Chord Qutest

Dave,
1) Qutest runs on wall wart
.    No power cables
2) It appears there is minor breakin...
    It still sounds very forward and extremely detailed, but

When running Tidal as only app , the Qutest is running native 44/16
It is very forward and incisively detailed, very good bass & superb soundstage
It makes the really well recorded stuff sound superlative
It makes the 80's rock that is compressed sound "ouch incisively bright" and forward
The orange or red filter takes a bit of transient edge off and still sounds natural
It makes the great recordings much better, but the poor recording much worse.

I have had a recent revelation, as I purchased Roon and all its up sampling , filters and DSP

When running DSD128 up sampling & Smooth-linear filter the Qutest is very, very smooth and more rounded like SACD with all the details
The difference between up sampled Pcm & DSD is super apparent
Pcm is way more incisive and detail oriented
where the DSD is smoother, detailed and not as forward and all the crappy stuff sounds really good

Sorry for the confusing description, but it appears to be a tale of 2 sound profiles when using up sampling 

Anyway, I've listened to 4 Dac's in my system

Playback Designs Merlot DSD ( my top choice) Really nice bass & as close to analog as I've heard
Chord Qutest ( when running DSD,close to merlot)
Exogal Comet ( 2nd choice)
Meridian Explorer2.  Warm and nice ,but short on details

If You are running a highly resolving speaker the Qutest might be to much , when running PCM.

I have a definite taste bias towards DSD .
I'm keeping it running DSD , but if I could run only pcm, I'd send it back

So, Take my opinion with grain of salt 

Jeff

My take on the earlier QuteEX model is that the presentation was forward. In fact, that's why I sold it; I like a mid-hall experience for classical music.
  But, I must say music sounded so smooth and natural.

Doesn't the blue light and red light/filter change automatically depending on sampling rate? Or can you change it manually?

It changes by sampling rate

Oops:

you change the 4 filters manually.
sampling rate colors change automatically

OK, so there is much more flexibility with the Qutest over previous models.
I've read that each filter on a DAC needs break-in time. How many hours are on your unit now? I'd guess you should go for 200 hrs. on each filter that you use.

This review is in agreement with you regarding the playback of poor quality digital. This DAC seems to be very revealing.
https://www.avforums.com/review/chord-electronics-qutest-dac-review.15073

So, you've been using Tidal/Roon as your source. Have you tried any other sources such as CD or downloads? Trying a source using S/PDIF would be a good experiment.
I'm guessing you're using USB out from a PC; have you tried different cables? IME, different cable designs can change sonics dramatically.
If USB, are you using some type of noise reduction, such as an i Purifier?