Is there any reason to get the Qudelix-5K solely for it's software when the source device is a rooted Android that has access to Viper and JamesDSP?

[Old_Snake]

I'm thinking of getting a BT dongle for iems and the Qudelix-5K and Fiio BTR15 are front runners. Is the Q5K software the same similar or better than system wide eq software for Android like Viper or JamesDSP? There's also the "no root" system wide Poweramp Equalizer app, XEQ and Flat Equalizer. I'm willing to compromise on the hardware and get the Q5K which is older as long as it's software is clearly better than the other Android options.

 

[Corti]

I'm thinking of getting a BT dongle for iems and the Qudelix-5K and Fiio BTR15 are front runners. Is the Q5K software the same similar or better than system wide eq software for Android like Viper or JamesDSP? There's also the "no root" system wide Poweramp Equalizer app, XEQ and Flat Equalizer. I'm willing to compromise on the hardware and get the Q5K which is older as long as it's software is clearly better than the other Android options.

I’m also using a rooted Android ‘phone with a google-free CustomROM as the source most of the time. I couple it with a Fiio BTR5 via Bluetooth Aptx HD protocol. For EQ I have been using the root app viper4android in the past but switched to JamesDSP lately (as a result of some developer changes regarding Magisk module installation). The latter (jdsp) has shown to be a much more reliable software (much more stable on my specific OS), hence I got completely rid of v4a (so I don’t know how development is progressing with v4a), but I’m very happy with the JamesDSP UX and UI and its stability in particular.

The BTR5 also comes with a software that runs on your phone w/o needing root access. But the EQ function (like most non-root EQ apps) of it is only very rudimentary and doesn’t come close to what v4a and jdsp are able to do (also Convolution via Impulse Response is not available).

I have looked at the Q5K as well and it looks like it has a few advantages over v4a/jdsp like setting up custom EQ frequencies (parametric EQ) as well as setting low/high shelves. V4a and jdsp only feature 15-band graphic EQ’s (which is fine in my case – if I want to go surgically I use ApoEQ on the PC anyway).

So yea, I think Viper4android and JamesDSP are already very powerful and convenient tools for digital adjustments.

If you decide to get the Qudelix 5K, let me know if it adds anything meaningful/helpful on top of v4a/jdsp!

Cheers