[DeJaVu]

Thank you, DeJaVu! I feel like you posted this before?

 

[vlad335]

Well awhile back, I hooked up my 5k to my PC to use it as a DAC to feed a Drop+ SMSL HO150X amp. I wanted to run Hifiman HE-6se headphones which sound excellent but are horrendous to drive. Nothing I have here will drive them properly. Sadly, the Drop amp just dosent have the juice to power these headphones and I returned it. I had the amp maxed out and still wanted more! (My bad, I should have researched powering these headphones.)

One takeaway from all this though is I realized just how amazing the little Qudelix is! Sounds great, balanced and the chrome extension with being able to control the unit including with headphone EQ blows me away! I bought a Topping D10 balanced DAC while I was waiting for a cable to run the Drop amp and the Q5 sounds much much better. I also returned the Topping. It had no features to speak of, sounded lifeless and sterial while costing much more than the Q5.

I also have an ADI RME2 DAC and this tiny Qudelix sounds just as good IMO. (I use this DAC to feed my Adam monitors and sub) The headphone out of the RME can't drive these phones either so today I broke down and bought a Schiit Jotunheim amp without the DAC module. I think I may have found my desktop headphone solution with the Q5 into the Schiit.

Sorry for the long diatribe. Posted this mainly to praise this $109 marvel. The engineers and programmers of this company are otherworldly!

 

[Hypops]

Well awhile back, I hooked up my 5k to my PC to use it as a DAC to feed a Drop+ SMSL HO150X amp. I wanted to run Hifiman HE-6se headphones which sound excellent but are horrendous to drive. Nothing I have here will drive them properly. Sadly, the Drop amp just dosent have the juice to power these headphones and I returned it. I had the amp maxed out and still wanted more! (My bad, I should have researched powering these headphones.)

One takeaway from all this though is I realized just how amazing the little Qudelix is! Sounds great, balanced and the chrome extension with being able to control the unit including with headphone EQ blows me away! I bought a Topping D10 balanced DAC while I was waiting for a cable to run the Drop amp and the Q5 sounds much much better. I also returned the Topping. It had no features to speak of, sounded lifeless and sterial while costing much more than the Q5.

I also have an ADI RME2 DAC and this tiny Qudelix sounds just as good IMO. (I use this DAC to feed my Adam monitors and sub) The headphone out of the RME can't drive these phones either so today I broke down and bought a Schiit Jotunheim amp without the DAC module. I think I may have found my desktop headphone solution with the Q5 into the Schiit.

Sorry for the long diatribe. Posted this mainly to praise this $109 marvel. The engineers and programmers of this company are otherworldly!

That's awesome. Always cool to get a surprise with how gear performs in different applications.

My experience was quite different from yours. Not too long ago, I found myself unexpectedly without a DAC for my desktop setup. All I had to hand was my Qudelix 5K, so I put it between my USB isolator and my amp. Definitely not a good fit with my desktop gear. I love it as a device to walk to and from work (mostly for podcasts and audiobooks), but not for home listening. But, as ever, YMMV.

 

[vlad335]

That's awesome. Always cool to get a surprise with how gear performs in different applications.

My experience was quite different from yours. Not too long ago, I found myself unexpectedly without a DAC for my desktop setup. All I had to hand was my Qudelix 5K, so I put it between my USB isolator and my amp. Definitely not a good fit with my desktop gear. I love it as a device to walk to and from work (mostly for podcasts and audiobooks), but not for home listening. But, as ever, YMMV.

I don't hear any distortion and certainly not a bit of noise coming from the Q5. May be different if i hooked these up to my studio monitor setup which the RME is holding down.

 

[Hypops]

I don't hear any distortion and certainly not a bit of noise coming from the Q5. May be different if i hooked these up to my studio monitor setup which the RME is holding down.

It's definitely not bad enough that I can hear distortion or noise directly (THD measures somewhere around 85dB). It just affects things like staging, imaging, and dynamic range. It was audible enough that now I hear it even when I'm using the 5K on the go by itself. Honestly, it's a bit of a bummer. Wish I hadn't used it in my desktop because now I can't help but hear it. And again, performance of any piece of audio gear varies wildly from setup to setup, so it's no wonder it sounds fantastic with your gear and not so great with mine.

But the 5K is just so amazingly cheap, small, and convenient that there's nothing else I would replace it with. It serves my needs more than well enough.

 

[MisterMudd]

Well awhile back, I hooked up my 5k to my PC to use it as a DAC to feed a Drop+ SMSL HO150X amp. I wanted to run Hifiman HE-6se headphones which sound excellent but are horrendous to drive. Nothing I have here will drive them properly. Sadly, the Drop amp just dosent have the juice to power these headphones and I returned it. I had the amp maxed out and still wanted more! (My bad, I should have researched powering these headphones.)

One takeaway from all this though is I realized just how amazing the little Qudelix is! Sounds great, balanced and the chrome extension with being able to control the unit including with headphone EQ blows me away! I bought a Topping D10 balanced DAC while I was waiting for a cable to run the Drop amp and the Q5 sounds much much better. I also returned the Topping. It had no features to speak of, sounded lifeless and sterial while costing much more than the Q5.

I also have an ADI RME2 DAC and this tiny Qudelix sounds just as good IMO. (I use this DAC to feed my Adam monitors and sub) The headphone out of the RME can't drive these phones either so today I broke down and bought a Schiit Jotunheim amp without the DAC module. I think I may have found my desktop headphone solution with the Q5 into the Schiit.

Sorry for the long diatribe. Posted this mainly to praise this $109 marvel. The engineers and programmers of this company are otherworldly!

Great. Now, after always using my K5 as portable, I'm gonna have to pair it up with an unused Schiit Modi3+ to see if I like the combo. Would give me another listening station at home. My Q K5 is from the Kickstarter project way back and the battery still gives me several hours portable. Truly a marvel, and worth many times its price to me.

 

[vlad335]

It's definitely not bad enough that I can hear distortion or noise directly (THD measures somewhere around 85dB). It just affects things like staging, imaging, and dynamic range. It was audible enough that now I hear it even when I'm using the 5K on the go by itself. Honestly, it's a bit of a bummer. Wish I hadn't used it in my desktop because now I can't help but hear it. And again, performance of any piece of audio gear varies wildly from setup to setup, so it's no wonder it sounds fantastic with your gear and not so great with mine.

But the 5K is just so amazingly cheap, small, and convenient that there's nothing else I would replace it with. It serves my needs more than well enough.

OK. It just dawned on me to try something to see if the Q5 is as good as I think it is. I will hook it up to the Adam system that is my gold standard. Starting with the Adam A5X. These very speakers ( Well.. Actually one of them) were reviewed and personally measured by Amirm from Audio Science Review.

https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...adam-a5x-review-powered-studio-monitor.22860/

That's my very speaker that I shipped to Amirm and he so graciously measured. Flat AF basically. However, being 5 inch woofers, I added a sub. A SVS that was thrown in initually but later added a used Presonus T-10 sub that has a unique feature that absolutely every subwoofer should have. A High-pass filter. Meaning all frequencies above 90hz go to the Adams. This is the game changer. All subs should have this feature but mostly only studio subwoofers, the expensive ones.. Have. The A5X are simply amazing when, without trying to make sub bass noises, can do what they do best.

Anyway... I measured this system with REW and with Equalizer APO equalizing mostly the bass frequencies... I have the perfect system. Not only that, but I will evaluate if the Q5 running this can even compare to the RME in any way.

Stay tuned.

 

[Hypops]

OK. It just dawned on me to try something to see if the Q5 is as good as I think it is. I will hook it up to the Adam system that is my gold standard. Starting with the Adam A5X. These very speakers ( Well.. Actually one of them) were reviewed and personally measured by Amirm from Audio Science Review.

https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...adam-a5x-review-powered-studio-monitor.22860/

That's my very speaker that I shipped to Amirm and he so graciously measured. Flat AF basically. However, being 5 inch woofers, I added a sub. A SVS that was thrown in initually but later added a used Presonus T-10 sub that has a unique feature that absolutely every subwoofer should have. A High-pass filter. Meaning all frequencies above 90hz go to the Adams. This is the game changer. All subs should have this feature but mostly only studio subwoofers, the expensive ones.. Have. The A5X are simply amazing when, without trying to make sub bass noises, can do what they do best.

Anyway... I measured this system with REW and with Equalizer APO equalizing mostly the bass frequencies... I have the perfect system. Not only that, but I will evaluate if the Q5 running this can even compare to the RME in any way.

Stay tuned.

Interesting setup. Happy experimenting!

 

[stomish]

Just wanted to add my input - using a set of Moondrop Paras through the 5k and absolutely love the combo - I had initially bought a Dawn Pro to pair with the Paras, figuring that it'd make sense for the manufacturer to make a decent amp to get some more volume out of them. Ehhhh. For some reason, the bass was always kinda distorted/muddy when using the dawn. Switched to the 5k and applied the preset EQ for the hybrid pads and WOW, there's the bass! Volume gets basically just as loud as the Dawn too which is awesome.

 

[kalibri]

Just wanted to add my input - using a set of Moondrop Paras through the 5k and absolutely love the combo - I had initially bought a Dawn Pro to pair with the Paras, figuring that it'd make sense for the manufacturer to make a decent amp to get some more volume out of them. Ehhhh. For some reason, the bass was always kinda distorted/muddy when using the dawn. Switched to the 5k and applied the preset EQ for the hybrid pads and WOW, there's the bass! Volume gets basically just as loud as the Dawn too which is awesome.

Yeah, EQ works.