I am penning down my opinion about the QLS QA360 Digital Audio Player. I will try to keep this review simple as possible and I hope it would be easy to read, and will help fellow enthusiasts to know more about the QA360.
Me: I am a 21 year old Engineering student living in a small town in India. I would like to call myself a music enthusiast, rather than an audiophile. I was inspired by music since childhood, and as the time passed, the passion of music grew in me, and that subsequently led me to join Head-Fi. Eventually, I found the pleasure of listening to music mainly by the HD600 and recently, by the seductive LCD2 headphones, and realized the true components of recorded music. I usually like to listen to Indian Classical Music along with Bollywood songs. My main listening genres include classical, vocal, instrumental, jazz and sometimes pop.
Intro: QLS-HiFi, is just another Chinese DAP manufacturer hidden from the world’s eyes, QLS is however a renown brand inside China. Their flagship DAP is the QA360, released in April 2014, after 3 years of its development. QA360 is a Mid-Fi DAP, with DSD capability.
Specifications of QA360 as per QLS:
• PGA2311 for Advanced digital volume control.
• Three Low jitter TCXO for PCM & DSD.
• SDHC/SDXC Supports up to 128GB with FAT32.
• Firmware upgradeable
• Menu: English and Chinese Simplified/Traditional.
• High power Class A headphone amplifier.
• PGA2311 150-Steps high-performance Digital-Controlled Analogue Volume Control
• 4-layers PCB for all circuit boards.
• Audio Support:
- 16bit/24bit, 44.1-192Khz, DSD 1bit 64FS.
- Audio format supported:
- WAV : 16/24bit, 44.1~192 kHz.
- AIFF : 16/24bit, 44.1~192 kHz.
- FLAC : 16/24bit, 44.1 kHz~48 kHz, compression level 0~8.
- APE : 16 bit, 44.1 kHz, compression level fast and normal.
- ALAC : 16 bit, 44.1 kHz
- MP3 : 16bit, 44.1/48 kHz, 96k bps~320k bps, CBR/VBR/ABR encoding.
- CUE : ANSI / UNICODE / UTF-8 Encoding.
- DSD : DSD64 1bit, Stereo---DIFF、DSF、SACD ISO.
- Digital output: PCM / Dolby Digital output/ DTS Digital output / DSD (DoP V1.0).
• Digital output: Coaxial (3.5mm), Optical (Round Port).
• Analogue output: 3.5mm Line Out.
- Analogue Line out: 2V (RMS), frequency response 0Hz-20KHz, SNR 116dB, Distortion 0.0006%
- Headphone out: 490mW/16Ω; 245mW/32Ω; 55mW/300Ω; Frequency response: 0Hz-20Khz; Output impedance: 0.075 ohms
• DAC Chip: CS4398. LVP: AD8620.
• Battery Type: 3.7V 3120mAH Li-Po battery.
• Battery life: 10 to 11 hours for PCM, or 7-8 hours for DSD.
• Dimensions: 117x72x27mm
Packaging and Accessories: The QA360 arrives packed inside a plain matt black cardboard box, on brand name has been mentioned upon, cardboard box is quite sturdy and strong, and can withstand the long journey during shipping times.
List of accessories in the box, which include the following:
Charger: 5 volts/2 amperes universal charger for charging the QA360. This charger is the fastest mode of charging the QA360.
USB charging cable: Sufficiently long, can be used for charging the QA360 from computer or any other 5V source.
SD Card: A full size Sandisk SD card (16GB 30MB/S)
SD Card reader: A full size SD card reader for data transfer using the SD card.
Screen guard: A spare screen guard for applying on QA360's screen. Also includes a cloth for cleaning the screen.
User Manual: Contains all information about operating the QA360. English and Chinese languages included.
Warranty card: Contains warranty information.
Silicon case: This translucent case is supplied to protect the QA360 from falls or scratches, and also gives a firm holding grip and anti-skid feature to the QA360.
Packaging is nicely done, with accessories provided being sufficient in quantity and made up of great quality. Almost all of included accessories are manufactured/endorsed by QLS themselves, ensuring a handsome quality control.
Design and Build: The QA360 has an excellent build quality. Its built like a tank (reminding me the build of M-Stage’s) the main body and even all buttons is made up of metal, most probably containing aluminium. QA360 has a rectangular shape with curved edges, though it is a bit thicker. The QA360 Is fairly heavy in weight owing to its heavy build, but still it can be comfortably operated using one hand itself. QLS Audio provides an 3 year warranty on the QA360, which is quite impressive, considering most of the others DAP’s have only 1 or 2 years warranty at most. This again reassures us about the QLS’s faith in their products. Ergonomics and comfort factor is fairly good in QA360, because QA360 has a great build quality, it feels a bit heavy and might be a little difficult to operate for enthusiasts with smaller hands.
On the Top side, the QA360 has a socket for antenna extension. Surprising as it may seem, QA360 is capable of remote controlling. The remote is available as optional.
On the left side, An full size SD card slot is present. The card slot operates smoothly without any hitches. Insertion and removal of card is fairly easy, with just an simple push.
On the right side, A sliding lock button is present, whose function is to lock down all the keys once lock button is activated. A sliding power button is also present. I actually prefer sliding power button over an conventional push button, that is because one can flip on/off in just a second, when compared to 3-5 seconds on push type power buttons. Both of these sliding buttons have very fine and sturdy operation. Feels confident and slick to slide one. Two volume buttons are present, Volume controlling is very fine, it has 150 volume control, and works very well with IEM’s and headphones. One can achieve even minute attenuations in volumes without any issues. Volume switching is smooth and very gradual, which is a big plus especially sensitive IEM’s.
On The front side, Four buttons (Up/down Left/Right) are present, along with select, menu and back keys. The navigation buttons are used to navigate songs, or forward/backward operations depending upon the situation. A select key is present in the middle of navigation keys, and is used to select or play/pause the songs. The back key, as usual takes the user to the previous menu. Buttons are well laid and are very convenient and nice. Buttons feel very smooth, fine and very accurate.
Display screen is good enough, though screen clarity or screen resolution is not impressive, but still it does the job just fine. (This is common in almost of all DAP’s)
On the bottom side, Output and charging sockets are located. From left to right, Headphone output, coaxial output and optical output respectively. It is convenient that optical and coaxial outputs are also included in the QA360, But I could only utilize headphone output in this review, (since I dont have access to any optical/coaxial devices) To far right, a charging port is present, to which charging jack has to be connected to charge the QA360. All the jacks are well built and implemented, and have a good feel to them.
Battery life: Battery life is fairly good. As for me, the battery lasts for about 6-7 hours, which is quite good.The battery capacity of QA360 is of 3120mAH. Even though it is a good capacity battery, Playback time is pretty decent at 6-7 hours. The battery has to be charged by a 5V 2A adapter, and is included in the package. Charging time using this adapter is around 3 hours. QA360 always plays it 'cool' and never gets warm, not even during charging.
User Interface: The current firmware version is V1.3, and is upgradeable as new versions are released by QLS. Startup and shut down happens within just 2 seconds, which makes QA360 quite fast in operation. The actual firmware is very fast, responsive and zippy when it comes to browsing. No hanging or slowing down whatsoever. I sometimes wish there should be improvement in font and screen display brightness/resolution, because as of now the fonts are quite small for viewing, and are pixelized. I feel a much more advanced brightness and resolution settings can be provided by QLS, in their next firmware update.
Menu key opens up the settings and other options. This DAP is DSD capable, along with one can change many advanced settings like themes, layouts, key speed, DSD settings, playing settings and sound filters. The sound filter options are slow/fast, by selecting slow, the sonic output was a little laidback, and natural. By selecting fast filter, I felt the sound was somewhat shallower by a margin and more artificial. The QA 360 by default comes with loads of high-res FLAC, WAV DSD music files stored in its 16GB card. Though most of them are in Chinese, many are instrumental and English vocals. This is again a nice initiative by QLS. The battery indicator accurately calculates the actual amount of battery power remaining, and has stable readings.
Overall, the firmware is simple, yet has all essential features, is super fast to flip around, is customizable and is quite reliable and stable. I feel the interface of QA360 allows users to personalize the DAP as desired.
Sound: As for the most important part, The QA360 is overall Transparent, Neutral and Detailed sounding with excellent but accurate sound stage, imaging and detail retrieval. Dynamics are superB, giving a circular spacious sound. Soundstage is spacious, but in a natural and realistic way. I am able to differentiate between FLAC and 320kbps MP3 for the same song with the QA360. Considering the QA360’s neutral sound quality, it can match up with any genre and any headphone without sounding bad in particular. QA360’s neutrality is not at all harsh/piercing or irritating like some other DAP’s. Instead, the QA360 manages to produce a slight natural flavour.
The transparency on QA360 is really appreciable. QA360 is very resolving, transparent, yet natural sounding to human ears. I was really stunned for the first time I listened to the QA360. The QA360 also has Tonality as its plus along with transparency. Its tonality is slightly ‘organic and pleasing’ This tonality trait can make ‘thin’ and ‘cold’ sounding headphones to sing along. The tonality of QA360 is such that, it does not make compromise in transparency, neutrality or dynamics. Listening to hi-res vocals and instrumentals on QA360 is a pure bliss.
Output power at headphone jack is fairly good and is sufficient to drive any and all IEM’s and also to drive most of the headphones, to loud listening levels, I always listen to volumes below 60 on IEM’s and below 110 on headphones. Noise floor of the QA360 is audibly dead silent. I could not detect any audible disturbance in any form from the QA360. EMI pickup is completely nil, along with no pop sounds on startup or shutdown, which is really appreciable. Pairing LCD2’s with QA360, the result was more than pleasant; the combo sounded pleasing and had sufficiently loud volume levels.(considering LCD2’s are power hungry) But I have always felt that sonic character of headphones improve with an dedicated amplifier. But even then, it’s a great praise for QA360 in driving the LCD2’s.
Comparing the QA360 with FiiO X5, I feel the QA360 definitely outperforms the X5 in terms of sound quality as well as build quality. X5 is slightly warmer and feels a bit congested sounding (comparatively), whereas QA360 is very transparent and neutral, with relaxed and natural soundstage. (Of course, we have to remember that QA360 costs about 200$ more than the X5) However, X5 wins is portability factor and output power. The X5 has reasonably more powerful output at headphone jack than the QA360. Also the X5 is way slimmer and lighter than QA360, along with support for USB connectivity. X5 also has a more ‘user friendly’ firmware than the QA360.
Conclusion: Though QLS is a relatively newer-known brand in the audiophile world, The QA360 without doubt is an amazing DAP. I never expected such a good sounding DAP from them. It offers a excellent transparency, along with neutral sound quality with a touch of naturalness. The sound quality is phenomenal (considering its competitors) and Build quality is supreme, which is not found on many other DAP’s.
The Pros:
1) Transparency: Transparency of QA360 is worth mentioning. The transparency, resolving power of QA360 is simply phenomenal (in its category)
2) Tonality: I feel QA360 has a slightly organic and pleasing organic tonality, but it does not sacrifice dynamics, neutrality or transparency. Maybe this is the reason why I can listen to QA360 for hours together without any fatigue.
3) Sound quality: Sound quality of QA360 is accurate, mostly uncoloured and neutral. Detail retrieval is very good. Soundstage and dynamics are just amazing. This is definitely an advantage. I always have felt that a source (base of the sound chain) should be neutral and transparent.
4) Build Quality: Build quality of QA360 is top notch and hence I assume it will also be durable for a long time to come.
5) Value: The overall performance of QA360 is excellent, especially considering its price, and also the fact that there are limited DAP’s available in around 500$ range. I can say, QA360 has a Mid-Fi price tag, but its sonic offering is nearly at Summit-Fi level.
The Cons:
1) USB connectivity is absent: The QA360 does not have USB port, so one has to manually remove the SD card, connect to PC and then transfer the files. This can be irritating for frequent data transferor’s like me, and also, since USB port is absent, the charging port is via an seperate DC 2 pole connector, this makes us to carry the special charging cable to wherever we travel. Definitely a cumbersome drawback for travellers. But I think this drawback can be taken as blessing in disguise, as QA360 will be free from any technical issues from internal memory/corrupt software or hanging issues, Thus achieving more reliability.
2) Portability: Though this is not really a drawback, the QA360 is comparatively thick and heavy, probably due to its nice build. Enthusiasts with smaller hand size may find QA360 to be heavy, or difficult to operate with one hand. But it should be manageable. As for me, I would anyday trade thickness and weight in exchange for a better build quality.