{"id":138665,"date":"2021-11-30T11:15:34","date_gmt":"2021-11-30T11:15:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.techweekmag.com\/?p=138665"},"modified":"2021-11-30T11:16:34","modified_gmt":"2021-11-30T11:16:34","slug":"questyle-cma-fifteen-built-in-es9038pro-and-four-current-amplifiers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.stereoindex.com\/tech\/hi-fi\/questyle-cma-fifteen-built-in-es9038pro-and-four-current-amplifiers\/","title":{"rendered":"Questyle CMA Fifteen: Built-in ES9038Pro and Four Current Amplifiers"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>To celebrate its 15th anniversary, Questyle has released the flagship DAC \/ headphone amplifier as well as the Questyle CMA Fifteen preamp. The name and circuitry of the amp continued the ideas of the previous flagship &#8211; CMA Twelve.<\/p>\n<p>The new product has an updated version of the DAC: now it is the leading ES9038Pro chipset from ESS &#8211; a 32-bit 8-channel device working with resolutions up to 32 bit \/ 768 kHz PCM or with native DSD512.\u00a0In addition, the new product supports full MQA decoding.<\/p>\n<figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.stereoindex.com\/tech\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/225_techweek.jpg\" width=\"1722\" height=\"327\" \/><figcaption><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>All this is assembled in a fully balanced circuitry, and the analogue part of the amp is implemented using Questyle proprietary technologies with current amplification. This is logical, since the analog outputs of the DAC are also built in this way. In total, CMA Fifteen uses four of the same discrete amplifier circuits. According to the manufacturer, they adapt perfectly to almost any impedance.<\/p>\n<div id=\"$SO_CL_1\" class=\"lfb__item lfb__item_large\"><\/div>\n<p>Via USB (with USB-C priority), the new product supports UAC 2.0 and connects to computers running Windows XP, Vista, 7, 8, 10, as well as Linux, Mac OS and more.\u00a0Also, CMA Fifteen is ready to work with smartphones that support OTG audio output.<\/p>\n<figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.stereoindex.com\/tech\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/226_techweek.jpg\" width=\"908\" height=\"760\" \/><figcaption><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<div id=\"$SO_CL_2\" class=\"lfb__item lfb__item_large\"><\/div>\n<p>Onboard Bluetooth module with LDAC is ready to accept resolutions up to 24 bit \/ 96 kHz.\u00a0Digital S \/ PDIF in optical and coaxial versions accept the maximum allowed 24 bit \/ 192 kHz.\u00a0Rounding out the picture is a pair of analog RCA inputs that were not available on the CMA Twelve &#8211; so the Questyle CMA Fifteen can be used as a preamp too.\u00a0The outputs are both balanced XLR and unbalanced RCA connectors.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-138666\" src=\"https:\/\/www.stereoindex.com\/tech\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/Pasted-33.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"960\" height=\"705\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.stereoindex.com\/tech\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/Pasted-33.jpg 960w, https:\/\/www.stereoindex.com\/tech\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/Pasted-33-800x588.jpg 800w, https:\/\/www.stereoindex.com\/tech\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/Pasted-33-909x668.jpg 909w, https:\/\/www.stereoindex.com\/tech\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/Pasted-33-432x317.jpg 432w, https:\/\/www.stereoindex.com\/tech\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/Pasted-33-560x411.jpg 560w, https:\/\/www.stereoindex.com\/tech\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/Pasted-33-750x551.jpg 750w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 960px) 100vw, 960px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Headphone outputs in three versions &#8211; unbalanced 6.35 mm, balanced 4.4 mm or 4-pin XLR &#8211; are artistically placed on the front of the cabinet.\u00a0CMA Fifteen boasts better THD + noise than 0.0003% for 300 ohms or 0.001% for 32 ohms.<\/p>\n<p>The body itself is made of 10 mm aluminum sheets, with a machining tolerance of \u00b1 0.02 mm &#8211; so the manufacturer has insured against unnecessary vibrations.\u00a0Case size: 330x200x55 mm.<\/p>\n<p>In the US, the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.questyle.com\/language\/en\/cmafifteen\/\">Questyle CMA Fifteen headphone DAC<\/a> is priced at $ 2,400.<\/p>\n<p>[ratemypost]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>To celebrate its 15th anniversary, Questyle has released the flagship DAC \/ headphone amplifier as well as the Questyle CMA Fifteen preamp. The name and circuitry of the amp continued the ideas of the previous flagship &#8211; CMA Twelve. The new product has an updated version of the DAC: now it is the leading ES9038Pro [&hellip;] <a class=\"g1-link g1-link-more\" href=\"https:\/\/www.stereoindex.com\/tech\/hi-fi\/questyle-cma-fifteen-built-in-es9038pro-and-four-current-amplifiers\/\">More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10404,"featured_media":138667,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[642],"tags":[779],"class_list":{"0":"post-138665","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-hi-fi","8":"tag-news"},"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.stereoindex.com\/tech\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/138665","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.stereoindex.com\/tech\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.stereoindex.com\/tech\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.stereoindex.com\/tech\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10404"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.stereoindex.com\/tech\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=138665"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.stereoindex.com\/tech\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/138665\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.stereoindex.com\/tech\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/138667"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.stereoindex.com\/tech\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=138665"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.stereoindex.com\/tech\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=138665"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.stereoindex.com\/tech\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=138665"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}