Hugo 2, PS Audio Directstream, Dave and now Qutest have always sounded that bit clearer.

Its not to say the other products sounded bad - far from it its just the FPGA Dacs mentioned seems to have an extra level of clarity and organisation to the sound thats very addictive. 

I was not trying to sell him active speakers as you suggested. But I was trying to make a point about a pointless upgrade and hopefully save him some money.

He's already blown loads of money and now he's looking for more clarity.

My point was it is achievable without such cost if clarity is what he's after.

You cant honestly believe that just buying a pair of active speakers as you mentioned gives you as much clarity as you can possibly get from any audio system that you can possibly buy - come off it man it doesnt work like that and even if it did its not as simple as that either.

Bigger speakers will give a bigger scale of sound generally - why is it wrong to want more clarity to accompany that scale - to me thats a very sensible goal.

As I mentioned before I have had some top kit in to listen to and I didnt get the clarity that I am now getting with the Qutest dac, its true, I even said it at the time

Maybe I would get it with a benchmark dac as well but that doesnt mean buying a new dac is a bad idea - and depending on what dac is currently being used it might be a great idea. 

The Qutest is capable of incredible sound quality and its very well spec'd with the exception of MQA and far from silly money.  Its a very good long term purchase 

 

that’s how I look at it the chord will be a long term thing for me and can be impermanented in weather I buy a better streamer or buy a Nas drive but no one has answered my question what’s the difference between a top streamer and the Yamaha wxc50 ?

they both play flac files and both do tidal hifi 

Biggest drawbacks of Yamaha for me were inability to skip to the middle of the track and no gapless playback on Tidaln and Qobuz. Search wasn't a problem but isn't great either.

Then there is the obvious if you want DSD you won't be able to send it to Qutest.

Oh and unfortunately there probably will be a difference should you used a Innuos (not heard it) or Melco. I've compared a CD played to DAC and the same ripped to Melco and unfortunately Melco sounded better. So clearly "bit is bit" argument is not really addressing what's happening.

 

[ellisdj]

why cant you send DSD to the qutest? It supports it over all its connections?

 

[insider9]

Yamaha won't send DSD over coax nor optical. At least it didn't when I had it.

 

[ellisdj]

do you mean from SACD? or stored files?

 

[insider9]

Stored.

 

[ellisdj]

so thats potentially a streamer limitation that can be overcome but something to bear in mind - I suppose it depends on how much DSD you will want to listen to straight away BS somehting to consider

 

[newlash09]

Devices. But these products are for those who believe that 'bit are not just bits'. And there is a huge user Base of these devices, who are using them and claiming substantial benefits. And I would like to go with that argument though I do not possess the necessary technical skills to convince the 'bits are bit's brigade'.

So I would certainly recommend these devices over a wxc50 any day. The wxc50 is a jack of all trades and master of none. The wxc50 is a step gap thing to start with digital in my opinion. Not the end game

 

[Blacksabbath25]

Devices. But these products are for those who believe that 'bit are not just bits'. And there is a huge user Base of these devices, who are using them and claiming substantial benefits. And I would like to go with that argument though I do not possess the necessary technical skills to convince the 'bits are bit's brigade'.

So I would certainly recommend these devices over a wxc50 any day. The wxc50 is a jack of all trades and master of none. The wxc50 is a step gap thing to start with digital in my opinion. Not the end game

I no the Yamaha wxc50 is not a end game streamer but what it does do it does very well at a very good price considering you could probably spend more on a different streamer that does the same thing .

If your not using the Yamaha wxc50 for its Dac and just using it for streaming it covers most things well so it will cover all of the streaming sites including tidal hifi and airplay .

And you can also use it to communicate with a NAS or any hard drive on your network and you can use a hardwired connection for the internet so there are no issues with bandwidth so for something that cost me £350 when it first came out is a bit of a bargain in its own right considering you can pay up to £15000 for a linn streamer .

 

[Blacksabbath25]

so thats potentially a streamer limitation that can be overcome but something to bear in mind - I suppose it depends on how much DSD you will want to listen to straight away BS somehting to consider

does DSD stand for direct digital streaming ? By any chance

 

[CnoEvil]

....something that cost me £350 when it first came out is a bit of a bargain in its own right considering you can pay up to £15000 for a linn streamer .

What you have usually sounds perfectly good enough - until you hear better....and there's always better. You found this out with the Yamaha...and the same applies to the Source.

 

[Blacksabbath25]

....something that cost me £350 when it first came out is a bit of a bargain in its own right considering you can pay up to £15000 for a linn streamer .

What you have usually sounds perfectly good enough - until you hear better....and there's always better. You found this out with the Yamaha...and the same applies to the Source.

The only other streamer that I’ve heard was the blue node which is about £1000 or more I think when I had a demo with the luxman but what can you get that’s very good but without spending the earth as my Yamaha wxc50 sounds pretty good using the Yamaha cd2100 Dac connected .

You said before linn streamer I looked at the secondhand ones or ex demo I would be looking at the same money as the chord Dac which is £1250

 

[BigH]

so thats potentially a streamer limitation that can be overcome but something to bear in mind - I suppose it depends on how much DSD you will want to listen to straight away BS somehting to consider

does DSD stand for direct digital streaming ? By any chance

Not quite: Direct Stream Digital

 

[hybridauth_Facebook_100004211376004]

Hay Sabbath..I was also quite resistant to move away from my cd player and onto streaming....I only sold my naim cd5i mkii a few weeks ago....when I bought the superuniti..I said to my dealer..so I can just plug my cd player into the analogue of the superuniti....he just looked at me and said "sell it".....I didn't..but once I got a good few of my cd's ripped to the nas.....my cd player has sat Idle since last summer....and when I did play cd's through the player..it wasn't quite upto the superuniti's on board streamer/dac setup.....so do yourself a favour and ditch the cd player /dac complicated setup and go get a streamer worthy of your beautiful amp and speakers....your current setup is what would be described as a mullet on the naim forum.lol...all back and no front.....but seriously mate everyone is only trying to guide you in the direction to help you get the most out of your system and frankly that wx-c streamer is the weakest link in the chain and adding a external dac is really just making it overly complex as insider said earlier.......you know as well as I that any good system worth it's salt needs a balanced approach.....and yours at the moment is heavy on the back end with a good kick up the front needed.lol.

 

[CnoEvil]

The only other streamer that I’ve heard was the blue node which is about £1000 or more I think when I had a demo with the luxman but what can you get that’s very good but without spending the earth as my Yamaha wxc50 sounds pretty good using the Yamaha cd2100 Dac connected .

You said before linn streamer I looked at the secondhand ones or ex demo I would be looking at the same money as the chord Dac which is £1250

I certainly can't tell you where your sweetspot will be regarding your Source...and the only way to tell, is see what different brands at different prices get you.

IMO. Your system is easily good enough to justify a 1500 - 2000GBP Source....be it from Chord, Linn, Naim or Electrocompaniet. I am not of the opinion that all DACs sound the same, or that transports make little difference.

I haven't heard recent Chord DACs, but did hear the DAC 64 and 76....which I found impressively detailed, but left me cold (much like every Chord component that I've ever heard).

 

[Blacksabbath25]

Hay Sabbath..I was also quite resistant to move away from my cd player and onto streaming....I only sold my naim cd5i mkii a few weeks ago....when I bought the superuniti..I said to my dealer..so I can just plug my cd player into the analogue of the superuniti....he just looked at me and said "sell it".....I didn't..but once I got a good few of my cd's ripped to the nas.....my cd player has sat Idle since last summer....and when I did play cd's through the player..it wasn't quite upto the superuniti's on board streamer/dac setup.....so do yourself a favour and ditch the cd player /dac complicated setup and go get a streamer worthy of your beautiful amp and speakers....your current setup is what would be described as a mullet on the naim forum.lol...all back and no front.....but seriously mate everyone is only trying to guide you in the direction to help you get the most out of your system and frankly that wx-c streamer is the weakest link in the chain and adding a external dac is really just making it overly complex as insider said earlier.......you know as well as I that any good system worth it's salt needs a balanced approach.....and yours at the moment is heavy on the back end with a good kick up the front needed.lol.

I do not mind buying a better streamer but I still can’t get rid of my CD player as it’s not really about the CD player but my CDs I’ve had some of them now for nearly 30 years and I just can’t part from any of them so the CD player staying weather streaming better or not . Memories lol

But I will look into some streaming stuff and see what’s out there and what’s the best way to go about this the right way as I was going to buy a NAS drive and do things that way but I didn’t want things messy and have different boxes all over the place .

 

[Blacksabbath25]

The only other streamer that I’ve heard was the blue node which is about £1000 or more I think when I had a demo with the luxman but what can you get that’s very good but without spending the earth as my Yamaha wxc50 sounds pretty good using the Yamaha cd2100 Dac connected .

You said before linn streamer I looked at the secondhand ones or ex demo I would be looking at the same money as the chord Dac which is £1250

I certainly can't tell you where your sweetspot will be regarding your Source...and the only way to tell, is see what different brands at different prices get you.

IMO. Your system is easily good enough to justify a 1500 - 2000GBP Source....be it from Chord, Linn, Naim or Electrocompaniet. I am not of the opinion that all DACs sound the same, or that transports make little difference.

I haven't heard recent Chord DACs, but did hear the DAC 64 and 76....which I found impressively detailed, but left me cold (much like every Chord component that I've ever heard).

to be honest I felt in my mind they all do the same job just some have different dacs and better build quality a bit like CD players really but they all do the same job .

 

[CnoEvil]

to be honest I felt in my mind they all do the same job just some have different dacs and better build quality a bit like CD players really but they all do the same job .

Some say that about amps.

IME The Souce is crucial....and needs to keep keep pace, quality-wise, with the rest of the system....or the revealing nature of the components downstream just highlight its deficiencies (which you may not be aware of, until you put a higher quality Source at the top of your system).

 

[hybridauth_Facebook_100004211376004]

I don't think anyone mentioned anything about getting rid of your cd's...I still have all of mine and intend to keep them....and keep buying them (occasionally)it's just I've also got them stored on my nas drive being ready at the touch of my iPhone to be played....also they are being kept in pristine condition as I don't have to keep playing them through a cd player all the time.

 

[Blacksabbath25]

to be honest I felt in my mind they all do the same job just some have different dacs and better build quality a bit like CD players really but they all do the same job .

Some say that about amps.

IME The Souce is crucial....and needs to keep keep pace, quality-wise, with the rest of the system....or the revealing nature of the components downstream just highlight its deficiencies (which you may not be aware of, until you put a higher quality Source at the top of your system).

don’t you just hate the future when things where so simple in the past and considering people are going mad of vinyl that’s older then CDs it’s crazy .

 

[insider9]

Some say that about amps.

Excellent point.

 

[Andrewjvt]

He has just bought 4grands worth of amplifier to power floorstanders why would he now want to buy active book shelf speakers - its not a sensible recommendation Andrew in this situation

I have tried quite a few very good upper eschelon products in the last year some have had FPGA dacs and some havent - the FPGA dacs Hugo 2, PS Audio Directstream, Dave and now Qutest have always sounded that bit clearer.

Its not to say the other products sounded bad - far from it its just the FPGA Dacs mentioned seems to have an extra level of clarity and organisation to the sound thats very addictive. 

I was not trying to sell him active speakers as you suggested. But I was trying to make a point about a pointless upgrade and hopefully save him some money.

He's already blown loads of money and now he's looking for more clarity.

My point was it is achievable without such cost if clarity is what he's after.

You cant honestly believe that just buying a pair of active speakers as you mentioned gives you as much clarity as you can possibly get from any audio system that you can possibly buy - come off it man it doesnt work like that and even if it did its not as simple as that either.

Bigger speakers will give a bigger scale of sound generally - why is it wrong to want more clarity to accompany that scale - to me thats a very sensible goal.

As I mentioned before I have had some top kit in to listen to and I didnt get the clarity that I am now getting with the Qutest dac, its true, I even said it at the time

Maybe I would get it with a benchmark dac as well but that doesnt mean buying a new dac is a bad idea - and depending on what dac is currently being used it might be a great idea. 

The Qutest is capable of incredible sound quality and its very well spec'd with the exception of MQA and far from silly money.  Its a very good long term purchase 

 

I'd love to see a recorded
Bake off between your system with all the power conditioners, isolation, usb magic boxes, special power leads etc etc etc v a pair of AVI Dm10 or 12 and a Mac book plugged straight into the wall.
I think you'll be amazed.

Or even the same with ATC scm100 ask actives and a benchmark dac with cheap laptop if you want more expensive.

 

[JamesMellor]

The NAS drive can be anywhere in the house with an ethernet connection , mines in the spare bedroom along with the phillps HUE a netgear box ans a TP mains network carrier, no mess in the front room.