Thanks for all the replies, I think I’ll let this one pass, I too thought it had a variable output but apparently not it seems. I may arrange a home demo of a Qutest at some stage to satisfy the itch.
It’s my feeling only, each one hears differently.
Strange you hear it like that. I have an Auralic Vega G2 as well as a Qutest and they sound very different to me, with the Auralic having a fuller (more musical?) sound.
Roger
I agree they sound different I was just commenting on the speed and detail.
On the whole I didn’t find Auralic DACs all that great (or detailed), the Vega mk1 was an exception to their norm.
With my old valve setup (Living voice tone scouts - Kondo M7 - border patrol 300B) the Audio Note 2.1x Sig DAC couldn’t be touched by anything else. It just worked so well with the amp and speakers.
With the SN3 the Chord DAC is fantastic but when I tried a Hugo with the horns it was horrendous.
Guess what I’m saying is IMHO the 2qute works really well with the SN3 
My Auralic is Vega G2 which has a very nice Class A preamp built in. It replaced a 272/XPSDR and was a significant step up in performance. According to my then dealer I was not the only customer who jumped that way.
I’ve not compared with a 2qute but it does have a very different sound signature to my Qutest, though that does depend a bit on which filter settings are used.
Roger
I’ve owned a Qutest , HugoTT2 then with Mscaler, and finally a Dave. the Dave’s DAC is excellent but the Preamp in it isn’t. It’s a digital Preamp. I found on my ATC 40A that wasn’t a good match. I demo’ed at home the T+A DAC 200 and the T+A was significantly better. Really good Analog preamp and the dual DAC setup is outstanding. I use a Auralic Aries G2.2 as my renderer, streamer..
So your response is to spend money like for 20 x 2Qute ?
Why do you suggest the digital “preamp” part of Dave is the issue? As you can’t listen to Dave without it, isn’t it just Dave that isn’t to your taste?
I used the Dave into an integrated amp DAC mode only. I used the Dave using it in preamp mode to drive my ATC’s and then compared to the T+A .
Does that matter?
Roger
Yes
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Why?
Roger
I am not convinced about the “digital preamp” in your experience. If I understand the design of Dave (and there is a block diagram on HeadFi), it is a digital volume control before the DAC stage (i.e not actually an amplifier at all). I think what you are hearing with a separate preamp is the sound of the preamp, adding something you like, and with a different DAC the different sound character of that.
Regardless, I found that omitting a preamp between Dave and power amp gave the best sound to my ears.
I was pushing gently back against the idea that digital volume control is intrinsically inferior to analog. Actually, some say it goes the other way and that a well implemented digital setup produces less distortion. There’s a Linn white paper dating from when they switched away from analog preamps, comparing distortion created by volume control using their analog preamp with doing it digitally in a DSM. It makes interesting reading.
Of course, simple digital volume reduction by truncation is going to sound a lot worse than an Alps pot, but the Dave is much more sophisticated than that. Ultimately it’s listening that counts and some listeners will prefer not to use the Dave’s volume control, but I resist the idea that it’s worse simply because of digital technology.
Roger
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Yes, it was interesting the blame seemingly having specifically been on it being a digital preamp!
You found but not tested a high quality pre from Chord? I question the “ I found “.
( high quality for a Dave would be a pre at 10k and more).
No. Given the wonderful sound of Dave feeding my power amp direct into my speakers means I have had absolutely no interest in trying to find a preamp to put in the path that might modify the sound in some way that I might prefer ( modify what a pre-amp would do). That is especially the case if I would have to spend several £1000s to buy even secondhand.
My existing preamp I use in place of Dave when I want to play an analog source, but otherwise it has no function.
Ok, i agree. But as you like always to be precise as an atomic clock, you could have choosed a different word as “ found “, more thought or felt.
You can thanks your rooster teacher 
Found was perfectly correct having tried, but not a preamp from Chord, £10k or otherwise, and I don’t think I implied that I had.
My precision comes from my scientific life, which as well as the scientific precision needed also required things I wrote to be able to stand up in courts of law. I don’t now take as much thoroughness over everything I write, but the habit remains.
If you tried a cheap or average preamp, just to comfort your thinking, then you will never know and can’t ascertain that the Dave pre is fantastic.
You have done the same with a transport, the entry level Melco, to conclude that the Mac Mini is on the same level . The entry level Melco is overpriced and not worth buying, I agree. But it’s not enough to conclude that a good transport won’t elevate your sound quality, neither a very good preamp.