Australian HiFi — May-June 2017

82 Australian Hi-Fi http://www.avhub.com.au

LAB REPORT Questyle Reference System Golden Edition

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Test Measured Result Units/Comment

Frequency Response @ 1 watt o/p <1Hz – 69kHz –1dB

Frequency Response @ 1 watt o/p <1Hz – 110kHz –3dB

Channel Separation (dB) 116dB / 116dB / 106dB (20Hz / 1kHz / 20kHz)

Channel Balance 0.054 dB @ 1kHz

Interchannel Phase 0.01 / 0.50 / 0.94 degrees ( 20Hz / 1kHz / 20kHz)

THD+N 0.009% @ 1-volt

Signal-to-Noise (unwghted/wghted) 101dB dB referred to 1-volt output

Signal-to-Noise (unwghted/wghted) 107dBA dB referred to 1-volt output

Input Sensitivity 500mV for 962mV out

Gain 5.68dB at 1kHz

Damping Factor 0 @1kHz

Power Consumption 8.83 watts

The phase for the AES-17 signals was

graphed, but since the trace was just a

straight line across the 0 degree calibration,

I thought I’d omit it to save space. Signal-

to-noise ratios were exceptionally good, at

105dB without weighting, improving to

109dB with A-weighting for CD-standard

signals and 111.744dB with CCIR-RMS

weighting for AES-17 test signals.

Although a de-emphasis option is fi tted to

the DAC Questyle is using in the CAS192D,

it has not been implemented, so if you’re

playing CDs that were manufactured prior

to 1990 that have been emphasised, they’ll

sound a little bright in the high frequencies,

but that will be the only consequence.

The effect on the time domain of the

different digital fi lter options fi tted to the

Questyle CAS192D varies from subtle to

dramatic depending on the fi lter option you

choose and the digital signal you’re using, so

there too many variables to be able to illus-

trate them all in the space I have available.

However I have included two of the oscillo-

grams taken by Newport Test Labs that show

the affect on a square wave of using an FIR

apodising fi lter (top image) and a IIR fi lter.

The Questyle CAS192D puts out nearly

5 volts at its XLR outputs, which will be

more than suffi cient to correctly drive any

ancillary equipment, and obviously perfectly

suited to other Questyle components. The

power consumption in standby is quite high

(3.66-watts), so it’s not really what I’d call a

‘Standby’ power mode at all, but it consumes

so little power that leaving it in Standby

mode is not going to impact on your power

utility bill.

All three of these Questyle components

delivered superb performance on the test

bench. I was seriously impressed by all

three, but probably most of all by the

CAS192D. Steve Holding

Readers should note that the all results mentioned,

tabulated and/or displayed should be construed as

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