Chord Electronics Huei Phono StageThe ‘Qutest’ phono stage on the market?

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AN ART’S EXCELLENCE REVIEW

Chord Electronics Huei

The Chord Electronics Huei is not the first phono stage by the Maidstonian manufacturer, but many vinyl lovers have been anxious to get their hands on one since it was introduced at the 2019 Munich High End show. And I’m not surprised… Chord electronics may have its roots in digital hifi solutions, but according to them the Huei is based on the circuit in their expensive but highly regarded Symphonic phono stage. With one very interesting addition and a much more interesting price tag.

CHORD ELECTRONICS HUEI

On the Outside and InsideThe first thing I noticed at it’s presentation in Munich was the resemblance to the Chord Qutest, one of my favourite sub-2k da-converters. About the size of a vacuumed pack of coffee, painted black - the only available colour - with a round looking glass that allows its owner to look at its illuminated inside, and recessed spherical frosted glass push buttons backlit by multico-lour LED lights. The colours indicate the functions and settings. The Huei has four of those buttons, while the Qutest only needs two. On the back you will find the input for the external power supply, a single-ended RCA input, an earth terminal and a single ended and balanced output. No balan-ced input unfortunately.

Compared to the Symphonic, the Huei has one important advantage: it can also work with MM cartridges. And therefor High Output MC’s. That makes it much more flexible. Besides a button to choose between MM and MC there is also a switchable rumble filter that cuts frequencies below 50Hz at a rate of 24dB per octave. This prevents the woofers from making large unwanted excursions at a very low frequency, mostly caused by rumble from the platter bearing or the motor of the record player. If you don’t expe-rience rumble, it is better not to use the rumble filter at all.

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CHORD ELECTRONICS HUEI

Gain and Impedance Loading

The Chord Huei has 8 gain settings for both MM and MC cartridges, ranging from 21dB tot 68dB. The exact values depend on whether you use the single ended or the balanced output. The manual explains all the colour codes shown by the Gain button and the Load Impedance button. It’s a little more complicated than a display, but once you have determined the best settings you will probably not alter them anymore.

MM cartridges are terminated electrically with the usual 47kΩ impedance, but for MC cartridges you get 6 different load impedance settings between 100Ω and 3200Ω. The load impedance provides electrical dampening of

the stylus/cantilever/coil array and determines how prominent the high frequencies will be present in the tonal balance. The higher the impedance, the more high frequencies. Some MC cartridges have an additional mecha-nical resonance that starts around 10kHz and gets stronger at higher frequencies. This is why MC cartridges have the (somewhat unjust) reputa-tion for being too hot in the high frequencies. When the preferred loading impedance (as a rule of thumb: the internal impedance of the cartridge x 10) does not provide enough dampening of that resonance, the Chord Huei offers an additional capacity of 2.2µF next to each of the available impedan-ces. As far as I’m concerned, 2.2µF is quite high, and if you don’t need it, it will cause excessive dampening of the high frequencies. But its use is not mandatory and you can experiment with it at no risk. The electrical values the Huei pose no threat to the cartridge so you can find the optimal setting by ear.

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CHORD ELECTRONICS HUEI

ListeningI listened to the Huei using my restored vintage Thorens TD125 with a Jelco 10-inch arm and the unsurpassed Holistic Audio HA-103C cartridge - a modi-fied Denon DL-103 that sounds more transparant and balanced than the original cartridge, while retaining its dynamic playfulness. Using a gain of 58dB and a 470Ω load impedance without the additional capacity, the Huei really resembled the fast, transparant and colourful sound of its digital sibling the Chord Qutest. Take for instance the somewhat older but super-bly dynamic GRP recording of the album Warning by Billy Cobham. This perfectly pressed album delivered breathtaking dynamics and very deep and tight bass. To assess the spatial characteristics I cued up Talk Talk’s Spirit Of Eden. The center of the sound image is projected a little forward, which offers a rather intimate listening experience, but at the same time there was a great sense of space towards the back and the sides, which gave a pleasant feeling of freedom. Comparing the sonic character of the Huei to my tubed AudioCreative Phonodude revealed that this little Chord has excellent dynamics, speed and spaciousness, with a neutral but definitely not colourless tonal balance. A very impressive achievement in this price range.

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CHORD ELECTRONICS HUEI

Concluding

I listened to the Chord Huei phono stage the way it came from the box. So I used the supplied ‘low noise’ switch mode power supply. In the manual Chord states that aftermarket linear power supplies are unnecessary, and can even lead to damage. That is, provided that you go about this carefully, nonsense. When I used an SBooster BOTW ECO MKII power supply on the Chord Qutest, the improvement was abundantly clear, and I expect nothing else with the Huei.

The bottom line however, is that the Chord Huei is a great phono stage. Compact, flexible and most of all fantastic sounding. It’s character is clearly similar to that of the Qutest da-converter, with the exception that you can ‘colour’ the sound of the Huei a bit by tinkering with the load impedance. For the price, the Huei phono stage is a no-brainer.

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CHORD ELECTRONICS HUEI

Music and Information

More information and prices about the Chord Electronics Huei phono pre-amp can be found in our webshop:

Chord Electronics HueiQobuzBilly Cobham - WarningTalk Talk - Spirit Of Eden

Tidal

Billy Cobham - WarningTalk Talk - Spirit Of EdenSpotify

Billy Cobham - WarningTalk Talk - Spirit Of Eden

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