I’m integrating a recently-acquired Chord Qutest into my digital setup and would welcome some advice.
I have 2 playback scenarios:
lossless files stored on my ROCK NUC (most are FLAC rips of CDs)
hi-res streams from Qobuz (up to 24bit @ 192kHz)
My endpoint is Ropieee (on a Raspberry Pi 5 with a Digi2 Pro HAT).
Ropieee is connected to the Qutest via toslink optical and the network is wired ethernet (Cat8).
So the Signal path is Source → Ropieee → Qutest
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My main question: in Device Setup does it matter which ‘device’ I select? Is some configuration silently applied when a device is selected?
Before I set anything in my setup it just says “snd_rpi_hifberry_digi” under Audio device / Device setup. I could select either ‘HiFiBerry Digi+’ or ‘Chord Electronics Qutest’ as I’m using both.
Am I right in thinking I should select the Qutest as it’s the last in my signal path?
Caveat: I am just another user like you… but from what I understand:
The selection in Device setup does affect the artwork displayed and the audio settings for the device.
The way you have it setup the RPi would be the endpoint (the device you select in Roon settings/audio). Roon should not see the Qutest wehn it is connected via Optical to the RPi.
If you were to connect the Qutest directly to the NUC via USB or to the USB from the RPi then the Qutest would be the endpoint and what you would select from Roon settings/Audio.
If you’re using S/PDIF, you won’t see the Qutest – it’s the same arrangement as my 2Qute and Allo DigiONE. There’s no signalling on this interface, so the DAC can’t control timing, and Roon won’t know what is connected to the cable.
You’ll need to manually setup the Ropieee (Roon Bridge) device settings.
Ropieee will report the Qutest, and this will be available in Roon, but only if you use the USB connection. I have both zones, but tend to use USB for Roon, and S/PDIF when using my CD player’s DAC or optical playing a CD through the 2Qute.
Good to hear it’s working for you. As a Chord owner, I’d recommend you only send the native sample rate and let the FPGA do it’s thing. This is what Rob Watts recommends.
Excellent advice - thank you. It makes perfect sense to allow the Qutest to upsample - rather than Roon. With this setting the Qutest sounds more open and defined. So my signal path (for local FLAC files and Qobuz streams) now looks like this:
Following the same logic I’ve applied similar settings to the few DSD/DSF SACD rips I have. Under Device setup > DSD playback strategy - rather than ‘Convert to PCM’ - which produces a ‘lossy’ signal path like this:
It may produce a lossless signal path, but, chord products (other than Dave)don’t play native dsd internally, only pcm. So as soon as the DoP stream enters the Quetest it turns it into PCM. Better to have Roon do it.
Hi,
Maybe Í´m a nitpicker, but the final stage in the Signal path is
ALSA = Advanced Linux Sound Architecture.
So it should refer to the rpi hat……
And whatever entry is Chosen (rpi vs chord), it is only a Description!
No influence to the Sound !
@Rugby and @mjw - thanks for the clarification. As I have so few DSD SACD rips I’m just going to re-rip them to 24-bit FLAC @ 96kHz and so dispense with any DSD to PCM conversion and Sample rate conversion in Roon. Thanks again.
