Bought the Chord Qutest. Love it. Hate the power supply.

@vonhelmholtz Very confusing post. If everything is incredible, why worry about the power supply? Did you mean that the sound was lacking, not incredible, and you were interested in improving the sound?

Agreed, “incredible “ is quite the high praise . If that impressive, then the “dinky” power supply is obviously doing its job very well. Some SMPS wall warts are better quality and implemented than are others. This appears to be the case for Chord in this example.

A very good quality LPS could possibly further improve sonic performance. But if already “incredible “ why worry about it.

Charles 

My recollection is that the designer chose that particular wall wart based on sound, but on the Darko you tube review, an inexpensive upgraded power supply is recommended.

I have a friend running his off a Shanti LPS and very happy. 

I run my DAVE off of a Farad Super 3 set.  More expensive but very very good.  

Either one will be a noticable improvement.

Comparing the Qutest to my DAVE, you got a lot of bang for your buck there. Great DAC.  I bought my DAVE after listening to the Qutest.

Jerry

I have a Chord Qutest, and can vouch that it is quite good using the stock power supply; but also agree that the sq can be improved by using a better power supply.

For the last year I have been running my Qutest with an IFI Ipower Elite 5v power supply.  This is the top of IFI's current lineup.  It is an ultra quiet smps that competes with linear power supplies.  It retails for $300.  I also have a friend that was very happy using an Sbooster 5v LPS with his Qutest.

You guys are hypocrites. These responses are annoying. You’ve never liked the way something sounds but knew something could be upgraded?

“These speakers sound great, but I should replace this lamp cord speaker wire. What should I buy?”

”You just said they sound great. Why bother?”

We have all been doing this hobby for many years. We know how these conversations go. So if you can’t recommend a power supply, why bother responding to this?

It’s like the people that say “only your ears will tell you”. Wow. Profound.

The provided PS is really low quality by anyone’s standards. It is commonly known that the DAC only gets better with a better power supply. If you can’t help, don’t.