I would suggest that if at all possible (and I know it often isn’t) see if you can loan some of these DACs to try out in your system. Logic might suggest that given what you have already the PSA would have the best synergy but it is not always the case. I’ve got the Qutest and it is a fantastic little DAC for the price, in bang for buck terms only the MOJO beats it (which I also have) but it in the wrong system it could sound quite harsh.
The Chord Dave cannot be compared to any of the other Chord DAC. Even the TT2 sounds quite different and if the DSJ is close to the DSSr, than I cannot imagine the Qutest being able to compete.
For me the Dave was by a wide margin the better DAC I listened to, at any price (compared with DCS Vivaldi and Esoteric stacks, TT2 + Msacaler but also Meridian and several more reasonably priced DAC),… Until I listen to the DSSr. I am not saying the DS is better, but it is a close call that I have not made yet.
Anyway, I would strongly expect the DSJ to be better than most DAC up to the DSSr price point.
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I agree with this. I’ve had the Qutest in my system at the same time as DSJ, and the Qutest needed the MScaler to draw even.
I don’t care what components he has in his system or how much they cost. And who said anything about price in regards to DAC quality? If he compared the DirectSream to the Chord Qutest and thought they were comparable, I don’t trust his ears.
Chord does not do FPGA updates like Ted does. Not even for the Dave.
I have compared these DACs in the last 3 months and all on the same system. The Qutest was early the worst DAC in the comparison. It is not a good value purchase. For value, the latest Yggdrasil is easily the best choice. The DirectStream is better but not several thousand dollars better. I could easily live with the Yggdrasil as I don’t do MQA or DSD.
Do you have analog sources? Benchmark can be had with analog input, so you can sell the SCG preamp, but DSJ sounds better according to others around here. If you don’t have analog sources Paul says the DSJ is a sonic upgrade to the SCG pre, as it should for 2.5 times the price, and again you could sell the SCG pre. Chord and the Schiit of course are just DACs.
Tried a Gungnir Multi-Bit, it made the top 10% of my Redbook library sound barely better but the bottom 30% sound worse and won’t do MQA or DSD. Wanted to like it (like much of the company philosophy and practices). But my DSJ makes it all sound noticeably better. (Comparisons against a DSPeaker Anti-Mode 2.0 Dual Core). Previously had bought a slightly used Qute 2 but couldn’t use it as it needed a Mac driver that hadn’t been developed yet.
The DSJ is a digital Swiss army knife in terms of digital input format choices, enough so it drove me a little crazy picking a source, PS Audio has been offering firmware upgrades and it does MQA, DSD, etc. PS Audio service (including this forum) is very good, wouldn’t worry about buying a discontinued model. They’ve announced intending to continuing firmware upgrade support for DSJ.
A strange comparison. Upgrading from a Stellar GCD and comparing to a Chord Qutest. In the UK the Qutest is one third cheaper than the Stellar GCD, so I would hope the GCD is better. Comparison of the Qutest to the DS Jr is also odd because the DS Jr costs over three times as much as the Qutest.
The Chord Hugo TT2 DAC is the same price as the DS Jr. The TT2 is by all accounts a seriously good DAC.
However, the sums may be different in the USA.
Thanks for the reasonable reply.
I said higher price does not automatically make it better. System synergy does come into it. As does personal taste.
I met a guy a while back who was using the $199 Meridian. I suggested it be his next upgrade. He claims he has tried multiple DACs and prefers the Meridian. I have no idea what this guy is hearing,
My friend replaced a very expensive DAC with the DSD Snr.
I got a little defensive because Speed Racer insulted my friend. He could have said in his system the Chord wasn’t able to compete.
Like I said, I recommended starting with the Chord. I really shouldn’t have posted, because I haven’t heard the Chord. I have heard the DSD Snr, but it was before Snowmass
When I replaced the Benchmark Dac2 HGC with the Lindemann, I thought the Lindemann lacked in higher frequencies. Then I remembered that I had changed the toe-in as the Dac2 was on the bright side. Moved the speakers and everything just sounded right.
I will discuss the Chord with him when he gets back.
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Also this is all very subjective.
There are certain high end products I can’t stand to listen to. Doesn’t mean I’m wrong or that they are bad products, it’s just we all have different hearing and different tastes.
I can’t tolerate things that sound bright or on the cooler side of neutral, so tend to gravitate towards a warmer sound. I have friends who are the absolute opposite and we disagree on what sounds good a lot of the time. I think with this hobby it is always a balance of compromises and which ones you can live with and which ones you can’t.
I also know that the Chord DACs are excellent which is why I was looking at buying the DAVE before I heard the DSSnr but when I upgraded to more neutral sounding speakers it became clear to me it wouldn’t be as good a fit for them.
I still use my MOJO for portable listening though as it is small and works well with my phone. I might upgrade to a Hugo 2 at some point although I"ve held off since I don’t use headphones so much these days.
The speaker thing is very true. People spend lots of money on tweaks that make incremental differences but forget how important good speaker position and room acoustics are!
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I’ve owned a couple of standalone DACs (PSA PWD Mk2 replaced by Audiolab MDAC+). Before that I had a Linn Akurate DS streaming DAC/pre-amp. I now have Devialet Expert Pro CI. Recent very significant improvements have been achieved by an ultra-low noise Roon server and low noise cabling (fibre optic and Shunyata power). It’s not complicated, just a matter of a few sensible choices. I personally don’t think judging DACs in isolation amounts too much. I’m glad I’ll not be buying another one.
In small living or listening rooms there is very little variation of speaker positioning possible. However it should indeed be the first thing to try, in order to squeeze better sound out of the system.
I currently only have 3 DAC’s integrated in the CD, BluRay and AV receiver. I just ordered a Stellar Gain Cell DAC.
Don’t spoil my day guys. 
The very reason I am convinced it’s a good purchase, is that the Stellar Gain Cell DAC is the exact type of swiss army knife that makes it the central control station of my home office, where I have:
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active monitors utilising balanced input
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an iMac running iTunes with BitPerfect add on, that allows both PCM and DSD via USB
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my first and still working Technics SL-P 477A CD player
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A TV, 3 game consoles and a set top box, that I want to connect to the Essence HDMI 4K MkII DAC that is even capable of processing SACD native DSD via HDMI, connected either real XLR balanced input (yes this little device has excellent fun balanced XLR output) and/or coaxial digital
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After I have invested in a new Thorens (TD 160 successor TD 1600 and TD 1601 are presented at the Munch High End show!), our first decent TD 105 turntable with affordable phono stage, most likely Lindemann LimeTree Phono Stage or Lehmann Black Cube (I just do’t get why PS Audio doesn’t provide an affordable small phono stage, while they started the company with such a device)
As you might imagine I really look forward hooking the Stellar Gain Cell DAC up and finally get decent sound out of all mentioned sources while able to control the volume lossless. I searched in any corner of the internet, there is no other device than the Stellar Gain Cell DAC that provides all these features, at decent quality and yet, at least for me affordable price level. Oppo used to release some, but their volume control was for phono stage only I believe, as it is the case with most DAC’s.
The apparatus coming closest is the Lindemann Musicbook DSD. But that comes for more than 150% the cost of the Stellar Gain Cell DAC and yet only has single sided analog inputs, no I2S and utilises Cyrrus Logic DAC chips as native DSD DAC. Can not tell which one of the 2 sounds better, but the Stellar Gain Cell DACalready stretched the budget for the home office. Although it’s the room where I can listen to the music most, as the family prefers the TV in the living room.
If you like I’ll upload a picture of the system when it is installed.
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Rudolf, I wanted to comment just to be sure your day is not spoiled. I’ve been very happy with the SGCD I bought a few months ago. If you are able to take advantage of the $510 trade-in discount or the even greater discounts available as part of a system with the M700 or S300 amps, the SGCD is an exceptional bargain at just over $1K. It’s still a good value even if the maximum discounts don’t work for you.
I don’t have a big box full of expensive high-end DACs to compare, but the DAC in the SGCD is excellent and I’m really enjoying it in my system. Of course, if you find a DAC you like better, you can always use the SGCD just as a preamp (and I’m loving finally having a pre-amp with a remote control).
Enjoy your SGCD!
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@SDL Much appreciated. Thanks.
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What’s buggy about it? I wanted to get one, now I am bit not sure…
Forum search “Bridge ii problems” and you’ll get the idea. I had to roll back Bridge ii firmware 3.6.17 to 3.5.1 to the clicking, buzzing, and popping. This was a common issue. PS Audio is working with the third party vendor to address the issues, but problems remain. Several users don’t use the Bridge ii at all, and utilize other inputs to stream music.
Maybe PS Audio can weigh in to offer an update.
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Here’s my opinion on the Qutest and DS DAC SR as I posted a couple of weeks ago.:
I have a Chord Qutest that was recently purchased for my PC/Headphone system. Upstream from the Qutest is an HP Envy desktop running JRiver MC with a Light Harmonic LightSpeed USB cable. Downstream is: (1) PAD Aqueous Aureous RCAs to a Questyle CMA 600i with Focal Utopia heaphones, and (2) AZ Matrix Ref RCAs to Woo GES with Stax 009 headphones. Each sound fabulous with their own particular flavor to the presentation. I have tried many other small footprint DACs here (a necessary requirement) but the Qutest has proven to provide the best price/performance.
But I did insert the Qutest into my speaker system in my main listening room to compare to my DS DAC Sr. Normally: MB pro running JRive MC or Audirvana+ to DS DAC (Snowmass) via Audience AU24SE USB then fully balanced to Cary SLP-05 / Bel Canto REF600M monos / Harbeth SHL5+ (PAD Aqueous Aureous XLRs, Furutech Reference III speaker, PSA AC12 PCs, Stellar P3). The Qutest was much quieter than the DS DAC and a tad faster sounding with about equal resolution . But that wonderful organic sound that is so easy to listen to for hours on end was not there with the Qutest. While it was not fatiguing, the Qutest just couldn’t provide the pleasure that I get with the DS DAC. Now maybe if I spent another $5k on the Chord M-Scaler the Qutest might match-up better, but that sure doesn’t make any cents (intentional).
So in summary, while the Qutest is a great DAC at its price point, IMHO its not in the same league as my DS DAC. If I had the real estate available at my PC / headphone desk, I would have another DS DAC there too.
So I think the Qutest is a very good DAC but it’s certainly not at the same performance level as a DS DAC and it does have the latters features/functionality either. The Chord Qutest is a pure DAC offering only D/A conversion. But on the other hand its retail price is only a third that of the PS Audio DS DAC.
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So, is that if you’re streaming music to it via Ethernet? So, if I have a separate streamer it won’t be an issue then, right?
It’s only using the bridge. Other inputs are not affected.
FWIW, I use the Bridge II as my primary input to my PSA DS Sr. DAC. It has not been buggy in my experience. (I don’t doubt those that have had issues. I just have not had those issues.) Bridge I was a somewhat spotty performer for me, but the MK II version has been rock solid in my system.
My point is, don’t be afraid to give the Bridge a shot. PSA has a fair demo and return policy. If it’s not for you, you can return it.
My $0.02.
Cheers.
Interesting, now, WHY are you guys even using Bridge 2, or built-in apps instead of a dedicated streamer? I think a robust proven streamer could be a much better option, output in USB/Optical to DSJ for DAC…
This has really turned into an interesting thread to read. I find many related setups to complicate things. Recent years I have gone in the direction of simplification to the point where I know use my DSJ as the center of the universe. Roon in and out to mono blocks.
I have never had any issues with updates or buggy software. It just performs.
From the moment I heard it in my system it was never a question of not letting it stay. I love the musicality it delivers with all kind of music.
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