The Award Winning Standalone DAC Whose Performance Belies its Compact Size
Class-leading digital conversion based on CHORD's award-winning proprietary FPGA technology.

• Precision machined aluminum casing with polycarbonate buttons and glass viewing portal
• User-selectable variable output voltage (1, 2, and 3V RMS) for flexible connectivity with a wide range of partnering devices
• Tap length filter of 49,152
• Full PCM support of 44.1 to 768kHz, and DSD support up to DSD512

Qutest is based on CHORD's home-grown technology developed for the Hugo 2 DAC/headphone amp, giving it proven class-leading technical and sonic performance. Perfectly equipped to bring the benefits of CHORD's 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 modernize aging digital source components.

Under the Hood
The Qutest chassis is all-new as well. It has significantly greater mass than its predecessor and has been precision-machined from solid aircraft-grade aluminum billet. The Qutest PCB nestles within a shallow cavity in the solid aluminum 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 analog 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.

Connectivity

• Input
  • USB-B (White): 44.1kHz to 768kHz | 16 to 32bit
  • (x2) BNC Coax (Red): 44.1kHz to 384kHz | 16 to 32bit
  • Coax, Dual Data Mode (Yellow, using both BNC coax jacks together): 44.1kHz to 768kHz | 16 to 32bit
  • Optical (Green): 44.1kHz to 96kHz | 16 to 24bit
• Output
  • Stereo (L/R) RCA

General

• PCM Support: 44.1kHz / 48kHz / 88.2kHz / 96kHz / 176.4kHz / 192kHz / 358.8kHz / 384kHz / 717.6kHz / 768kHz
• DSD Support: Native playback, DSD64 (Single) to DSD512 (Octa)
• Variable Output: Fixed, but selectable between 3v (Blue), 2v (Green), and 1v (Red)
• Driver Support: Driverless with Mac OS X and Linux, required for Windows

Specifications:

• Chipset: Chord custom-coded Xilinx Artix 7 (XC7A15T) FPGA
• Tap-length: 49,152
• Pulse Array: 10 element design
• Frequency response: 20Hz – 20kHz +/- 0.2dB
• Output Stage: Class A
• THD: < 0.0001% 1kHz 3v RMS 300Ω
• THD and noise at 3v RMS: 1117dB at 1kHz 300Ω ‘A’ weighted (reference 2.5v)
• Noise 2.6 uV ‘A’ weighted: No measurable noise floor modulation
• Channel Separation: 138dB at 1kHz 300Ω
• Weight: 1.7 lbs / 0.77 kgs
• Dimensions: 6.3” x 2.83” x 1.61”