Activating the iPod's 3.5mm port meant unseating it from its Pure throne. This comparison proved brutally unkind to it even after the badly needed adjustment of its far weaker output signal had been administered fair and square with the speakers' own analog pot. The Questyle was vastly grippier, saturated, dense, dimensionally built out and emotionally communicative. Apple's take was pale, fuzzy, soft around the edges and strangely listless to point directly at its inferior output stage. 'Poorly aged' is the popular expression. The tabloids would say 'gone to seed' if it were a former movie star like Mickey Rourke. Hence there was no comparison. The QP1R KO'd the iPod a few seconds into the non match.

I was both shocked by the severity of this outcome; and tickled pink by confirming my dock-it credo's relevance with such dominance. I'd long suspected my iPods well past retirement age. But I'd failed to grasp just how overdue they really were to call it quits and pack it in. To be fair, I'd always tapped them digitally, transferring burden of conversion proof to superior external DACs. With the Cupid One, there simply was no need to have an external DAC. A basic active speaker with analog inputs is all you need. I confirmed this by routing Questyle digits to the speakers' 24/96 DAC via Toslink. I heard no advantages from that. Sometimes, simple really does it!


For my own purposes, the fact that the QP1R sounds truly brilliant with the gal from the expensive part of town would be a bonus. With it I'd take the desktop HifiMan HE1000 to the hammock and count stars whilst grooving to tunes. That is naturally completely beyond the iPod. If you're a frequent traveler to stay in more cheap hotel rooms than you care to count, a QP1R loaded with two 128GB cards accompanied by an HE1000 would set you up like audio royalty. This is one of those wickedly happy combos you'd never recognize on paper. The one which on specs and salubrious brochures looks the predestined slam dunk—Beyerdynamics' T5p, in my case even permanently rewired by ALO Audio—didn't convince. It was too bright and stark. Perhaps my aftermarket silver cable was to blame?

Minus the aiffing snafus—of certain .aif files prompting "non-supported format" errors—my time with Questyle's QP1R was pure pleasure. I don't know how much separates the R-rated from the $599 version. Diehard dockists who use external D/A conversion, to render a DAP mere portable memory with built-in card reader, OS and GUI, should have no reason to pay $899 for the 'R'. For those who focus on portafi applications, the 'R' sonically eclipses the now discontinued iPod Classic even on headphones which were well within the Apple's grasp. Then it adds drive for thirstier loads which were always far beyond the Classic's ken. Its eclipse continues with expanded memory, card-based firmware updates, hi-res/DSD support, absence of Apple's spinning drive, a sharper display and a straightforward digital output which requires no docks and licensing fees to Cupertino. Ditto for a generic micro USB port, not some bloody proprietary affair. (Incidentally, exploiting a wall charger's 5V/2A rating over a PC's 5V/450mA is said to cut charging time in half.) Its user interface and controls are a virtual stand-in for the iPod to involve no retraining of engrained habits. Finally, its physical execution and optical sex appeal are top drawer to even nail the fashion bling aspect of iPhone, Galaxy & Co. Now one must step back to consider who made this: not a mega corporation with unlimited resources but a smaller newer player. Wowie. Rather than reinvent the wheel, they placed the genre's apex predator under the microscope and set out to keep what was great already, then improve everything else they could. In that they have succeeded brilliantly. Why Apple vacated this game and never reissued a proper music-only iPod is for the pundits. That Questyle took up the slack to design and build a better iPod Classic is something all of us can see, appreciate and benefit from. This QP1R is the bomb. It's so not going back. My spare iPods will become back-up car units. There one of them already serves up USB digits to Volvo's fully integrated hifi. One Questyle is plenty to follow me around now; from desktop to balcony, from exercise bike to occasional hotel room, from airport to nightstand and back again ad infinitum. Sold!
Quality of packaging: Simple presentation box in familiar Apple style.
Completeness of delivery: Includes owner's manual, warranty card, micro USB cable, 50cm 3.5mm patch cord and mini Toslink plug.
Physical execution: Flawless luxury on par with top Samsung or Apple smartphones.
Complaints: The profile of the line-out had the 3.5mm plugs of all my patch cords retreat by about 1mm to lose contact. The bigger opening of the headfi port remedied that. More troubling was inexplicable refusal to read certain .aif files. I informed Questyle's international sales manager Olina Wu. Once a solution appears, I'll post an update here.
Suggestions: Author a matching dock with analog RCA outputs, Toslink/coax digital outputs and remote control to add standard iPod dock functionality. To go all out, add an HDMI output for an external monitor. This would convert the QP1R into a bona fide big-system battery-powered high-resolution streamer.

Questyle website
Review loan provider's EU website