IS THE WEISS 204 A SUBSTANIAL UPGRADE FRON THE CHORD QUTEST

@knownothing excellent post

Thank you @audphile1, I hope someone finds it helpful.  I appreciate your input on this thread as well.  I had not read @sirnui’s post before making my own, but they describe going way down the path of maximizing elements of their system around their DAC with very good results. Tweaking in hifi is both fun and frustrating, with steps taken both forwards and back along the way.  But some of the possible end points are really, really good.

kn

Chord DACs do something I really like. They have great depth to the sound field. Apparently R2R DACs also do this. 

Delta Sigma DACs can have great width, but I find they have very shallow depth...which can present as a forward or in your face presentation. 

My guess is that phase impacts depth...so it could be hi-fi trickery...but it's trickery i enjoy ;-) 

@panzrwagn can probably de-mystify this. 

I recently traded in my Qutest for a fairly inexpensive streamer ($4K Moon 280D). I loved the Qutest until I compared it to the Moon. Perhaps the DAC in the Qutest is better on paper, but the dealer said that USB was not a good way to connect to a DAC. Too much jitter in the interface.

The Moon 280D sounded cleaner with more air which gave the soundstage more complexity, at least to my ear. The Qutest sounded dark and a bit smeared. Again jitter? I compared the Moon 280D to another streamer that was probably way better on paper, but my hear could not discern the difference. 

I have been reading a number of audio forums in which people talk about how difficult it is to tell the difference between streamers. I usually don't buy a new piece of equipment until my ear tells me to. I have never heard a piece of digital equipment whose presence comes close to my turntable, but I have a fairly expensive analogue system. VPI Prime Signature, EMT HD 006 cartridge, ARC PH-7 phono preamp. When digital resolution rises to 192 sampling, it comes close, but analogue has more air and less smear.

My advice is to forget what's on paper and listen to different options. I would suggest the Moon if you have a local dealer that sells them. Or try other streamers. Since the source feed and the DAC are both in the same box think there is less jitter.

A streamer also makes life a lot easier. The Moon has a Mind2 inteface that runs on a phone or iPad. I use Qobuz and can look up an artist by name and see all the album covers under various artists (could be Van Morrison or Beethoven or Simon Rattle). Touch on the album cover and play it. Much easier than Qobuz on the computer. Since many others say it is difficult to hear the difference between streamers, again I would suggest using your ears and don't feel intimidated if you can't tell the difference between a DAC with a $12,000 atomic clock and one without. 

Have fun shopping. I always do.