[Hawaiibadboy]

 

[neogeosnk]

Where do I get this black case?

 

[RPL88]

That looks nice! Even a slit for the LED I gather. I'm gonna have to go look up some reviews. I think this might seal the deal for me depending on price. Thanks!

 

[masterllama]

Where do I get this black case?

You can order from aliexpress:

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/Leather-case-for-FiiO-DSD-Amplifier-DAC-Q5/32850832785.html

 

[masterllama]

I just returned my Oppo HA-2SE because it kept cutting audio off my iPhone X, and I just received my Fiio Q5.

So far I'm really liking the Q5. It sounds great and doesn't cut audio from my iPhone X. I expected to only use the usb cable, but I'm using bluetooth more and more just because of the convenience.

A few questions regarding bluetooth: does the Q5 support AAC bluetooth? I don't see it listed anywhere on the spec sheets but people seem to be saying it does in this thread. I use 320 kbit MP3 and 256 kbit AAC files on my iPhone, and from my AB testing, I cannot tell a drop in quality using bluetooth. This is a huge contrast from my car, where the bluetooth audio really sounds compressed.

Do MP3 files also play using AAC bluetooth? From what I read online, it looks like the phone encodes all audio to AAC on the fly?

 

[bflat]

I just returned my Oppo HA-2SE because it kept cutting audio off my iPhone X, and I just received my Fiio Q5.

So far I'm really liking the Q5. It sounds great and doesn't cut audio from my iPhone X. I expected to only use the usb cable, but I'm using bluetooth more and more just because of the convenience.

A few questions regarding bluetooth: does the Q5 support AAC bluetooth? I don't see it listed anywhere on the spec sheets but people seem to be saying it does in this thread. I use 320 kbit MP3 and 256 kbit AAC files on my iPhone, and from my AB testing, I cannot tell a drop in quality using bluetooth. This is a huge contrast from my car, where the bluetooth audio really sounds compressed.

Do MP3 files also play using AAC bluetooth? From what I read online, it looks like the phone encodes all audio to AAC on the fly?

yes, Q5 supports AAC codec. It should also support MP3, but would need the Fiio rep to confirm since they only specify SBC which can support MP3. Assuming yes, the Q5 internal design is such that BT and USB audio quality is no different for lossy music tracks like AAC and MP3.

 

[torifile]

I just returned my Oppo HA-2SE because it kept cutting audio off my iPhone X, and I just received my Fiio Q5.

So far I'm really liking the Q5. It sounds great and doesn't cut audio from my iPhone X. I expected to only use the usb cable, but I'm using bluetooth more and more just because of the convenience.

A few questions regarding bluetooth: does the Q5 support AAC bluetooth? I don't see it listed anywhere on the spec sheets but people seem to be saying it does in this thread. I use 320 kbit MP3 and 256 kbit AAC files on my iPhone, and from my AB testing, I cannot tell a drop in quality using bluetooth. This is a huge contrast from my car, where the bluetooth audio really sounds compressed.

Do MP3 files also play using AAC bluetooth? From what I read online, it looks like the phone encodes all audio to AAC on the fly?

I could have written the first part of that post! That is my experience, too.

As for the second part - does it really matter? If you can’t tell the difference, why worry about it?

 

[masterllama]

I could have written the first part of that post! That is my experience, too.

As for the second part - does it really matter? If you can’t tell the difference, why worry about it?

I agree, I am planning to continue to use Bluetooth either way, but it is always good to know what is going on underneath the hood.

I did some Googling, and it appears that the iPhone will encode everything to AAC when using AAC bluetooth, and this includes all system sounds as well as MP3 files.

I confirmed this by testing in the console as shown in this thread:
https://www.head-fi.org/threads/how...n-ios-device-and-bluetooth-headphones.835289/

Even when I play MP3 files, it appears the higher quality AAC bluetooth code is used instead of SBC.

This is really great news and it means that I will pretty much only use Bluetooth instead of the USB cable. It confirms my experience that the quality between Bluetooth and USB is roughly the same on the iPhone.

 

[torifile]

I agree, I am planning to continue to use Bluetooth either way, but it is always good to know what is going on underneath the hood.

I did some Googling, and it appears that the iPhone will encode everything to AAC when using AAC bluetooth, and this includes all system sounds as well as MP3 files.

I confirmed this by testing in the console as shown in this thread:
https://www.head-fi.org/threads/how...n-ios-device-and-bluetooth-headphones.835289/

Even when I play MP3 files, it appears the higher quality AAC bluetooth code is used instead of SBC.

This is really great news and it means that I will pretty much only use Bluetooth instead of the USB cable. It confirms my experience that the quality between Bluetooth and USB is roughly the same on the iPhone.

Good info. My impressions just from listening to music over Bluetooth on the Q5 was that it is far better than the Bluetooth audio I’m used to. Glad to see that there’s some confirmation of that impression.

Do you know how AAC Bluetooth compares to lightning audio output?

 

[masterllama]

Good info. My impressions just from listening to music over Bluetooth on the Q5 was that it is far better than the Bluetooth audio I’m used to. Glad to see that there’s some confirmation of that impression.

Do you know how AAC Bluetooth compares to lightning audio output?

AAC Bluetooth is lossy while the wired audio output is completely lossless. However, the lossless doesn't really matter if you're feeding it lossy files (AAC or MP3 files on your iPhone).

I would say if you're using lossy files, then you will be hard pressed to notice any difference between the two. If you are using lossless files on your iPhone (like FLAC or WAV), then you may notice the lossy compression, but for 99% of users, I would say the difference is not noticeable.

 

[ChiHawk]

AAC Bluetooth is lossy while the wired audio output is completely lossless. However, the lossless doesn't really matter if you're feeding it lossy files (AAC or MP3 files on your iPhone).

I would say if you're using lossy files, then you will be hard pressed to notice any difference between the two. If you are using lossless files on your iPhone (like FLAC or WAV), then you may notice the lossy compression, but for 99% of users, I would say the difference is not noticeable.

This is my experience as well. Like a lot of people are saying, the bluetooth is good enough to actually use which is a huge surprise to me. When using Apple Music, I cannot tell the difference between it wired or wireless. I also have a lot of 44.1kHz FLAC's which output to 44.1kHz PCM and I again, I cannot tell the difference. Anything higher bitrate, or DSD, is noticeable.

 

[torifile]

This is my experience as well. Like a lot of people are saying, the bluetooth is good enough to actually use which is a huge surprise to me. When using Apple Music, I cannot tell the difference between it wired or wireless. I also have a lot of 44.1kHz FLAC's which output to 44.1kHz PCM and I again, I cannot tell the difference. Anything higher bitrate, or DSD, is noticeable.

I’m using all 3 of the streaming services. Of those, only Tidal has FLAC. So I guess if I’m using either Apple Music or Spotify, Bluetooth will be what I use and if I’m using Tidal, I’ll be inclined to go wired.

 

[FiiO]

Hi — it’s not in the list of paired devices on my iPhone. Every time I try to pair with my phone, my phone says pairing failed so it does not save to list of paired devices.

Holding the Bluetooth button on the Q5 for only two seconds causes the blue light to start flashing. After maybe 5 or 10 more seconds (of not holding the button) the Q5 switches into pairing mode (blue/red light).

It’s sounds like I probably need to send it back to Amazon for a replacement.

Dear friend,

Seems something wrong with the Bluetooth of the Q5. If the same issue appear in another mobile phone as well, you could try to contact your seller about that for help. Sorry for bringing inconvenience to you.

Best regards

 

[Sonic Defender]

I have been using Bluetooth for years and have consistently been very pleased with the sound quality possible. There are times I doubt whether or not I could spot the difference between a solid apt X and transmission and wired.

 

[325xia]

I find there is definitely a difference between lossless with direct connect and Bluetooth on the Q5. When I want the convenience, I go Bluetooth. But for criical list3ning I maintain that direct connect is the preferred way to listen to lossless. That’s the best thing about the Q5...the versatility.