Chord Electronics Qutest DAC
The Chord Qutest is a high-performance standalone DAC (digital-to-analogue converter) built in England by Chord Electronics, designed to bring flagship-level digital conversion to a compact, desktop-friendly chassis.
It replaced Chord's multi-award-winning 2Qute and uses the same DAC architecture as the acclaimed Hugo 2, with the headphone amplifier, battery and crossfeed removed for pure DAC operation. The result is a hi-res DAC with remarkable clarity and timing, where vocals gain presence, instruments occupy real space, and dense mixes stay controlled and easy to follow. It's an ideal upgrade for streamers, computers, CD transports and older digital sources in any hi-fi system.
Design & Engineering
At the heart of the Qutest is Chord's proprietary FPGA technology, developed by designer Rob Watts. Instead of an off-the-shelf DAC chip, it uses a custom-coded Xilinx Artix-7 FPGA running a 49,152-tap filter with a 10-element Pulse Array design, feeding a Class A output stage. Four user-selectable frequency-shaping filters and input selection are controlled via two illuminated spheres on the top panel.
The output voltage can be set to 1V, 2V or 3V RMS to match different amplifiers, preamps and headphone amps. The galvanically isolated USB input reduces computer-borne noise, and dual BNC coaxial inputs can be combined in dual-data mode for 768kHz playback from Chord's M Scaler upscaler. The circuit board sits in a cavity machined into the solid aluminium chassis for added protection and vibration isolation, finished with a glass viewing portal and polycarbonate buttons.
Technical Specifications
The Qutest is a standalone FPGA DAC supporting PCM from 44.1kHz to 768kHz (16–32 bit) and native DSD from DSD64 to DSD512. Inputs include USB Type-B (up to 768kHz / DSD512), 2 x BNC coaxial (up to 384kHz each, or 768kHz in dual-data mode) and optical (up to 192kHz), with a stereo pair of RCA analogue outputs.
It has a frequency response of 20Hz–20kHz (±0.2dB), THD below 0.0001% (1kHz, 3V RMS, 300Ω), THD+N of 117dB (1kHz, 300Ω, A-weighted), channel separation of 138dB (1kHz, 300Ω) and a dynamic range of 124dB (A-weighted).
It is powered by an external 5V 2A Micro-USB supply, works driverless on macOS and Linux (Windows requires a driver), measures roughly 16 x 4.5 x 8.8cm (6.3" x 1.8" x 3.5") and weighs 770g (1.7lb).