thank you for posting your thoughts.
I would like to add that with my experiences with Blu2 and Dave, the streamer is a part of the final outcome.
So in fact it would appear that Melco was used in USB mode with the qutest and many of your tests with DACS which have USB inputs?
Despite what Chord themselves would say, I found that SPDIF inputs in the various Chord DACs I have owned and auditioned seems to be a more musical outcome.
Not sure why, and beyond saying that I used the USB output on very same Auralic streamer as the SPDIF output, so it’s been pretty consistent for me in terms of all the other USB vs SPDIF tests. These are not small “can be ignored” differences, but pretty obvious ones.
I would still have reservations about coming to definite conclusions about the various streamers and DAC until they are tried out and auditioned in SPDIF input, which for me is the more musical input into a DAC, and one that was actually designed for music.
USB is a computer interface, and not designed for music. It has been “hacked” for asynchronous USB purposes, and while some implementations may sound better than others, none sound to me as musical and foot tapping as the good old SPDIF.
case in point being DCS, which simply could not get their USB output on their network bridge to perform to their satisfaction, so despite having one, it is still not enable on their network bridge.
Why is it that Naim and Linn, which are experts in digital audio, do not include USB inputs on their products (other than DAC V1)?
Something to ponder.
I was a big fan of USB audio, but reluctantly after doing the tests myself came to the same conclusion as outlined below in this rather interesting article.
http://www.the-ear.net/features/usb-vs-coax