A review of the Questyle QP2r player — in the spirit of fashion trends

The Company Questyle has taken a very interesting niche. He was never among the leaders at the «comments» at the forums, but have enjoyed stable demand among connoisseurs of sound. Interesting design, brand amp and fairly easy management made the model popular among the audiophiles, but for a long time to keep market share with one model will not work, so Questyle has released a new model QP2R.

The company clearly point out the recent trends, so the main update is related to the amplifier, he is now fully balanced, and the player provides the corresponding output. Took into account the shortcomings of usability, QP2R got separate buttons for navigating through tracks. In General, however, the case remains the same, the developers decided that the design received the iF Design Award, it just should not be changed.

Small pluses there are still a few changes in the ergonomics, which I will discuss below, and the older memory of the player. Of the minuses — removed one slot for MicroSD-cards and the older price, who wants to buy QP2R now have to part with .

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specifications

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• DAC: AKM AK4490
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• Output impedance: 0,1 Ω
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• frequency Range: 20 Hz – 20 kHz (±0.1 dB)
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• the Ratio signal/noise: 100 dB normal output, 102 dB balanced
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• Total harmonic distortion+noise: about 0.0006% at normal output, of 0.0005% on balance
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• Output level: 1,6 Vrms on a normal output, a 3.2 Vrms on balanced
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• the Power of a conventional output: 38 mW @ 32Ω, 9 mW @ 300Ω
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• Power balanced output: 70 mW @ 32Ω, 38 mW @ 300Ω
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• Support format: WAV, FLAC, WMA, MP3, OGG, AAC, ALAC, AIFF, DFF, DSF, APE
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• Max resolution: 384kHz/32bit, DSD up to DSD256
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• Entrance: USB Type C
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• Outputs: naushnikov 3.5 mm, 2.5 mm balanced
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• onboard memory: 64 GB
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• External memory: MicroSD
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• Battery: Li-Polymer, 3100 mAh, 3.7 V
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• hours on a single charge: ~10 hours
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• Screen: IPS and 2.4″
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• Dimensions: 65 mm × 134 mm × 14.5 mm
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• Weight: ~ 214 g

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Packing and delivery

Box QP2R made a little smaller than many of its competitors, but this did not prevent the designers to give it maximum «sensations premium». External dust cover white color hides the pack of black cardboard, drop into two equal compartments. In the right part lies with the player to the left accessories: adapter for S/PDIF output, fabric little pouch for storage of player and USB-C-wire. Also included are various instructions/garantiyku.

Disappointing lack of complete cover, so for the player, against the producers of the lower segments of the investing cases even to the players for 150-200 dollars like «housekeeping» Questyle looks doubtful.

By the Way, the company developed a beautiful dock with a remote control, is designed for those wishing to use a player with fixed appliances, it is very stylish and comfortable, but it also needs to be purchased separately.

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Design and control

As I wrote above, change the appearance of QP2R minimal. The size and shape of the body remained the same, too. In Questyle obviously inspired by the classic Apple in the face of the iPhone 4 and made a aluminium case with glass in the role of the front and rear panels. The player is available in gray and Golden colors, both look very nice. Naturally, glass panels how spectacular, is just as impractical. They collect fingerprints (easily scour due to the oleophobic coating) and are not durable, so the player is able to give some unforgettable, full of adrenaline moments during the flight on the tarmac due to retract past the pocket. In General, I recommend the book player along with a case. But on the other hand, like to hide in cover such beauty? Yeah, the dilemma.

The controls are spread on all surfaces of the player. On the left side I added three buttons for navigating through tracks and playback start/pause. They really improve the ergonomics of the player in the field of control «blind». The buttons are made of very high quality, with a nice click.

The Top face has two slots: 3.5 mm and 2.5 mm, both serve to connect the headphones, but more can still provide a digital signal via the supplied adapter. There is also the volume control knob is protected from accidental turn-by-turn protrusions of the housing. Adjusting the volume there are digital, use a good encoder, so the regulator rotates with a clear and well fixed with a few clicks.

On the right side hosts the power switch, it traditionally turns off the screen and blocks buttons, next to it is the indicator with the color BIAS selected.

On the bottom are the USB connector (supports USB-DAC) and slot for memory cards. Unfortunately, in the new model it is only one, apparently, is a compromise that had to go because of the complexity of the amplifier circuit (it is necessary to place in the body).

On the front panel all also quite expected: on top is the screen, it's not the brightest, in the sun it hard to read, but good resolution and bright colors in other situations, allows him to look «level». Under the screen is placed a steering wheel and 4 touch buttons: navigation, return back to the submenu — the standard pattern for Chinese players. Knowing that the touch of a button, though spectacular, but uncomfortable, Questyle has equipped the player with haptic feedback. In the second version they have improved this movement, now he looks more like haptic feedback devices from Apple (a bit simpler of course) that is good for the senses from its use.

In the first version of the player a lot of problems were caused by the wheel itself, the metal surface does not give reliable «gear», and the finger often just glided over it. In the second revision is taken into account and with a factory equipped with the Twister silicone sticker to improve contact. The encoder wheel is not bad, although the distance «between clicks» for my taste, a little too big. In the center of the wheel is traditionally the button of choice, it also serves to start the playback and pause. Wheel is associated with a small defect, it is imperfectly fixed in a vertical plane, and if you shake the player you can hear a small chatter. This operation does not hinder, but the image «top solutions» a little spoiled (although this problem is not deprived of much more expensive models A&K).

The Only thing worth mentioning in this section is time. In my traditional test (MEEAudio P1 in the role of loading, FLAC 44.1/16 as files Gain — medium, the volume to a comfortable level) the player worked 9 hours and 40 minutes. Separately want to note a fairly accurate indicator of battery charge is displayed in percentage and very closely matches the remaining operating time.

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Firmware

If the Soviet pilots instead of the heart was a flaming engine, QP2R it replaces Linux and the developers website proudly bears the logo of RedHat (though I doubt I used it). The same mind that gave steel hands uh… wings, made known to all Hiby.

The Stitching on one side came out fairly traditional, with another — it has some nice features.

Traditionally, after running the player on the screen there is a menu of 5 items.

Playing returns to the playback screen, where everything traditionally shown the cover, with the wheel you can enable the display of text (if there are tags) and extended track information. Button submenu allows you to add a track to favorites, playlist, remove, or toggle the playback order.

Category — media library, there is also no surprises, you can see all the tracks in one list, artists, albums, genres, or display a list of records in DSD.

Playlists — simple and austere, a list of your playlists.

Browse Files — browse tracks by folder. Here, too, runs the pop-up menu, is necessary mainly for removal of tracks/folders.

Settings settings. The first thing that draws attention here is the ability to hide some items. In Questyle rightly decided that flipping a long list of uncomfortable, so you can choose those items that you don't need and remove them from sight. The approach is sound, for example, why often switch the interface language or the font size?

In General, there are a lot of settings:

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• Language (there are Russian)
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• font Size
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• your home screen Wallpaper (4 options + random selection)
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• gain (3 levels)
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• BIAS (standard and enhanced)
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• Additional reinforcement for DSD (from 0 to 6 dB)
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• Equalizer (implemented well, but its inclusion still affects the sound quality)
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• Balance
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• the volume Level of the line out in the dock (or the maximum adjustable)
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• output Mode of this dock (analog or digital)
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• USB Mode (memory or DAC)
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• sleep Timer
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• Update library
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• Order of play
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• gapless Playback
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• memorizing the position and volume when switched off
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• the Direction of rotation of the volume control
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• does this control when the screen is locked
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• Brightness and working time backlight
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• does the lock screen the lower buttons on the front panel
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• Enable scrolling of the whole screen in the music list by using the bottom...