Introduction
Qudelix is a new American company, set up by the former lead engineer of the now famous Earstudio ES100. The Qudelix 5K is a new Bluetooth DAC amp, featuring the new CSR8675 BT receiver, one of its main advantages over its competitors, such as the Fiio BTR5 and Shanling UP4. Otherwise, the three feature the same dual ES9218P DACs, balanced and unbalanced ports and a USB-C port, as well as app support. All this can be had for $109.

Package
The Q5k comes in a very simple cardboard box, which includes the BT device, USB-C to USB-C and a USB-C to USB-C cable, as well as some paperwork. The unboxiing experience is simple, but gets the job done 6/10.

Built
The Q5k is made of mainly dark, hard plastic, with only the clip and skrews being made of metal. It feels very solid, but at the same time quite light, lighter than it looks. The whole device is tiny, smaller than the relatively big UP4 and still smaller (by volume) than the BTR5. Considering they have nearly the same specs, this is really quite impressive.

The one downside to the build is that it is made of plastic, as a result it simply doesn't feel as premium as the glass and metal sandwiches of the BTR5 and UP4. I personally wouldn't mind a slightly higher weight, in return for a more premium feeling build, but I do understand the decision. Also, the one aspect that is made of metal, the clip, is non-removable. To me, it feels very solid, like the rest of the build, with good strength, but it could become a problem to replace if broken. Overall, although maybe the not most premium feeling device, it is solid and I have little worries in its long-term durability, therefore it gets a 8/10.

Controls
The device features 4 buttons in total, two on each side. The ones on the right feature a blue light underneath, while the ones on the left have a red light. The light intensity, or when or even if the lights turn on, can be customised to your preference in the app, and so can the functions of the buttons. You can choose which buttons turn on/off the device, skip and go back on tracks and turn up/down the volume, essentially everything you would want. As a result, the controls are very comprehensive and warrant a 8/10 rating, the only real downside again being the plastic build, which include the buttons, as a result the controls are not as tactile as the ones on the BTR5.


Bluetooth Connection
Not much to say here. The device features Bluetooth 5.0 with the newest Bluetooth processor, which supports practically all Bluetooth codecs available. The connection occurs automatically once turned on, and is rock solid once connected, with no hiccups. I've had absolutely to issues with its Bluetooth connection 10/10

Sound
As a declaimer, I'am not very experienced in the world of external DACs, therefore my view might be a bit limited. Also, the following sound impressions have been made exclusively using LDAC and a USB connection only.

The Q5k features a 3.5mm unbalanced and a 2.5mm balanced port. They feature a 2.0 Vrms and 4.0 Vrms power output respectively, meaning it is powerful enough to drive just about any IEM on the balanced port, the same as the BTR5 and UP4.

The sound coming out of the device is of very good quality, especially for a Bluetooth device. It is quite neutral, from bass to treble, with just a slight lift on both ends. It's neither warm nor cold and note thickness is neutral as well. There are multiple minor improvements in sound quality, overall improving the SQ a great deal from a simple smartphone.

To start of with, the bass gets a very slight lift, but the main improvement is in speed and impact, which improve quite significantly. The mids remain quite uncolored and experience probably the least change from the overall sound signature. The treble also features a slight lift in quantity, improving resolving power and adding a but more spice to the sound of your IEM, although not by much. Lastly, soundstage improves quite substantially in all dimensions. Width and depth improve and so does imaging and layering, leading to a more detailed and more engaging soundscape. All these little changes lead to a greatly improved sound, compared to a smartphone. There is further improvement to the sound in all aspects, athough very minor, when connected through the USB port. Overall, this is as good as a Bluetooth receiver will sound at this price 10/10. I've also experienced to hiss through the device, although I haven't used it with a pair of particularly sensitive IEMs.

App
This is really the main advantage of the Qudelix compared to its competitors. The app is quite simply fantastic. It has all of the features a user would ever want, including an excellent parametric equalizer. The app is very well done, with a great user interface, and includes things like a battery graph, volume controls, Bluetooth codec selection DAC/AMP mode, DAC filters, output power and even days under warranty remaing. It is miles ahead of what Fiio or Shanling offer and still gets regular updates.

I have to specially mention the PEQ. It is really good quite simply. Its a 10 band one, which can be either parametric or geometric. It changes the sound very effectively, with little effect on overall sound quality. There are now custom presets that can be used by the user, on top of some pre-made ones. All in all, this might be the biggest reason to get the Qudelix over the Fiio or Shanling. The app gets a straight 10/10 for this.
Battery
The battery life is actually surprisingly good for such a small device, claiming actually to be better than both the UP4 and BTR5. It has a claimed 6-20 hour battery life (depending on volume and power mode. It usually lasts me about 2 weeks of usage with about 1-2 hours of listening per day. It is charged through the USB-C port, and can be used while charging, which is a really nice feature to have. The app also features a battery graph, which is a nice touch.
Conclusion
To sum up, the Qudelix 5k is a fantastic device. There's very little wrong with it. It has a fabulous app, great sound, good built and very good battery life. Compared to the Shanling UP4 and Fiio BTR5, it's smaller, with better Bluetooth connection. To me, this is a absolute no-brainer, if you are in the market for a BT DAC amp. The only real downside for me is just how similar all these BT devices are, but I believe the app on the Qudelix really makes it worth the extra 10-20$ over the latter two. This is as good of a small BT portable amp you can get.

Thank you for reading all the way down here : ) This my one of my first review ever and would highly value any feedback given and I hope that you have enjoyed this review. Also, if any company also enjoyed this review, and would wish to send me some gear to review, I would be delighted to do so.

What is it?
The @DUNU-Topsound DK-3001 Pro is a mid-range universal hybrid IEM, coming at $469.99. It features a 13mm dynamic driver, 4 BAs, a all metal built and the Dunu Lyre cable, which features Dunu's Quick-Switch connectors.

Packaging and Unboxing
The Dunu DK-3K1 Pro come in a very impressively large and weighty box, especially at its price. It features the internal design of the IEM on the front and info at the back, and quite simply looks and feels great.

Once opened, you are greeted with a exemplary unboxing experience. Underneath the "Designed by Dunu" paper lay the IEMs, cable and all 4 connectors in black foam. It looks really premium and classy, genuinely the best unboxing experience you can get at this price point. Underneath the first layer of foam you can find the second. That one holds the eartips (which there are many off, including SpinFits), 3.5mm to 6.35mm adapter, cleaning tool and the (fake I believe) leather case, which has foam inside of it, just to make sure it is in perfect condition when first used.

At this price point, this is the best unboxing experience and overall package you can get, hands down, arguably only rivaled by Fiio's FH7 and FA9, although even they don't come with as many accessories. Dunu did a great job here. A 10/10 as I don't know what is missing from the package a this price.

Built and Fit
To start of with, the IEMs are made completely of metal. They feel very solid and high quality, with no marks of use, even after a few months of use. The design of them is quite industrial and low-key, with only the Dunu logo being on the faceplate, not that much else can fit onto the faceplate, considering how tiny the earbuds are. This leads on the next point in this section, fit.

These are really quite comfortable IEMs, especially considering they are metal, as a result they can't quite match all the slopes and bends of acrylic IEMs, making up in the sturdiness department. They feel cold to the touch, and I'm pretty confident, even if I accidentally stepped on the earbuds, they would still be in immaculate condition.

The fact that they are tiny, really impressive considering they have a full 13mm dynamic driver and 4 balanced armatures in them, makes them nearly disappear in your ears during use. This is especially great news for people with small ears, such as me, who sometimes struggle with larger earphones. This is as small as it gets, as I really applaude Dunu for keeping a similar form factor throughout their lineup.

The only downside to the design is it's quite short nozzle length, and subsequently the below average passive noise isolation. The short nozzles can make them slightly difficult to keep in place during movement in some ears, but I haven't experienced this. The relatively poor isolation though, can only be expected, looking at the small earpieces and seeing the quite large vents. It isn't "bad", it is useable in public transport when you have music playing, but once the music stops, you definitely hear the outside. It's a 8/10 for me, the only let-down being the short nozzles, but otherwise being rock solid.

The cable also needs to be mentioned. It's called the "Lyre" and can be purchased separately for 149.99$. That is a relatively expensive cable to be included for such price. It's a 4-core pure copper cable, featuring Dunu's signature quick-switch connectors. These allow you to quickly and easily switch between the included 3.5mm unbalanced and 2.5mm, 3.5mm and 4.5mm balanced connectors. This system is really worth the money, as it means you will never have to worry about needing to buy a new cable for your source.

Don't get me wrong, the cable is made of high quality materials, no matter if you look at the MMCX connectors, individual cores of wire or the y-splitter, but it does feel a bit light and thin. This is due to the relatively thin cores and loose braid of the wire, combined with the slightly plasticy outer shielding. Still, for the price, even without the acknowledging the quick-switch system (which is amazing), the cable is good enough for the orice, but could have been really good, if maybe the Dunu decided to go for a tighter braid in my opinion. The microphonics are very low and it's very light and, as a result comfortable. I'm not going to comment on the sound, as I haven't had the chance to use it on any other IEMs, but I would expect it to be quite good. For me, the cable deserves a 9/10, mainly to the quick-switch system, which are one of the main attractions of the whole package.

The other accessories are of good quality, including the sea-green semi-hard case. It is a bit of an odd colour to feature in my opinion, but eventually it grew on me. It's large enough to fit the IEM and a small portable DAC (such as the Qudelix 5k) into it. The only problem is that it may be a bit too tall to fit into trousers, jeans and some joggers. Personally, I managed to carry it on my pair of joggers, but not jeans.

Sound
So how does the DK-3K1 Pro sound? It's actually a quite interesting tuning in my opinion. It's relatively neutral throughout, until you come to the treble, which is recessed quite a bit, especially the mid and upper regions. The overall sound is also a bit warm, somewhat laid back and organic, due to the dynamic driver featured. All this is delivered with price-worthy technicalities. As stated by Dunu, this is a very flexible IEM, on which you can listen to basically any genre of music.

Bass
This is, hands down, my favourite part of the IEM. This might be a bit unusual, as this is probably the most neutral aspect of the whole sound signature.

The bass is very organic, tight and dense. It's quite fast for a dynamic driver at this price, with very good tactile punch, due to good sub-bass emphasis. It can go low, produce a very satisfying rumble down there, bringing some very organic warmth to the midrange, not saying the bass notes bleed into the midrange, as the bass is exemplary-well controlled. From my point of view, the bass is the part of the sound signature that gives this IEM a real sonic identity. I genuinely think the only way to improve this bass is to speed up the transients and add extra punch, but for this price, it is as good as it gets a 9.5/10. Maybe if I got my hands on the new Dunu Zen, I could see if the new model improved on this

Midrange
The midrange is, what I would call, mildly warm neutral. It has a bit more lower-midrange emphasis than a normal Harman-neutral sound signature would have, again mainly to the extra note thickness and warmth given off by the dynamic driver, alowing the whole frequency range to smoothly and coherently switch from the 13mm driver to the 2 BAs in the midrange. This is done really well, leading to little to no unnatural change in the timbre.

The upper midrange on the other hand is just slightly recessed, being more in line with the lower midrange. This makes the midrange very natural, quite smooth and somewhat laid back. The vocals have a nice large a thick note size, and both femal and male vocals have the same amount of body, but are slightly further back and less defiened than a true neutral IEM would sound like. The midrange gets a solid 8.5/10, being very organic and natural in its presentation, with really no drawbacks.

Treble
Really, the treble is the least exciting aspect of the sound, because there is little of it. There is decent energy in the lower treble, but this quickly deteriorates in the mid and upper parts. The treble that is there is of high quality, highly resolving, smooth and inoffensive, but at the same time lacking some excitement. This leads to some instruments, such as cymbals and guitars lacking edge and some sharpness.

For me, this is the biggest drawback of this IEM, as it completes a slightly awkward sound signature for some. On one hand, you have a fast, dynamic bass, quite neutral and organic midrange and on the other hand a very relaxed treble, which kills much of the excitement built up through the mid and low end. In my opinion, Dunu should have either upped the travel region, to make the overall sound signature more neutral and exciting; or they should have slowed down the low end, maybe increasing its quantity, becoming a more dark and relaxing IEM, such as the Final E5000. It has to be said though, the IEM does hit the sweet spot if you're into long listening sessions, while having some excitement in the sound, mainly due to the bass, something I've never quite experienced in any other IEM before. The treble warrants a 6/10 for me, as in my view it breaks down the beautifully sculpted sound signature from the midrange and bass.


Soundstage
The soundstage on this IEM is decent. It has decent width and good depth to it, about as much as is expected for an IEM at this price. It's of an oval shape, with the majority of sounds coming from the back part of your head to just outside your ears, in a natural manner. The vocals occupy the neutral centre of the stage, not being pushed forwards. They do though occupy a slightly larger area in the centre than normal, due to the above average note thickness.

The stage dimensions are quite stable throughout, but do sometimes exceed the normal width on some specific tracks I've listened to. Imaging is good, possible even really good for the price, being very stable, but in a slightly diffused manner. This is mostly due to the recessed treble which limits how pin-point the imaging can be. Layering is also good, but not quite matching what you can expect from all-BA models. Overall, the sound stage is a decent 7/10, being average for the price.

Technicalities
As I do not currently own any IEMs at a similarly price point, I won't comment much in this area, apart from the fact that the DK-3K1 Pro defienetly isn't lacking in resolving power or detail. It is not exceptional for the price, but defienetly decent. N/A /10

Drivebilty
The IEM isn't difficult to drive to high volumes, (it can be driven of a phone if necessary) but it defienetly benefits from some extra power. The bass speeds up, adds extra punch, the soundstage opened up. I would recommend I slightly bright source, to counteract the recessed treble, such as the Audirect Beam 2, or really any DAC with a Saber chip, to improve crispness.

I have found that, when driving it from a phone (my Samsung A70), the Dunu DK-3K1 Pro slows down its bass response and midrange transients, becoming extremely intimate and quite warm. This isn't a bad thing, as it plays with the recessed treble well, sounding much more like a Final E5000. In this state, the IEM is very much a sit-by-the-fire IEM, although obviously it doesn't show as much resolution in this state, as when used with a proper DAC. Also, from my experience, I've never heard hiss from these.


Conclusion
I really think these are one of the best IEMs at the sub-$500 price point. The built, package and unboxing experience is flawless, punching way above its price point with number and quality of accessories included. It sounds very organic and beautifully natural but at the same time dynamic, apart from the treble. The only reason shy this didn't get a 4.5/5 is because of my personal preference for my treble than this IEM provides, but I know many will find this proportion close to perfect. For me, the real highlight was the bass, which at this price is the best you can get, if you want a neat, solid punch down low. I highly recommend this IEM to anyone craving a organic earphone that they can listen to hours on end, while keeping some excitement in the sound.


Thank you for reading all the way down here : ) This my first review ever and would highly value any feedback given and I hope that you have enjoyed this review. Also, if any company also enjoyed this review, and would wish to send me some gear to review, I would be delighted to do so.