Review: Chord Electronics Qutest vs. Chord Hugo TT 2

I totally so so not agree the qutest sound the same or similir, especially. The tt2+mscaler goes way beyond the qutest (even if you include the mscaler with it). What amp and speakers were you using?

Thank you so much for an informative upload. I really would love a Chord TT2 but the price is a bit prohibitive 😔 So actually what I would really prefer in the real world is a combo of the Anni and Qutest with a cross feed option, for listening to old recordings where some instruments are panned to the extreme left or right. When that instrument then happens to play solo 😳oh goodness does it take away all enjoyment! Actually almost painful! Well the solution is probably a Hugo 2 which has cross feed but a more limited power output than the Anni. There are seemingly to many options in this world or are there to few 🤔I am not quite sure. Greetings from Denmark

I loved your opening comments about the complaints about the aries. Having tried the denafrips pontus 2 and the metrum hex, I agree that these traditional NOS dacs are musical, but EXACTLY as you describe, they sacrifice the musical elements that you want to be sharp, the fizz of a ride cymbal, the snap of a snare drum are softened and lacklustre.

This was also a complaint I had (to a much lesser degree) with the original TT as well, but it was still hugely better than the r2r dacs in that aspect.

As you say, the standard ESS dacs etc are too sharp, too etched, to cool and matter of fact.

I’ve ordered a TT2 today, and I look forward to seeing if it pushes the game forward

Upgrading my system and gping all digital. Do you still recommend the Qutest? Thanks!

When you tested it as a DAC. What speakers and amplifiers did you use to test them?

Hello. Thanks a lot for the review ! I own a Qutest at home and a Mojo2 that I use at work in combination with the Chord Poly streamer and I like it a lot. I'd like to buy a used TT2 to upgrade the Qutest at home. But even in second hand the price is hefty and it would hurt my wallet since I'm not rich. You had the chance to test them both, do you feel that upgrading to the TT2 will up my quality listening by some margin ? Or is the difference to small to justify it ? I use with the Qutest a Stax enegizer with Stax headphones and I also have a Feliks Elise MKII tube amp that I like but which I feel is a bit too warm for my taste. Thanks for sharing your opinion. Have a nice day

I feel like Chord are the Apple of DACs and audio. It's annoying. You don't want to like it because it's annoying. Gimmicky for no good reason, form over function to a fault. But, it's very very good and if you don't like it, you still have to kinda admit that it's still, very very good.

How much better (assuming that it is better) is the Chord's built-in headphone amp compared to the signal being run through something like the A90 before reaching the headphones?

I enjoyed this review-very helpful. I also run a QUTEST with a tube power amp. Out of interest, which filter did you prefer in your set up?

for me dac doesn't improve the sound by much it grow on you the more you use it. biggest factor is headphones and good amp that's it
focus on dac later better wait and buy used dac cause the price isn't worth it really.
I own hugo 2 it sounds no different from my motherboard ASUS it just driver headphones better because of the amp.

Very good review. I’ve watched many Chord reviews and this is the first time I heard about the color being helpful for IEMs and suddenly use of color makes perfect sense :)

Great review👍

Have you heard the Sony TA-Z1hes? I owned both and found the TT2 to have great clarity in the treble and very slightly more separation but I found the bass to be too clean and to lack some slam compared to the Sony. Ultimately I could not justify keeping it - in many ways it, to my ears, was equivalent to the Sony; just different. All of this combined with the lack of headphone output options, the external power brick and the feed that is heard when you plug in your headphones make the TT2 overpriced.

"Balanced is always better" - Big no. When the measurements beats true balanced DACs with double the hardware, XLR is of no use other than convenience. You can use the XLR's on the back with a 2x3pin XLR to 4pin XLR cable for headphones.

You, sir, just earned a sub.

Nice comparison video!! but I have to disagree with you about the Qutest. I my system, the Qutest is only about 80% of the TT2. I have done several listening tests with multiple people, and most of them agreed that the Qutest is below the TT2 by a long distance.

Do have any idea how the Chord 2Qute sounds? I can get a great deal on one NEW in box.

Chord for me is like OLED, a tech that doesn't have any equal to any other tech, in all aspects. Even if it's expensive, you get what you paid for. My opinion is that there is no BS in Chord products. They are legit from top to bottom. I have Hugo 2 and Mojo and the only thing I can upgrade in my life is TT2 or Dave, I will never think twice if I had the money for an upgrade.

Nice one,
enjoyed your video, I should have some Chord stuff up on my channel too soon.

Subbed and keep it up!

Title typo

Great stuff...subscribed

Try it with the Chord MScaler. That makes the sound natural and you can get them at a big discount on Audiogon.

If only you spent as much money on a decent microphone setup, as you do on a single DAC.

People coming from sbaf camp either don't want to use chord dac or always very late into chord camp.😂

i need to know the titel and artist of that opening track. It sounds SO familiar and yet it keeps eluding me - it drives me nuts^^

so if you could end my suffering i would be ever so greatfull.

maybe you should rename the title as chord electronics

I also have a Hugo TT2 and enjoy using it every day. Out of curiosity, which tube amp do you use?

Thanks! Good review, exact what I was looking for to confirm some aspects. Keep going!