With the E18, it sounded more warm and punchy. I am a bass oriented guy so I normally have EQ V-shaped. On paper both have a good a DAC from Texas Instruments ( http://www.ti.com/product/PCM1798 E18 and http://www.ti.com/product/PCM5102 Q1) and similar playback formats. If I were to say, I would go for Q1 if you're looking for something small and gets the job done. But E18 if you want to drive power hungry cans and want a longer battery life.