Luxman DA-06 DAC vs Chord Qutest/Hugo 2

I own all 3. Luxman DA-06 is not in the same league as the Chord DACs. It is however smooth like butter but it lacks the 3D soundstage Chord gives you. I have it hooked up to a pair of Focal Shape 65s, studio monitors. And I can listen to it all day long with any recording without doing anything. Chord is considerably truer to the source, which is not always a good thing, especially with studio monitors.

I’m siding with @astelmaszek. I heard both using a variety of headphones, mostly Audeze LCD 3 and Focal Clear.


The Luxman was smooth but not nearly as dynamic as the Chord Qutest. I was very impressed by the Chord - my main gripes were really only the flimsy power supply/connecter, the limited input types (SPDIF via BNC and USB, but not AES or even RCA SPDIF input), and lack of balanced outputs. I think the DAC is identical to the Hugo 2 but without the headphone section, so the only reason to buy a Hugo 2 over the Qutest seems to be to bundle a headphone amp.

Thank you all for your responses.

Luxman is revamping it's product line look around the the DA06 can be found for half price

^^^ What is that supposed to mean.  Either you know something or you dont