The company Questyle knows exactly how to develop and promote solutions for personal audio. Their amplifiers are characterized by an unusual approach to circuitry, which allowed them to gain considerable popularity. Naturally, the rumors about the player from this company could not but arouse interest. QP1R came out last year, I had the first copy in the beginning of winter, but due to a number of circumstances before the full review I got only now.
Overall, Questyle struggled to make its player outstanding from all sides. Inside the player is CS4398, it is supplemented by a triple master oscillator with separate power supply. The amplifier part is built on discrete elements and uses proprietary current amplification, which allows the player to cope with almost any load. On an elementary basis they did not economize, Nichicon capacitors, inductors from German Würth, Alps encoders are all fairly solid.
The shape of the player is also designed in the appropriate style: milled aluminum, tempered glass, high-quality screen. He is going to the facilities of Foxconn, which to some extent is a guarantee of quality. A pleasant bonus is the support of two memory cards and 32 GB of built-in flash storage, this will please music lovers in high definition.
Of course, the price of the player could not be low, can be for an amount approximately equivalent to $ 900. The company was thinking about releasing a more affordable version of the player, but then abandoned this venture. What will the suffering audiophile get for this money?
Specifications
- DAC: Cirrus Logic CS4398
- Frequency range: 20 Hz - 20 kHz (± 0.1 dB)
- Total harmonic distortion + noise: 0.0006%
- Output Impedance: 0.15Ω
- Output voltage: up to 1.9Vrms
- Output power: up to 40 mW @ 32Ω, up to 12 mW @ 300Ω
- Supported formats: WAV, FLAC, ALAC, APE, AIFF, ADPCM, LPCM, MP3, WMA, WMA Lossless, OGG, AAC, DFF, DSF
- Resolution support: up to 192 kHz / 24 bit, DSD up to 128
- Battery: 3300 mAh, Li-Pol
- Operating time on one charge: from 8 h.
- Charging time 2A by charger: ~ 4 hours.
- Input: MicroUSB
- Outputs: 3.5 mm TRS for headphones, 3.5 TRS - linear / optical
- Built-in Memory: 32 GB
- Memory Card Support: 2 × MicroSD
- Dimensions: 70 × 137 × 17
- Weight: 225 gr.
Packing and delivery kit
In the design of the boxes Questyle decided to maintain a sound minimalism. Black cardboard with the texture "under the fabric" is virtually devoid of any inscriptions except the silver name of the company on the top cover, fixed by a magnet. Inside, traditionally on a velvet lodgment, the player rests, accessories are under it. This time, the player was put a cloth storage bag, instructions, a regular customer card, a cable with 3.5 mm connectors, an adapter for optical output and a MicroUSB cord. In recent versions, the box also began to add a silicone sticker, improving the work with the wheel.
Separately Questyle offers Unfortunately, they are not included in the delivery set.
Design and management
Naturally, the appearance of the device is sustained in a strict and unusual style, reminiscent of the classic Apple - iPhone 4. The case is made of milled aluminum, there are models in gray and golden colors. The front and back sides use panels of tempered glass. It looks very stylish, but collects fingerprints and dust (easily, however, rubbed off). In addition, such panels are unlikely to survive the fall on asphalt, but this is the price of beauty. Dimensions are chosen very well, the player is not very thick, so, despite its size, it lies well in your hand and is worn in your pocket.
On the upper side there are two outputs - headphone and linear, combined with an optical one. There is also a volume control, protected by aluminum protrusions. An encoder is used, so the controller can be rotated in either direction indefinitely. The rotation is accompanied by pleasant clicks and pleases with uniformity.
The bottom panel is allocated under two slots for memory cards and a micro USB connector. Declared support for cards up to 128 GB, but, according to reviews, the player supports and 200 GB models. In combination with 32 GB of internal memory, this gives up to 432 GB for your favorite DSD and hayrez.
On the right side there is an on / off button, it also answers for the screen lock.
Most of the controls are located on the front panel. The control scheme was actually made in the image and likeness of Fiio models. Above the panel there is a screen that pleases with resolution, color rendition and viewing angles, the picture is more than good, especially for the player. In the sun it fades, but it would remain more or less readable, if the developers have made the fonts more contrast. Under the screen is a control wheel with a button inscribed in it and four touch keys placed on the diagonals. The two lower ones are responsible for rewinding the tracks and duplicate the menu navigation. The upper right is returned, the upper left is used to go to the home screen, and when you click on the playback screen for a long time, calls up the submenus (traditional "add to favorites", "add to playlist" and "delete file"). For greater tactile feedback, it is possible to turn on vibration when you press the buttons, in fact the QP1R is the first player with a "vibra".
It is worth noting that the wheel - the main stumbling block in this player, in the first version it worked unstably, but now it is corrected. There is one more problem - the finger slides on the metal wheel, not giving a good grip for easy handling. Fortunately, this is solved by a silicone sticker on the wheel, occasionally "breakthroughs" during rotation still happen, but in general with a sticker it is quite convenient to operate the player. I met on the Internet reviews that eventually the wheel is blurred, but I have not yet.
The menu of the player is also very familiar. Here there is a return to the current track being played, viewing the music library by artists / genres and albums, viewing music by folders and two sections of settings. It's worth noting that the media library is a little inconvenient, for example, if you choose an artist you will get all his tracks in a row, not a list of albums, which would be logical. As for the settings, here they are a car and a small cart, there is everything you expect in a modern player: three levels of amplification, a sleep timer and auto power off, an equalizer and much more. The menu is organized logically and does not cause any complaints.
The player has a very solid battery at 3500 mAh, it lasts at least 8 hours of continuous playback, often more, but the operating time for this model depends heavily on the load. Charges the battery for 4 hours 10 minutes, if you use a charge from the iPad to 2A.
Build quality, of course, at the height, everything is adjusted neatly and without blemishes.
Sound
To listen to the device used the following headphones: ZMF Omni, Meze 99 Classics, Lear LHF-AE1d, Ambient Acoustics AM10, HiFiMan HE-400S, Audio Zenith PMx2, Noble Kaiser K10AU, Campfire Audio Jupiter, Dita Audio Brass.
By the sound of Questyle tried to make the player as neutral as possible. Feed QP1R pleases with resolution and dynamics, and taking into account the unusual gain, the player copes well with most headphones, revealing their potential. In general, the source for those who want to hear music without any "add-on" from the player. On the one hand this is a plus, on the other - those who are used to players with a colored pitch, QP1R will seem "boring", although it's not his fault.
The bass is good for almost all parameters: dense, fast (though not prohibitively), very deep. Due to this, the player is good at melodies with fast low frequencies, saturated with different instruments. Of course, QP1R handles the bass texture well and builds the melody base.
The midrange also pleases with detail and refinement. Against the background of more colored players, they may seem more boring at first, but in fact there are just as many emotions as there are in their recording and headphones. On good material, there are not the slightest problems with this, the player does not hide the nuances embedded in the record. The imaginary scene is slightly larger than the average in width, but very well built in depth. Separation of plans and transferring the nature of tools is one of the strengths of this model.
The upper frequency range is also quite good, there is normal detailing and elaboration, as well as a quantitative balance, although if we take into account the price tag of $ 900, I would like to slightly improve the signal fronts in this range. On compositions with very fast HF, the player starts to lubricate them a little, it is not very critical, but given the price category, I would like to have a greater refining of this range. In addition, people who are accustomed to the sources hiding HF in this model may be many, although everything depends on personal preferences. For me, the "top" in QP1R is just as much as you need.
As usual, few comparisons
L & P L5Pro " Laxcheri " is in some way antipode QP1R, it is slightly darker, slightly more emotive on the MF and slightly better than HF, although a bit masks them quantitatively.
Fiio X7 The main amplifier at the moment I have AM2, with it the X7 plays a little softer "bush", offering a more drive midrange transmission, but losing a bit in detail.
Cayin N6 A model that offers a more palatable sound by reducing the resolution and emphasizing the mid range. In addition, the N6 LF is slightly less quantitative and they do not have this density.
Compatibility
Thanks to the current gain (whatever the term), the QP1R does a good job with most headphones from 8 to 300 ohms, including demanding models like the Sennheiser HD800 and AKG K702. Of course, it does not reach a stationary amplifier, but listening to it even with headphones, considered whimsical, is quite possible. Thanks to a three-step adjustment, the gain player can be used without any problems with the IEM, except for very sensitive models. The latter have a small noise, but, fortunately, there are really few such models.
The genre player is very versatile, it all depends on the preferences for filing. Especially I liked the sound of this model on metal (except for especially brutal styles), classics and chamber music. QP1R is sensitive to the quality of records, on a 10-point scale I would rate it by 9 points.
Traditionally, several sample tracks
Iron Maiden - Wasting Love One of the best tracks from one of the most beloved albums of great classics. The peculiarity of recording this disc is that it loses its expression in the sources that tint the LF, as the bass guitar part merges into a monotonous background. And Questyle - just the player that avoids this, fully enjoying this masterpiece of a heavy genre.
Blues Pills - Lady in Gold In the new album, the Blues Pills team continues to exploit the "chips" found earlier. Do you want to hear how the classic rock of the '70s sounded in our time and with female vocals? Welcome to BP Rigid reefs, electro organ, vigorous vocals - all this QP1R can not be better.
MAGMA - Nebëhr Gudahtt Work, perhaps, ahead of its time and set the vector of development, gave us a lot of modern styles of progressive music. A complex, multifaceted work combining incompatible things. The player from Questyle just is suitable for such music, playing all its complexity.
conclusions
Despite a number of shortcomings and a high price, QP1R turned out to be a high-quality player for fans of clean and unadorned filing. If you appreciate the naturalness and naturalness and want to hear the smallest nuances of the melody - this is one of the best options for you.
The article is based on materials .
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