[reddog]

Arg I shall order this amazing DAP, in late November, damn this amazing addicting hobby. Thank the fates, I can turn up the volume on my wonderful rig, so I need not hear the sobbing lamentations of my throttled wallet. Hehe I guess I can go the route of socratese and start to teach the youth to think independently. Hmmm where is my fresh cup of bitter sweet hemlock. Sometimes it be great to be a gnarly gadfly bitting the succulent, magnificent, hubris filled rump of society, in carthatic glory. Hmmm too good not to bite.

 

[gnidrolog]

Quick update from me as I have been a little quiet, the main thing that staggers me at this price point is just how clean the amplification stage is... I bought a Vorzuge Pure II+ to clean up the output of the ARM2 that I've been using, and that works a treat, but the headphone out of the QP1R is arguably even better than this TOTL portable amp!!

I do not believe that up to this point I've ever heard of a device that sounds better unamped, but there is a first time for everything!

I'm looking forward to receiving a mature firmware at some point soon so that I can review / form formal opinions, however short of the R&D folk at Questyle really borking that, I maintain most strongly that this will be the player to beat in 2015, 2016 and maybe beyond!

The heavier hitters in the DAP market should be running scared!

 
 

 
I wholeheartedly agree. I remember listening back to back with your AR-M2/Vorzuge amp and my QP1R and arrived at similar results as you.

I was reluctant to compare the QP1R to portable or desktop amps, but now that I have been able to compare a few, the QP1R does very well against portable and dedicated desktop amps. I'll be adding a few more amps and DAPs to the review as well in the near future.

Although Duncan wrote earlier on Vorzuge Pure II thread that this HP amp adds to the SQ of the QP1R also I'm glad to hear how good is HP out of this DAP. Sounds very promising.
I was thinking of buying Pure II+ to upgrade my Cayin C5 but I'd rather go for a new DAP which can meet my satisfaction unamped.
1 question> Does QP1R have enough juice to make sing Alpha Dog (that I own) or Alpha Prime? Not mentioned in moedawg140 exceptional review.
Cheers!

 

[moedawg140]

   
 

Although Duncan wrote earlier on Vorzuge Pure II thread that this HP amp adds to the SQ of the QP1R also I'm glad to hear how good is HP out of this DAP. Sounds very promising.
I was thinking of buying Pure II+ to upgrade my Cayin C5 but I'd rather go for a new DAP which can meet my satisfaction unamped.
1 question> Does QP1R have enough juice to make sing Alpha Dog (that I own) or Alpha Prime? Not mentioned in moedawg140 exceptional review.
Cheers!

 
According to what I have read, both the Alpha Prime and Alpha Dog has 50‎‎Ω impedance, so on paper there shouldn't be an issue with the QP1R driving the Alpha Prime and/or Alpha Dog (do not quote me though).  I have powered difficult to drive 600‎Ω heaphones with my QP1R, and even those were able to be powered to normal listening levels.  Comparatively, the ETHER C is easy to drive and reaches loud to very loud noise levels, and the ETHER's 23‎Ω rating is very easy to drive, and reaches ear-blistering noise levels.  Hope this helps!

 

[NZtechfreak]

In my experience the impedance has a lot less to do with the ease of driving a headphone than the sensitivity rating. I can't recall the link exactly, but there is a website that'll calculate the power needed to drive a given headphone to a particular target volume (usually people are looking at the power needed to drive a headphone to a 120dB transient peak).

My HE6 has a 50ohm impedance...

 

[moedawg140]

Thanks for the post.  The ETHER has 96 dB sensitivity, the Alpha Prime has 90 dB sensitivity, and the Alpha Dog has 98 dB sensitivity, so on paper the Alpha Prime and Alpha Dog should be able to be driven with relative ease (especially the Alpha Dog).
 
To tell you the truth, I don't even like to use numbers when determining the loudness/volume output of something when I haven't listened to it (I do measure output dB, though) - I just plug the headphones into my QP1R and let my ears decide how loud they can really get.

 

[NZtechfreak]

Thanks for the post.  The ETHER has 96 dB sensitivity, the Alpha Prime has 90 dB sensitivity, and the Alpha Dog has 98 dB sensitivity, so on paper the Alpha Prime and Alpha Dog should be able to be driven with relative ease (especially the Alpha Dog).

To tell you the truth, I don't even like to use numbers when determining the loudness/volume output of something when I haven't listened to it (I do measure output dB, though) - I just plug the headphones into my QP1R and let my ears decide how loud they can really get.

Dan rates the Ether a good pairing for the QP1R, so I'd say from a power point of view the Dog at 98 should indeed be fine. The Prime is quite a lot harder to drive, given its not a linear relationship, I'd have reservations on paper where that pairing is concerned. Of course if one has the opportunity one should listen and decide for themselves, as you say.

Edit: Running the numbers - if you want the headroom to hit a 120dB transient peak without clipping, the Dog wants 160mW, whereas the Prime wants 1W. Power requirements to hit average listening volumes of course much lower, but without the headroom you're going to have issues on well recorded music with decent dynamic ranges (classical listeners need not apply).

 

[moedawg140]

Dan rates the Ether a good pairing for the QP1R, so I'd say from a power point of view the Dog at 98 should indeed be fine. The Prime is quite a lot harder to drive, given its not a linear relationship, I'd have reservations on paper where that pairing is concerned. Of course if one has the opportunity one should listen and decide for themselves, as you say.

Edit: Running the numbers - if you want the headroom to hit a 120dB transient peak without clipping, the Dog wants 160mW, whereas the Prime wants 1W. Power requirements to hit average listening volumes of course much lower, but without the headroom you're going to have issues on well recorded music with decent dynamic ranges (classical listeners need not apply).

 
Thanks for the numbers.  The ETHER is a great pairing with the QP1R, and the ETHER C is a very good pairing, as it reaches slightly lower noise levels than the ETHER, but still reaches plenty loud levels, respectably.  Looks like I'll need to try out both the Alpha Dog and Alpha Prime with the QP1R, listen, and take some measurements!  I'm happy that everything I've thrown at the QP1R so far has been able to handle very well for the most part! 

 

[NZtechfreak]

I plan to use with Ether and Ether C, T5p and Pandora Hope VI, so it'll certainly do nicely for me

 

[moedawg140]

I plan to use with Ether and Ether C, T5p and Pandora Hope VI, so it'll certainly do nicely for me

 
Oh yes, you will be good to go! 

 

[DGCFAD]

   
Thanks; that helps. The Questyle is a lot less expensive too. Decision getting easier already.
 
 
Any chance we'll see usb DAC functionality and MQA compatibility added to the QP1R?
 

USB DAC functionality would require a hardware change and therefore will have to wait for a future product. I do not believe that the CS4398 supports MQA.

 

[NZtechfreak]

USB DAC functionality would require a hardware change and therefore will have to wait for a future product. I do not believe that the CS4398 supports MQA.

Shame, that would have been icing on the cake. Not a deal breaker for me, but might be for some.

 

[moedawg140]

I added some updates to the QP1R review.  The updates are as follows:
 
 
Updated the section: 

(Q10) Power, THD+N and SQ comparisons
 
 
Added sources/DAPs:

(S7) VOXX International Corporation Acoustic Research AR-M2
(S8) Caylx Audio Caylx M
(S9) Hidizs Technology Corporation Hidizs AP100
(S10) iBasso DX100
 
 
Added headphones:

(H30) oBravo Audio HAMT-1
(H31) Pioneer SE-MASTER1
(H32) Ultrasone Edition 5 Limited
(H33) Ultrasone Edition 10 Limited
 
Hope you enjoy the read!

 

[gr8soundz]

Great work. Extremely thorough review.
 
Good to see how my R10 (DX100) compares to the Questyle.
 

 

[Ike1985]

Wow....Bet the Ak380 people are wishing they didn't buy one after this:
 
"I also had a person conduct a blind test to find out which DAP I thought sounded more coherent and resolving - playing the same song at around the same time intervals and volume.  After the test, I concluded the QP1R was clearer, crisper in presentation, more spacious, had more pinpointing and spatial qualities, and had an overall more coherent and resolving sound than the AK380.  On the other hand, I concluded the AK380 was warmer, more syrupy and had more grain compared to the highly detailed and faster sound of the QP1R.  I was not the only person to notice these findings as well when they compared the sound of the AK380 to the QP1R."
 
Currently, I'm looking at either the ZX2 or the QP1R.  I fhte QP1R had an internet browser so I could listen to youtube albums(how I discover new music), I'd be sold on the QP1R.
 
You seem to be quite the collector of ciems/headphones, when are you getting the ADEL A12's?  I think the pairing with the QPR1 would be glorious for a detail fanatic since the ADEL module provides insane detail and instrument separation.
 
Excellent review, can't believe you're not being paid for this-you're working hard enough to be paid for it! =P

 

[mscott58]

Wow....Bet the Ak380 people are wishing they didn't buy one after this:

"I also had a person conduct a blind test to find out which DAP I thought sounded more coherent and resolving - playing the same song at around the same time intervals and volume.  After the test, I concluded the QP1R was clearer, crisper in presentation, more spacious, had more pinpointing and spatial qualities, and had an overall more coherent and resolving sound than the AK380.  On the other hand, I concluded the AK380 was warmer, more syrupy and had more grain compared to the highly detailed and faster sound of the QP1R.  I was not the only person to notice these findings as well when they compared the sound of the AK380 to the QP1R."

Currently, I'm looking at either the ZX2 or the QP1R.  I fhte QP1R had an internet browser so I could listen to youtube albums(how I discover new music), I'd be sold on the QP1R.

You seem to be quite the collector of ciems/headphones, when are you getting the ADEL A12's?  I think the pairing with the QPR1 would be glorious for a detail fanatic since the ADEL module provides insane detail and instrument separation.

Excellent review, can't believe you're not being paid for this-you're working hard enough to be paid for it! =P

Guess it depends if you like your audio crisp or syrupy!