1. Home
  2. digital
  3. 196980-4001

Chord Qutest Upgrade

I'm sure this horse has been beaten to death, but.....

My system

Lumin u1 mini feeding

Chord Qutest dac (with external power supply) feeding

PrimaLuna evo3000 integrated amp feeding

Golden Ear Triton 1r 

Interconnects and speaker wire are Synergistic Research 

Audioquest and cullen power cables

I really like R2R dacs.  I'm thinking time for 2 upgrades

add Sbooster to u1 mini and obtain a new DAC

So......  what R2R dac and why, would like to keep it under 4k

Candidates:

Gustard R30

Denafrips Venus 15

Laiv Harmony with uDDC clock

any others?

THANKS

 

 

 

 

 

 

mlapenta
jjss49's avatar
jjss49
6,924 posts
 

what nature of sonic improvement is sought with an upgrade from the qutest?  the qutest is excellent

mlapenta OP
132 posts
 

I just figured after all these years, new R2R dacs must sound better?  I do love my Qutest, but maybe a bigger soundstage?  And on some recordings I feel even on warm setting is a bit bright and i have speakers with powered subwoofer built in .   For instance, I've heard the legendary Chord Dave and did not like it at all.   Thanks for feedback 

audphile1's avatar
audphile1
7,934 posts
 

I had lumin u1 mini paired with the Qutest. You can improve the sonics by using a  better USB cable. I’m pretty certain it will make more difference than adding sbooster. I used Audience Studio One and it made a huge improvement. 
As to adding sbooster to Mini in general, I would just sell this streamer and go up the Lumin line. Used or new. 
 

More to discover