Select comparisons
To contextualize HP-10’s approach, I’ve compared it against two accomplished desktop all-in-ones that represent different philosophies: FiiO’s feature-dense K17 and Questyle’s precision-built CMA Eighteen Master.
Fiio K17
K17 presents as retro-modern hi-fi for the desk. Metalwork is solid, the touchscreen and twin dials give it a purposeful façade, and the chassis feels reassuring in weight. The look leans fun rather than formal, while HP-10’s milled aluminium and narrower footprint feel simpler yet significantly more premium by comparison.
K17 is an eager digital hub, with dual AKM DAC, discrete Class-AB amplification, Wi-Fi and Ethernet, Bluetooth, Roon readiness, extensive digital inputs and both balanced and single-ended outs. It also features a 31-band PEQ.
Day to day the touchscreen is approachable, the remote covers the basics, although local file browsing is utilitarian. Most owners would rely on streaming and be happy.
HP-10 Deluxe takes a different path. Its primary use-case is through analog input, adds high-resolution USB-C input from external sources, and shifts all tone-shaping to the analogue domain.
Sonically, they differ in temperament and tone: Fiio lighter and more easy-going, Gold Note firmer, deeper, and more emotionally refined.
K17’s bass is shaped and tidy, present without bloom, and lands with a pleasant weight that favours flow over slam. Kick and bass lines feel full yet civil, and the tuning holds stable across genres. Move to HP-10 and low-end behaviour tightens. Starts and stops arrive with stricter timing, grip increases, and weight translates to authority rather than emphasis.
Midrange on K17 is clear, slightly relaxed in perspective, and forgiving of edgy masters. Vocals feel a touch recessed, guitars and keys read smooth and unforced. HP-10 brings the centre forward, not by spotlighting but by organising space. Voices gain body and micro-dynamics, phrasing feels articulated rather than outlined, and accompaniment locks around the singer with a steadier pulse.
Treble through K17 is lively and articulate with air that avoids bite, and enough sparkle to keep cymbals and strings interesting over long sessions. HP-10’s top end extension glows and is grain-free, with an energy that arrives as illumination rather than glitter. Bright records hold listenable on both; the difference is that HP-10 turns sheen into texture while keeping timing intact.
K17 paints a notably wide stage, imaging is clean, separation is clear, and depth is decent if a little secondary to width. Transients are neatly rendered, and the whole presentation feels big and welcoming. HP-10 trades show for structure. Silence thickens, stage layers settle into believable distance, and transient rise and decay align into one motion. Dynamics scale as expansion, so crescendos open the room instead of hardening the edges. The result is temporal coherence that feels like ease.
Overall, this isn’t a simple one-to-one comparison. While I find Fiio’s K17 to be a competent all-rounder, I consider HP-10 Deluxe an entirely different class of device: more powerful, refined, better built, and far more likely to improve your headphone and IEM arsenal than merely accommodate it.
Questyle CMA Eighteen Master
Questyle’s CMA Eighteen Master feels like studio gear dressed for the living room: sandblasted CNC aluminium, clean typography, a damped Alps dial, front-panel toggles for mode and bias, and a gain switch tucked underneath. It runs warmer in high-bias Class A, cooler in standard, and the whole unit reads purposeful.
HP-10 counters with compact Italian casework, four headphone outputs up front, and the same sense of tightly finished metal that aims for coherence. Different aesthetics, equal seriousness.
Questyle’s brief is clear: ESS ES9039PRO at the core, current-mode amplification, USB, optical and coax, Bluetooth with LDAC, analogue pre-outs on XLR and RCA, and a practical remote, although there is no balanced analogue input for a fully balanced upstream chain. It invites you to pick a mode, set bias and gain, and leave it alone.
HP-10’s takes a different approach. Its completeness comes from analogue control, Studio profiles, proper balance, and mono modes on tap, plus the neat bypass that preserves a speaker path and a trigger that ties into a larger rig.
Questyle minimises variables for neutrality. In listening, Eighteen contrasts HP-10’s analogue ease with digital-grade discipline, yet the two converge in their detail retrieval, tonal warmth, and long-term ease.
Eighteen speaks in clean contours. Sub and mid-bass are quick, controlled, and free of excess warmth. Electronic hits land with speed, acoustic lines retain pitch and texture, and sustain is tidy. HP-10 adds a heartbeat to that outline. Weight gathers from silence, impact arrives and releases with an organic arc, and headroom feels unforced – authority where Eighteen offers precision.
Neutral and open defines Eighteen’s midband. Vocals are lifelike and centered, layers separate without strain, and complex mixes hold together at volume. HP-10 answers with proportional warmth and a human scale. It doesn’t push singers forward so much as imbue the air around them with intention and breath. Strings and pianos show wood and hammer, not just pitch, and ensemble balance feels natural rather than arranged – emotional truth alongside technical truth.
Treble on Eighteen is airy and extended, free of the brittle edge that older Sabre voicings sometimes carried. Cymbals shimmer and percussive transients are crisp without fatigue. HP-10’s top end is equally extended, allowing details to emerge without glare, but with slightly more body in the overtones. Both avoid fatigue, Questyle by cleanliness, Gold Note by poise.
Eighteen’s stage is wide and deep, image focus is precise, and microdetail retrieval is refined. Dynamics are quick, and the noise floor is extremely quiet – studio-monitor virtues. HP-10 matches resolution but reorganises events in time. Transients read as phrasing rather than data points, space grows with crescendos instead of hardening, and decay trails hang naturally and authentically. Imaging is less about plotted coordinates and more about bodies in air, which is why the picture feels lived in rather than measured.
Overall, I consider both of these devices masterful complements for any serious headphone or IEM enthusiast. They both deliver sound with unquestioned authority, refinement and, if need be, excitement. Questyle is slightly softer and less bold in its approach, leaning toward analytical neutrality, while Gold Note isn’t afraid to take some risks for bolder sound, but doesn’t force its voicing on you either.
I personally find HP-10 to be the more versatile device, and its narrow footprint serves my use-case much better than the conventionally-shaped Eighteen Master. Between these two I’d recommend a personal audition to decide for yourself which has better synergy with your headphones and music.
Continue to closing thoughts…
