[mwhals]

Still no recent news in English.

 

[mwhals]

Still no recent news in English.

This holds true still.

 

[john1711]

How does Questyle expect to be competitive with such seemingly minimalist incremental changes and an outsized price hike? Unless they are counting on customers to buy into the SHB ecosystem. In the meantime, players like the Dethonray DTR1 are looking really attractive from the price value equation perspective.

 

[brams]

I think Questyle's angle on this is to promote their focus on sound quality and elimination of any feature that does not directly contribute to this goal. Keep it simple.

The implication is that it is not possible to have great sound quality and a competitive feature set at the price points at which they offer their various units. To access these features one must therefore use a phone with the QPM acting as dac/amplifier.

At the original price of the QP1R that thinking was probably true, but likely became less so with the QP2R. With the announced price and feature set of the QPM it is highly doubtful this strategy can be supported.

Ultimately the market will decide if they are correct or not. Without access to the sales data one cannot say for sure, but I get the impression that relatively few people bought into the QP2R and even less so the HB2 dock.

What Questyle does not appear to get is that, beyond sound quality, features that were seen as a "nice to have" just a few years ago (speedy performance, great interface, nice screen, streaming from on-line services) are rapidly becoming minimum requirements in today's market ... regardless of price point. In generally users would prefer not having to stack their cell phone with a dac. Moreover, other companies have already shown that a high level of sound quality can be achieved from an all in one unit while still offering a competitive feature set.

If the lack of action on this thread is any indication, Questyle has an uphill fight on their hands, but maybe I'll be proven wrong.

 

[mwhals]

Tariffs will apply to electronic gear like the QPM. If this is the case, the USA price might be 25% higher. I ended up buying a QP2R. They are reduced by $400 at Moon Audio.

 

[40lb]

Tariffs will apply to electronic gear like the QPM. If this is the case, the USA price might be 25% higher. I ended up buying a QP2R. They are reduced by $400 at Moon Audio.

I really hope tariffs don't cause the price to rise. I already don't like the price difference from the QP2R and the QP master ($1300 vs $2000) when the difference is only the amp section. I really enjoy the QP2R and when I heard about this one I was looking forward to an upgrade but now I'm not so sure.

I think Questyle's angle on this is to promote their focus on sound quality and elimination of any feature that does not directly contribute to this goal. Keep it simple.

The implication is that it is not possible to have great sound quality and a competitive feature set at the price points at which they offer their various units. To access these features one must therefore use a phone with the QPM acting as dac/amplifier.

At the original price of the QP1R that thinking was probably true, but likely became less so with the QP2R. With the announced price and feature set of the QPM it is highly doubtful this strategy can be supported.

Ultimately the market will decide if they are correct or not. Without access to the sales data one cannot say for sure, but I get the impression that relatively few people bought into the QP2R and even less so the HB2 dock.

What Questyle does not appear to get is that, beyond sound quality, features that were seen as a "nice to have" just a few years ago (speedy performance, great interface, nice screen, streaming from on-line services) are rapidly becoming minimum requirements in today's market ... regardless of price point. In generally users would prefer not having to stack their cell phone with a dac. Moreover, other companies have already shown that a high level of sound quality can be achieved from an all in one unit while still offering a competitive feature set.

If the lack of action on this thread is any indication, Questyle has an uphill fight on their hands, but maybe I'll be proven wrong.

I agree with what you said, I think in the beginning Questyle may have been on the right track but in the long run, missed the mark. I don't need all the special features but I do understand where the market is going.

I'll probably get a QP Master after a price drop, if I do spend $2000 for a DAP it will mostly like not be on this one, I want to true upgrade.

 

[al1947]

Adding Bluetooth and WiFi will inevitably create some interference with the internal audio. So I see Questyle’s position on that. Connecting to smartphones is a decent compromise for streaming.

But to make a price bump worthwhile they should have done more upgrading of the audio system, such as going to dual DACs. Also, adopting the 4.4 standard for balanced output will make existing users have to re-terminate or replace 2.5 cables. Do they think they are Apple?

 

[brams]

Adding Bluetooth and WiFi will inevitably create some interference with the internal audio. So I see Questyle’s position on that. Connecting to smartphones is a decent compromise for streaming.

But to make a price bump worthwhile they should have done more upgrading of the audio system, such as going to dual DACs. Also, adopting the 4.4 standard for balanced output will make existing users have to re-terminate or replace 2.5 cables. Do they think they are Apple?

The interference argument is difficult to make in light of the measured and audible performance of the TOTL daps that do include these features. However, it is possible that Questyle's current amplification is more susceptible to interference than other designs.

I'm less concerned about dual dacs and the change to use the 4.4 balanced jack. What matters most is how the sound quality is audibly improved relative to the increased asking price. Making changes that improve measurements without audible benefits and charging a premium for it given the current selling price of the QP2R would be a disastrous move. In the interim the street price of some of the TOTL competition continues to fall.

The 2.5 to 4.4 jack issue can easily be solved by an inexpensive adapter that hopefully Questyle will provide.

On another note, it is interesting that the Questyle dap is featured prominently in ads for the Focal Utopia. Maybe Focal knows something that we don't ... or maybe Questyle just has a really good Marketing budget!

 

[headwhacker]

If they released a QP2R with 2 microSD slot and bigger internal storage and call in QP Master, I might bite.

But by the looks of it, it's difficult to justify getting the QPM. I see it a step backward from QP2R with a big bump in price. I feel like Questyle is trying to sell a snakeoil here.

I have both the QP1R/2R and DX200Ti. Depending on my use case, I don't see myself geting or wanting a new DAP. SQ, performance and features go I think I'm covered.

 

[mwhals]

I have a QP1R and QP2R with no need for another DAP. $2000 for what seems like a minor upgrade over the QP2R is too high priced. Tariffs might make it $2500.

 

[gonzfi]

Is there a release date for the DAP yet? In the UK that is...

 

[mwhals]

I do not know the release date. I heard June, then July, which is almost over. I know the first few manufactured will go to reviewers before any are available to consumers.

 

[astroid]

It is nice though eh

 

[mwhals]

It is nice though eh

It is probably nice, but because of it, I was able to buy a QP2R at a much lower price.

 

[gazzington]

So does anyone have it?