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Quantum QRT QX4

Anyone wondering whats inside one of these for the almost $3000 Nordost is asking for them? Well I owned one and took it apart, and let me tell you I was shocked!! I have never seen cheaper parts and crappy little PCB than this. I think a total of about $20 was spent on the electronics, and I am being generous. The case is by far more expensive to make. They spent more effort into making the case heavy and out of billet and extruded aluminum to give it the appearance of high end and so they could somewhat justify the price tag. It is utterly shameful what Nordost has pulled on its consumers. Thats why they have the protective sealing sticker on the chassis so no one opens it up and voids the warranty. I bought mine directly from a dealer when the Nordost rep came for a demo.
The board looked like it was a factory R&D project. Scratches all over it, a cover on the board was removed at one point leaving behind the trace of it in the left over glue. I was fuming after I opened it and witnessed the biggest ripp off in audio history. I had a Symphony Pro years ago and it blew this piece of crap out the rack.
Needless to say, even though it did provide some enhancement, I no longer have it. But before I did get rid of it I happen to make a schematic and take plenty of pictures, even built one with much needed improvements.;)
The very robust case was actually heavily softening the effect and the one inch thick sides were directing some of the energy vertically. Anyway my new version of this guy has been a huge improvement to say the least, it has 6 times the power of the QX4. Thanks Nordost ;)
dcizmok
dcizmok OP
21 posts
 
Agear

I am not new to high end audio, have had many different components through out the years but never have I seen this level of shameless greed. They have reached top of the class with this product. I cant say much better for QB4 as seeing the inside revealed nothing more than star ground configuration and the pretty box. Basically The QX4 is a Schumman resonance device and there are a handful on the market to choose from without the pricetag.
dcizmok OP
21 posts
 
Glory

I paid $2400 for it a year ago. Dont get me wrong, it does improve the spatial imaging, but not as good as the Symphony pro did. I could place it anywhere in the room and the effects were always apparent. Not so so with the QX4. Nordost claim it to be two times as powerful than it. It is also based on the Symphony Pro which Nordost bought from Walker. Nordost clearly new what they were doing with this. There design intent was to use this unit under or between componants and hope multiple units would sell depending on placement of gear.
dcizmok OP
21 posts
 
Tom6897

I think you are doing fine with the Shunyata stuff and should stick with it. I have nothing but Shunyata in all areas of their products line. The Thor is one unit I heard as well and thought it was a bit high priced for what it did. Its an all in one with some Qx4 like effects, but again low value for your money. Shunyata is based on designs from a guy who's an Engineer which happen to work for the NSA doing classified noise reduction studies in electrical assemblies. He used his knowledge of that and Shunyata was born. Not many have that kind of experience behind them.
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kennyb
117 posts
 
Can you post pictures of this somewhere? I'm skeptical as it is mentioned that it has star ground. How could a device that has only a single outlet have a star ground? So I'm having a hard time believing this. Claims this strong should really be supported with photos.

I own a QX4 and it works wonders. I could not live without it. Turning it off flattens the soundstage and sucks life out of the music. I could care less if the build quality inside wasn't so spectacular as I paid for the sound. But nothing I've seen from Nordost suggests that they'd put out a poorly built product. I could be wrong though, so I'm eager to see the photos.

Lastly, I really don't believe the QX4 is a Schumann resonator. What proof can you offer that it is?

Walker only licensed the technology from Quantum. AFAIK he never owned the company. Where did you hear that Nordost purchased Quantum from Walker?

And of course you can't expect to place the QX4 anywhere in a room to hear it's effect. That's not how it's supposed to be used. It's designed to be placed in close proximity to one's electronics.
dcizmok OP
21 posts
 
Jafant

Well being at a demo its always difficult to judge whats happening. I knew a dealer that had a room setup with some pretty high end gear. We would use it as a reference to test cables and other gear brought in. Hearing it many times I knew what the new piece of gear changed in sound as soon as something was swapped. One thing he never revealed to me until I got to know him very well was the fact that he had put 4 Quantum Symphony Pros in the room. One day we were listening to a new CD and I said something didnt sound the same. He told me he deliberately turned off all of them. I was shocked by how much they had added to the sense of dimension and without them how flat everything became. Never had that experience with the QX4.
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