IS THE WEISS 204 A SUBSTANIAL UPGRADE FRON THE CHORD QUTEST

Thank you for taking the time to respond. I used the word resolution to mean sound better. I understand sounding better is subjective. But generally as you go up in price the dacs do indeed sound better. For example, the Dac before my Qutest did not sound as real and as immediate the Qutest. DAC. My question was is there a DAC in my price range that would sound much better than the Qutest, and if so, specifically which ones passed your test for being a substantial improvement in overall sound quality.  Thank you. 

@kjl1065 I owned the following DACs after the Qutest:

Bryston BDA3, Benchmark DAC3 HGC, PS Audio DSD MkI, Marantz SA10 SACD Player/DAC, Chord Hugo TT2, Bricasti M3. 
 

All except Marantz (not my cup of tea at all) and Bryston (different but not better) are an improvement over the Qutest. My favorite is the Bricasti and it can be had used way under your price range if you are patient and keep an eye on the used market. I’d say my second favorite would be PS Audio (slightly noisy though but very engaging sound) and Hugo TT2. As I stated earlier the TT2 like the Qutest uses SMPS and the variation in sound quality depends on how clean your power is throughout the day. Benchmark is a good DAC as well but to me it sounds slightly cooler and dryer than the rest - you can do better within your budget. 

If you like full sounding and if your system is on the bright side the Marantz SA 10 is an exceptional performer on my system. The secret use the balance ic and good pc and ic it will reward you.Music direct discount them. Talking about Weiss Dac ? Check Steve Huff reviews on Weiss. Audio Mirror has listed here on Agon , they DAc V is on sale.

Check schiit yagdrassil Dac they have a 15 day return policy. This is a exceptional dac.

Following.

I can’t decide wether to buy a DDC to go with my Pontus ll or get a different DAC.