DACs

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Chord Qutest £1195

You can’t accuse Chord of lacking confidence. When this powered DAC was launched in 2018, the company called it the ‘world’s most advanced’. As it’s bagged our Product of the Year Award for the third year running, it’s hard to argue with that statement.

To Chord’s credit, a superlative was really the only way it could go when naming a successor to the three-time Award-winning 2Qute, and the Qutest justifies it. It’s not wholly surprising, considering it’s largely based on another Award winner, the Hugo 2.

It uses the same DAC architecture, software coding and frequency-shaping filters, but ditches the headphone amplifier and rechargeable Li-on batteries that make the Hugo 2 portable.

The technical evolution from the 2Qute to the Qutest left this unit’s overall sonic character – crisp, clean and explicitly detailed – unchanged. The Qutest offers more resolution, and its presentation is slightly bigger and more spacious too.

We play Peter Broderick’s Eyes Closed And Traveling, and there’s a new dynamic facility to our system. The Qutest faithfully conveys the undulating dynamics, clocking the sudden surges as well as the subtler simmerings.

Notes have crisper leading edges, carry