ON TEST
40 Australian Hi-Fi http://www.avhub.com.au
Questyle Reference System Golden Edition
Questyle correctly points out in its manual
that: ‘Vibrating objects in nature produce a
soundwave which has similar features to the
IIR digital fi lter. There is no pre-ring before the
vibration and the vibration amplitude decreases
gradually after the vibration’ ... but fails to add
that in nature, eventually to zero!
Questyle’s oversampling circuitry is very
clever. To avoid repeating decimals and
associated rounding errors, as well as jitter,
it uses two clocks, rather than just a single
clock, so that 44.1kHz and 48kHz signals are
only upsampled four times (from 44.1kHz to
176.4kHz and from 48kHz to 192kHz), while
96kHz signals will be upsampled only twice...
assuming you choose to upsample at all).
For the sake of completeness, I should point
out that the Questyle has a third clock, used
for the USB input. The power supply uses a
custom Plitron toroidal transformer, Schottky
rectifi er, Nichicon 2200μF (×22) FG capaci-
tors, and 22 power regulators.
The Questyle CAS192D DAC has three
digital inputs: optical (Toslink), SPDIF (RCA)
and USB (Type B). The omission of an AES/
EBU input is surprising, particularly since
there’s plenty of room on the rear panel, but
not without precedent on a DAC intended
for home use. There are two sets of analogue
outputs: balanced via XLR or unbalanced via
RCA.
But whereas the DAC has ample inputs and
outputs, the Questyle CMA800P preampli-
fi er is almost bereft of them, with only two
inputs (one balanced, the other unbalanced)
and only two outputs, balanced (via XLR)
and unbalanced (via RCA).
The CMA800R is also shy on inputs,
but this time there are three: balanced and
unbalanced stereo inputs, plus a single ‘full
balanced mono’ input (used when using the
CMA800R as a monobloc) and two unbal-
anced outputs (via RCA). On the front panel
are two unbalanced 6.35mm ‘phone jacks, so
you can drive two pairs of headphones, plus
a single balanced output for driving one side
of a pair of headphones wired in dual-mono
mode.
If you fi nd yourself confused by the wiring
instructions in the CMA800R manual, it’sbecause Questyle has used the wrong rear
panel diagram. Instead of being a diagram
of the CMA800R, it’s one of the rear panel
of the CAS192D. Questyle has also made an
error with the test report that accompanies
each CMA800R. Whereas the company says
it tests ‘over 30 factors of specifi cations before
being shipped out’, with a test report being ‘put
into carton box’, the only thing in the carton
is a generic, mass-produced card that has two
generic pre-printed graphs (THD vs. Voltage
and a Frequency Response) plus two QC
stamps. That is, the test report enclosed in
the box is not that of the specifi c model you
have purchased.
Although the components look ‘full-size’
in the illustrations accompanying this review,
each one is only 330mm wide, 300mm deep
and 55mm high. This sizing is because Que-
style regards these as ‘desktop’ components,
and the system as a ‘Desktop’ Reference
System. Each component is available in either
silver or gold fi nish but, as noted earlier,
only components with the gold fi nish have
the Rogers ceramic PCBs and the upgraded,
hand-selected internal components. Due to
the quality of these components, and the
price of each one, I was surprised at the brevi-
ty of the warranty period.IN USE AND LISTENING
SESSIONS
When I fi rst unpacked the Questyle Reference
System Golden Edition system, it appeared
to me that the CMA800P was ‘superfl uous
to requirements’, because since there is only
one ‘source’ component, it would make more
sense to connect the CAS192D directly to the
two CMA800R headphone amplifi ers, thus
improving the performance (eliminating su-
perfl uous circuitry, no matter how good, will
always reduce noise and distortion) and si-
multaneously reducing the price of the com-
bo and lowering the height of the stack. This
made even more sense to me because whereas
in other systems removing a pre-amplifi er
would also prevent you switching between
multiple components, using processor loops,
and maybe even allowing control over bass,
treble and balance, none of these