Questyle M12 | Portable DAC and Amp

This review will compare the Questyle M12, Shanling UA3, and Dragonfly Black.

All are on the warmer side and all are very enjoyable.

The Questyle M12 is a strangely small, but also strangely powerful unit. There must be something to the idea of amplifying current rather than voltage. Although the M12 produced only 27 mW at 32 ohms versus the UA3's 211 nW at 32 ohms, in balanced mode, the M12 is very, very noticeably more powerful.

Thanks to the peculiarities of Tidal's desktop app and Windows 10, I have accidentally blasted myself with the full power of the M12. I would not recommend this as it is truly painful. I believe that if the same thing happened with the UA3 or Dragonfly, it would be uncomfortable, but no where near as loud.

The UA3 has a more loose and full lower end and treble seems to taper off a little more. It produces a very nice soundstage, particularly in balanced mode.

Instruments have a little more body on the UA3 than the M12.

The Dragonfly Black also has a fuller and looser low end, with less treble energy than the UA3. There is a bit of compression in the midrange. The soundstage is not particularly holographic.

The M12's sound is characterized by an extraordinarily taught presentation (not hard, but taught, like a guitar string) that is extremely clean and detailed. Bass, midrange, and treble all sound far more clean and balanced, with incredible levels of detail.

As someone who is treble-sensitive, I am impressed that Questyle managed to create an amp that highlights treble without ever veering into sibilance in any way.

It is absolutely possible to pick out individual instruments and locate them in the soundstage. The taughtness of the amp's delivery is hard to describe, but the amp just never seems to struggle and the sound is very alive.

I am primarily using them with the Sennheiser 58x and Koss Porta Pro with Yaxi pads, but I have also run a pair of Sennheiser 420 cans that I bought in the late 1970s. Those are 600 ohm and do not seem to be very efficient. Most amps do not handle them well.

The M12 played musically through all of them and without even a hint of strain. The Senn 420s have never sounded so good and I had no problem whatsoever driving them.

Treble on the 58x and Porta Pros seems to be more emphasized, but always in a good way. Both are excellent pairings. The M12 plus the Porta Pros/Yaxi pads make a fun and engaging portable rig at a bargain price.

On my phone, I am at about 75% power when playing the M12 loudly on the 58x, but on a Windows laptop I keep the volume at about 20-25%.

The UA3 gets noticeably warmer than the M12, which produces almost no heat, much like the power-sipping Dragonfly Black.

The M12 does use battery power at a higher rate than the UA3 or Dragonfly, which is to be expected given its output abilities.

The only other criticisms that I have are that the M12 makes a small thump at power up and it works best with the included USB-C cables. Using an Anker series 5 USB-C resulted in the amp sometimes disconnecting from my phone when moving around. The included cable almost clicks into place and seems more stable.

Would I purchase the M12 again? Yes, absolutely. Questyle managed to balance detail with warmth and musicality. It has a unique clarity. I enjoy all three of these amps, but I am using the M12 more than the other two.

Highly recommended!

Paired with campfire audio iems the sound is open and full. Great soundstage. Gives new life to really good headphones making them better😊

I spent a month doing research for a lite weight better sounding system for a on the go music rig. After settling on (and purchasing) the top four contenders it became obvious that the Questyle M12 was the winner. It adds to the listening experience without substantial battery usage and bulk.

It is very compact and is a very clean dac/amp for mid-range to entry high-end headphones. I used HD 650 S and it get very loud without distortion. Great buy!

Questyle M12 | Portable DAC and Amp