Fostex managed to create a brilliant versatile device with the HP-P1. The HP-P1 excels by doing the job of several usually bulky units in a case which is roughly four times the volume of an iPhone 4. Considering the amount of features it packs and the performance level of both the DAC and headphone amplifier it is quite amazing that the unit does not cost more than it does.
At $799 the unit is not exactly cheap, but to put it into perspective: the HP-P1 offers better sound quality out of its DAC than many $600 DACs we have come across and the integrated amplifier manages to beat a $400 headphone amplifier in our tests. That coupled with its small form factor makes it an outstanding unit even at its substantial cost. Of course the HP-P1 only makes sense if you own an Apple i-device, but even if you add a $249 160 GB iPod it is still a good bang for the buck high-end system.