We’ve been a little hot on Questyle’s products ever since our [review] of the CMA 800R headphone amplifier. The “current mode” amplification of the headphone separate really sounded sweet to the ears. At CanJam SoCal Bruce Ball of Questyle Audio Technology Co. Ltd. had the newest version of their upcoming portable player called the QP1 that promises some of that same “current” magic in a handheld form.
Bruce’s room on the third floor featured a solid representation of the company’s entire product line. Aside from its headphone sensibilities, the China-based company manufactures wireless amplifiers and also DAC components.
The full-sized rig featured at CanJam was topped off with ENIGMAcoustics Mythology M1 bookshelf loudspeaker and Sopranino electrostatic tweeter.
In addition to the CMA 800R headphone amplifier, Questyle offers a few alternate combinations for plugging into their house sound. The DSD-friendly CAS192D DAC by Questyle sports a Wolfson WM8741 DAC chip and retails for $1,999 and the CMA800i ($2,495) acts as a combination of sorts offering both a DAC and head amp under one roof.
But the real buzz about town was the new portable poised to strike at the growing DAP market and personal audio. The 16G QP1 and 32G QP1R should start shipping near the end of April and be available in Apple-ish gold and space grey colors. Sporting both DSD compatibility and current mode headphone amplification help makes these guys one of the DAPs to keep an eye on. The QP1 should retail around $600 while the QP1 Pro will be in the $900 range. Those interested in the pre order should check out the Questyle Facebook page [here] for more details and information.