Chord Chordette HD DAC and power supplies

Posted by: Peter Thompson on 08 March 2018

Kit list is as follows, in order from computer to speakers

Chord Chordette HD DAC (Stock power supply)
Chord Crimson Plus Naim style 5 Pin Din to RCA
NAIM AUDIO NAIT 5 with Naim Audio Flatcap 1 powering the Pre-Amp
Naim NACD 3.5 CD Player
Van Damme Hi-Fi Series LC-OFC 2x4mm Speaker Cables 2x 2.50m
VAN DAMME LC-OFC 6mm jumper leads
NEAT Motive SE2 speakers, upgraded tweeters, (dont think i will ever sell these)

My question is, will the power supply for the DAC have any real significant improvement?

Good to mention:

Upgrade from HRTIII music streamer DAC was a big upgrade
Adding the FC to the Pre was a big upgrade but lost some smoothness from the mid-range, replaced with better clarity
DAC added some more drive to the bass and better separation of the mid

Posted on: 08 March 2018 by analogmusic

Rather than spending money on the PSU for the Chord DAC, I would buy a later DAC from Chord like Qutest.

Posted on: 09 March 2018 by Mr THX

Brace yourself for "Naim Dac sounds better...... just swap it" posts

Posted on: 09 March 2018 by Eloise

Mr THX posted:
Brace yourself for "Naim Dac sounds better...... just swap it" posts

Shortly followed by ... ever since Chord launched the Hugo everything Naim ever made (in term of digital audio) sounds broken!

Posted on: 09 March 2018 by Eloise

Peter Thompson posted:
Chord Chordette HD DAC (Stock power supply)
My question is, will the power supply for the DAC have any real significant improvement?

To answer the question with a short answer, yes probably ... however how much would you be spending on a power supply? I'm assuming by Chord Chordette HD you mean the DAC usually referred to as the QuteHD? Thats been replaced 3 times now - QuteHD --> QuteEX --> 2Qute --> Qutest (which doesn't make it obsolete by any means before anyone jumps down my neck) but spending £250-300 plus on a power supply might not be good value for money.

On the other hand the newest replacement (Chord Qutest) is going to cost you £1200 so even allowing 2-300 trade-in / second hand value for the QuteHD and £250 value of a PSU you'd be short over £500 in a replacement. Having said that even a Chord Mojo *may* be an improvement in terms of sound quality and thats only going to cost a little over the cost of a decent power supply.

The other question to examine is "what is your source" (computer)? You may find improvement by investigating alternative sources into the QuteHD.