[brams]

Interesting ... At least we know Questyle is still alive! I don't think Focal would continue offering Questyle product in their package if there was a chance Focal would be stuck with warranty units. They most also think highly of the Questyle units to offer them with their flagship headphone. I'm willing to bet they could have partnered with just about any DAP supplier who did not sell their own brand of TOTL headphone.

 

[Jwm48324]

I first heard the QPM at AXPONA 2019 and thought it was good. I have the Hifiman HM901S, had the N8 and heard the Sony NW-WM1Z. I just got the QPM two days ago. It is fantastic. It is very open but also musical at the same time. No question it is way better than the N8. It sounds great on every headphone of mine the best closed back Sony headphones and the best In ear sony headphones can't remember the model numbers as well as my Hifiman 1000 full range headphones. It would have been nice if it had a bigger screen, but oh well.

 

[Quadfather]

I first heard the QPM at AXPONA 2019 and thought it was good. I have the Hifiman HM901S, had the N8 and heard the Sony NW-WM1Z. I just got the QPM two days ago. It is fantastic. It is very open but also musical at the same time. No question it is way better than the N8. It sounds great on every headphone of mine the best closed back Sony headphones and the best In ear sony headphones can't remember the model numbers as well as my Hifiman 1000 full range headphones. It would have been nice if it had a bigger screen, but oh well.

I would love to see pictures uploaded that show how the album art displays, because the earlier models cut part of the album covers off.

 

[al1947]

I'm willing to bet they could have partnered with just about any DAP supplier who did not sell their own brand of TOTL headphone.

Of course, that criteria eliminates Astell & Kern and Sony DAPs

 

[john1711]

I first heard the QPM at AXPONA 2019 and thought it was good. I have the Hifiman HM901S, had the N8 and heard the Sony NW-WM1Z. I just got the QPM two days ago. It is fantastic. It is very open but also musical at the same time. No question it is way better than the N8. It sounds great on every headphone of mine the best closed back Sony headphones and the best In ear sony headphones can't remember the model numbers as well as my Hifiman 1000 full range headphones. It would have been nice if it had a bigger screen, but oh well.

Wow! It beats the N8? That makes it a bargain. I auditioned it myself at a dealer who found the QPM a bit dry sounding, which is my opinion as well.

 

[Jwm48324]

First a short demo does not cut it. It has to be set to high bias class a. To me Astell and Kern has always sounded dry to me. If you think this is dry you probably would like the Sony.

 

[brams]

Wow! It beats the N8? That makes it a bargain. I auditioned it myself at a dealer who found the QPM a bit dry sounding, which is my opinion as well.

If by "Dry" you mean the impression that the unit is not embellishing the signal in any way I would have to agree. I think the unit is as close to neutral as Questyle could get it. The implication is that they wanted to produce a product that when paired with the "Super Source System" (SHB2 hub) could be used by studio professionals (explains the Studio mode setting on the hub).

However if by "Dry" you mean the audiophile sense of a somewhat bland, bright presentation lacking in overtones and richness, my impression differs a bit. While the midrange is definitely more open and less warm than I remember the QP2r to be, the QPM avoids sounding bland due to the extreme blackness of its background, superb micro detail and sense of speed that avoids digital "edge" on transients. This leads (in my opinion) to an impression of more definition at the extremes, a very "analog like" presentation (meaning very smooth with no loss of detail) and avoids a sound that I would typically characterize as "Dry".

Of course we all hear a bit differently and put different weight on sonic traits so I certainly respect that your impression is as valid as mine.

I typically use mine on balanced, class A high bias as well and agree that a relatively quick demo is likely to hide these performance traits. This is definitely a unit that impresses more over time.

 

[cytoSiN]

I really should just unsub to this thread...I'm interested in spite of myself and my experience with what is now a brick of a QP2R that cannot be repaired without third parties in China for some reason.

 

[john1711]

If by "Dry" you mean the impression that the unit is not embellishing the signal in any way I would have to agree. I think the unit is as close to neutral as Questyle could get it. The implication is that they wanted to produce a product that when paired with the "Super Source System" (SHB2 hub) could be used by studio professionals (explains the Studio mode setting on the hub).

However if by "Dry" you mean the audiophile sense of a somewhat bland, bright presentation lacking in overtones and richness, my impression differs a bit. While the midrange is definitely more open and less warm than I remember the QP2r to be, the QPM avoids sounding bland due to the extreme blackness of its background, superb micro detail and sense of speed that avoids digital "edge" on transients. This leads (in my opinion) to an impression of more definition at the extremes, a very "analog like" presentation (meaning very smooth with no loss of detail) and avoids a sound that I would typically characterize as "Dry".

Of course we all hear a bit differently and put different weight on sonic traits so I certainly respect that your impression is as valid as mine.

I typically use mine on balanced, class A high bias as well and agree that a relatively quick demo is likely to hide these performance traits. This is definitely a unit that impresses more over time.

I borrowed a unit home to audition overnight and tried very hard to like it. My acid test for DAPs is 80s mainstream pop. On Simply Red’s “Holding Back The Years”, the guitar fade-out in the mix sounded unnaturally abrupt and that was the deal breaker for me.

 

[gazzington]

Not many people have bought this? If questyle were supported in the uk I'd probably get one. Love qp2r

 

[mwhals]

Not many people have bought this? If questyle were supported in the uk I'd probably get one. Love qp2r

The QP1R thread had a lot of replies, the QP2R significantly less and the QPM even less again. I don’t believe many have bought it. I still have and use my QP1R and QP2R and they both sound great.

I think the lack of support people claim is the reason. Personally, I had good support from Bruce Ball and had many good conversations with him last year. He never answered the last time I contacted him, so it is like Questyle dropped off the face of the planet in America.

 

[brams]

Speculation only: it appears many distributors were put off by the price and expected margins given the lack of wireless features which many have come to expect based on the feature set of very good sounding, recently released players. I suspect this is what has contributed to North American and many European distributors dropping the product. With no distribution there is no marketing or ability for users to judge for themselves if the single mindedness focus on sound quality at the expense of features is justified.

I fell into the camp of thinking the price to feature ratio did not make sense and without hearing the unit would not have bought it at anywhere near the targetted selling price.

Now that I have been able to buy a distributor demo unit at a significantly reduced price, after using it I must say that the targetted selling price was probably correct based on sound quality alone in comparison to the selling price vs feature set of previously released flagship players. However there is one caveat: in today's market if this was widely distributed I think it would likely only have appealed to the very small segment of the enthusiast market who value performance over everything else. Basically the unit was priced for yesterday's market.

The truth is that in today's market the vast majority of users are willing to give up the last little bit of performance in exchange for the ability to stream high res music to the unit without needing an additional device. In this regard I think Questyle's decision to design such a product is behind the times and the decision of distributors to drop the unit was probably correct.

Streaming is supposed to be accessible via a usb connection to a cell phone. I have only spent a short time trying to get that feature to work, but never did and have not cared since all of my listening is via files saved to a memory card. I will spend more time trying to get this feature working, but even if it does a wired connection would still be required. This is NOT acceptable in today's market.

For the price I paid and my use case I am extremely happy given the sonic performance. At full price I think most buyers would not be based on the ommision of what I believe are key features for today's market.

Hope that is helpful.

 

[john1711]

Hi Brams, thanks for sharing your thoughts on the QPM. Have you compared the QPM to other flagships such as the LPGT and N8? I have both, and am curious if the QPM brings something to the table that the other flagships don't.

 

[gazzington]

I thought that the qp2r know so alone was up there with the flagships.

 

[brams]

Hi Brams, thanks for sharing your thoughts on the QPM. Have you compared the QPM to other flagships such as the LPGT and N8? I have both, and am curious if the QPM brings something to the table that the other flagships don't.

I have heard a few other flagships, but have not had an opportunity to compare directly to the QPM. However, I did own the QP2r for years, and sold it the same day I received the QPM. My comments on the performance of the QPM are therefore based on the following:

1. Aural memory of my impressions of the other devices (sketchy at best)
2. Impressions from those on-line who have compared the QP2r to flagship models (only slightly less sketchy)
3. My very brief comparison of the QP2r to the QPM before I had to ship the QP2r (eye opening, but probably biased to justify my purchase)
4. The detailed impressions of a high end Questyle dealer who did have a chance to compare the QP2r at length to the QPM (informative since this dealer ended dropping the line despite their very positive impression of the QPM relative to the QP2r and the flagship Astell & Ultima model for which they were also a dealer)
5. A 4 hour comparison of the QPM driving various headphones at the same dealer to the DCS Bartok (the QPM was not embarrased in any way especially when driving the new OraSound Graphene Q)
6. Ongoing comparison of the QPM to my desktop setup which has various transports driving COS Engineering H1, Woo Audio WA22se and Bakoon amplification (reinforces every day just how good the QPM really is)

Yes, the QPM performs at a very high level. It excels in the reproduction of tone and especially in the very natural way detail is presented. It also appears to drive difficult loads more easily than its output numbers would suggest.

Not wanting to derail this thread, but how do you like the N8? I came very close to buying it at one time.