Agreed, there's just far too much going on with QP2R + Utopia: Empyrean, or D8000, provide a much more engaging pairing with the QP2R, i.m.o.I'd have to disagree with the lacking musicality sentiment. The QP2R is plenty musical, but it's also a high performing technical beast. I think what you are saying is that you prefer a warmer sounding DAP with your headphones. Given that your main headphone is a treble cannon (Focal Utopia), you probably need something warmer to tone down the excesses on the Utopia. Sony tends to have a warm smooth sound on their DAPs that is probably a good match for the hot treble of the Utopia and other headphones like it. The Utopia is hyper detailed, but somewhat artificially so. I found it fatiguing when I went for more detail oriented setups. For features, there is no doubt that the Sony has a better user interface and more features, but the QP2R can play harder to drive headphones than Sony can due to the substantial differences in current. With your current setup, you don't need that, so Sony WM1A is probably a better value proposition for you. It won't be for everyone. The Sony also uses the 4.4mm balanced connector, which is objectively better than the 2.5mm connector. Happy listening!
Extracting a line level output from the QP2R can be a p.i.t.a., unless you're willing to fork out for HB2 or SHB2. I've tried half a dozen or more adapter cables, none of which have worked!Yes, used almost exclusively balanced mode and high bias. Basically I found it lacking in musicality vs the QP1R, and I understand that my assessment is subjective. Bear in mind that I'm not nor have even been an IEM user, so I can't speak to the QP2R's merits in that category. Also, I was really disappointed in the dropping of line-out mode; in fact, that caught me by surprise when I purchased the QP2R (I should have researched it better). Again, speaking from the point of view of full-size headphones (the Campfire Audio Cascade being my current and possibly all-time favorite in the portable/take-to-work category), the AK Kann in my experience is the only DAP with the power chops to stand alone, and with musicality to boot. But not to digress, the QP1R matched beautifully with my Headamp Pico Power and iQube V1... the line-out feature is more than a nice to have, I've always thought.