I've had my Qsonix for a number of years and my experience is a bit different. It takes me no time at all to find and start a piece of music (but I will say I've never "timed it"). My room is dual purpose and when I'm going to listen to music, I move the small table with the display on it by my chair but primarily use the iPad once I get up and running.
I think that with my own library loaded I would have an easier time locating things. The unit that was delivered had about 750CDs worth of music loaded and the classification scheme used made the task of finding anything difficult.
So here's the rub... I can't wipe the system clean and load my library! Qsonix confirmed that there isn't a method to erase everything and the work-around that they suggested only deleted media files, not the database entries. My only option to eliminate their music and database is to manually go through all 750 CDs and delete each one! Same goes if I load my library onto this box. In order to remove the music and database entries I would have to select each disc individually and delete it.
I discovered a few bugs in the iPad interface including one in which I could select an album and it would pull up details on a completely different album.
Overall, I'm not impressed with the interface and some of the limitations in the system. This is likely due to my background in IT and data storage, but I started getting really frustrated. When we did system architecture we always focused on allowing our product to adapt to the customer's process. The Qsonix is 100% the opposite in that I have to completely change how I store, classify, and manage my digital files in order to use the product.
At this point I don't want to devote any more time to an evaluation of a product which I know I'm not going to buy... so I'll wait another 12 months and evaluate options again.
As for sonics:
My transport and DAC are a Wadia S7i.
Assuming that the transport in the Wadia yields a score of 100 then I'd say that the Qsonix ends up in the 97 range. Everything is there, but after ripping a few CDs into the Qsonix and then doing an A/B comparison I found that the spinning disc in the Wadia seemed to have better "presence" and a more believable sound stage. Also, my go-to instruments for digital evaluation (piano, cymbals, brass) all sounded a bit more natural through the Wadia acting as the transport. This is to be expected, though, as the signal path between the transport and DAC inside the Wadia is short and the clocking mechanism is very precise.
I will be the first to admit that the frustration with the Qsonix started before I tried to evaluate sonics so I may have been preconditioned not to like it.
On the same scale the Cullen-modified SONOS ZP-90 scored about 95. It's almost as good as the Qsonix, but again the difficult instruments sounded a bit more strained.
Both the Qsonix and SONOS were connected to the Wadia using Transparent Reference digital cables (AES/EBU on the Qsonix and Coax on the SONOS).