Nice write up Allan, things do settle down after a few weeks of run in with the Qutest, for me adding the MScaler is the icing on the cake and transforms the Qutest into a world beating dac with a realism I havenāt heard before via digital playback.
Previous dacs owned (not in any particular order)
nDac
nDac/XPS2
Hugo
272
272/XP5XS
272/555DR
Lavry DA10
Dac-V1
Cambridge Audio Dac Magic
Thanks Rod. Yes, the Qutest came after the 252 and Iām very much of the opinion that itās happy in the company of its downstream components. No plans really for trying the Chord amps. The Chord/Naim combo sounds pretty good to my ears and any changes to the 252/250DR would probably involve a move to TT2 or Dave as part of that and Iām not feeling up to a wholesale change just yet
I owned a Hugo 1 as well, quite a few years ago. It was when dedicated Mac-minis running Audirvana and USB out from Mac-mini to DAC was popular. Before long I was using an Uptone USBRegen, then a LPS on the Regen, then LPS on the Hugo just to get the noisy SMPS out the way. Before long, it was a source containing lots of little voodoo boxes and I bailed out at that point and bought an all-in-one streamer, a Linn Akurate DSM. I sometimes wonder if things arenāt starting to go the same way again, especially if I add an Mscaler (and potentially another LPS). However, very impressed right now with what the Qutest+LPS is doing and the box count so far is reasonably manageable (and the boxes are quite small and easy to hide/accommodate)
Edit, forgot to say, prior to the Hugo, I also owned a Qute and a QuteHD, so Iāve got some history with the Chord DACs
The Atom HE is for my daughter so Iām not sure when Iāll get the chance to use it beyond initial setup. She really liked my Bartok and wanted one for herself. After explaining how money works, she quietly retreated to her room and started reading āThe Myth of Sisyphusā. I looked for something similar to the Bartok at a realistic price point et voila Atom HE.
Only problem is now she keeps going on about the ābenign indifference of the universeā and refers to me as āK.ā
Though not addressed specifically, I tried the Qutest with NDX2/XPS-DR. Some have tried it with a bare NDX2 and liked the results, but that just seems like such an expensive transport option when the XS2/Qutest is already quite formidable. However, if you already have the NDX2, then why not?
The Diablo 300 is a legend. The 802 D3s are some of the best speakers in the world. You are incredibly lucky and this is a very good start.
You are playing with an Atom, a ZENmini and a Qutest. The Diablo and 802s are just showing that your toys are inadequate.
You have a million options, but I would go one of these two ways, which are very well documented in this Forum.
The Naim way. Get a NDX2 and upgrade from there all the way to ND555. You may find that selling your three toys you can fund most of a second hand NDX2. Easy and fast to execute, you will have a superb system in short time with little expense. And you still can upgrade.
The Chord way. Keep the Innuos and stream into a Chord Hugo TT2. USB from ZEN to TT2, XLR from TT2 to Diablo. Sell the Atom and the Qutest to fund the TT2. You can also upgrade from there adding a Hugo M Scaler, etc.
Both the NDX2 and TT2 are a bit unbalanced for the Diablo and 802s, but they are the start, not the arrival. Most importantly, you can go any of these ways in the second hand market within reasonable cost.
Try to avoid experimenting with power supplies, a mix Chord/Naim or other difficult options at the moment. The Diablo and the 802s are waiting, the sooner you connect a decent source to your system, the better.
I have a Hugo2+2go, I have listened to it in a friendās Diablo. It was a really wonderful experience. But I personally would go the Naim way.
Good luck, I would kill to have the remote of the Diablo in my table!
Thanks Rafeal for an incisive and clear breakdown of the two roads to take. I am going to try and demo both an ndx2 and a tt2 option and decide which route sounds better to me.Thanks for your kind words about my system and for making me feel welcome here.
Donāt do much headphone listening really but thatās a future option to explore. Demo of a nd5x2 planned tomorrow at Grahamās hifi , London. I feel in two minds about having to spend thousands later on an additional power supply if I buy the nd5x2.
Itās hard to get a decent one box dac n streamer system as I donāt have funds for something like Lumin X1.
The chord route, could be a used Hugo TT2 fed from a decent streamer like innuos zen mk3 or zenith.
This has been a year of upgrades for me and the last piece in the puzzle remains unsolved. Thanks
The Hugo2/2Go is no slouch, especially with a Farad Super 3 power supply or running off itās internal battery.
The ND5XS2 as a digital transport, with an external DAC, probably the best option for our OP here, with the budget limitations - around Ā£3k outlay (with a moderate dealer discount, or ex-demo). The NDX2 only really steps over the ND5XS2/ext DAC once it has a XPS-DR, so we are getting to Ā£9k RRP and extra real estate.
PS. I have evaluated, owned and used all of the above.
Unless headphones are difficult to drive, I am putting my money on the Hugo ā but then I am biasedā¦ Having said that, the Atom HE looks like a rather attractive package. I am not surprised that Naim is selling these wellā¦
Iāve not been able to do that comparison - the nearest Naim dealer to me doesnāt have a demo Atom HE (āwe donāt sell many headphonesā).
The Hugo / 2Go suits my portable/smaller footprint needs.
The sq between 2&3 was difficult to tell apartā¦not a significant difference and both are equally good I thought although slightly different in character.
ND5x2 was also good but no better than using my atom surprisingly.
The nd5x2 with Hugo tt2 was the winner for me. The sound was definitely just as good as the ndx2 if not smoother, more musical and the harshness of the qutest disappeared!
Havenāt made any decisions yet but veering towards selling my qutest and atom and getting an ex demo. Hugo when I can.
I am trading in that combo tomorrow to fund new speakers, but I really enjoyed my time with them. I also had an Mscaler, which takes things even further.