I see that the Chord Qutest gets pretty good reviews, but I can't get over the fact they sell a high-end DAC with a SWITCHING power supply. It has got to sound better with a good linear power supply, or perhaps one of the iFi switching supplies that have noise cancellation.
So has anyone used a better power supply with the Qutest and can you tell me what supply you used, where you got it, how you hooked it into micro USB, and the resulting sound quality? I'm particularly interested in linear power supplies. There are a number of suppliers, pretty inexpensive ones from China and then more expensive ones elsewhere.
Also let me describe my taste and could someone familiar with the Qutest check whether I might like it?
I mainly listen to classical. I like musical involvement and of the many factors that go into musical involvement, I think dynamics (micro and macro) is the most important. I don't mind if it's a little warm and pretty, which is better than being clinical. A natural, not artificial, sense of resolution is good. I use the word "resolution" rather than "detail" because there are so many ways a DAC can hype or etch detail in a way that's unnatural, but "resolution" implies that you can pick out detail in a natural way the same as you would do with a 4K TV or high-resolution photograph.
I realize that stunning resolution is mostly found in much more expensive products, so I am happy with something less, but not muddy or smeared.
I plan to hook the DAC via USB to a music server (I have an Aurender N100) or a streamer (I have an iFi Zen Stream running off a linear power supply).
