[IEMusic]

With my older ears and my middling range cans and iems this sounds as good as 99% daps I've tried and some were over 1000 dollars. And that's even going wireless.
The only dap in recent memory (they all sound good to me btw) that stood out was the Cayin N3 pro in tube mode. Everything else is quite similar, just with different colouring or lack of and power output differences. Nothing sounded bad or even close to bad. So I don't personally subscribe to A sounds automatically better than B because it's more expensive or in a higher tier.

I personally haven‘t entered the world of DAPs (well, not in the past several years), and have only used BT or dongle devices, as I’m just way too lazy to set up and transfer music to a DAP. The N3 pro is very intriguing to me though, and is the only one that caught any of my attention.

 

[abitdeef]

I personally haven‘t entered the world of DAPs (well, not in the past several years), and have only used BT or dongle devices, as I’m just way too lazy to set up and transfer music to a DAP. The N3 pro is very intriguing to me though, and is the only one that caught any of my attention.

Well with the speed of a phone UI and the nice price of dongles it doesn't make sense really. And I guess you could always get a little bear tube amp for a hundred bucks if you wanted a taste of tubes.

But that doesn't have a hybrid mode AFAIK. If I could take the UI and PEQ of a lotoo and slap it on the n3 pro and then shrink it to say AK sr15 size that would be my perfect dap

 

[bassct]

Does the 5k not support AptX-LL? Was planning on buying it to use as a receiver to pair with Fiio BTA30 when watching movies on my PC. Only BTR5 is suitable for the job right? Also, is there any noticeable lag when using the 5k while watching videos/movies?

I used it with video on PC. Connected over SBC, no perception of lag. Cannot compare to anything with AptX LL. 5k has Aptx and Aptx HD only, i think.

 

[akatsuki]

Does the 5k not support AptX-LL? Was planning on buying it to use as a receiver to pair with Fiio BTA30 when watching movies on my PC. Only BTR5 is suitable for the job right? Also, is there any noticeable lag when using the 5k while watching videos/movies?

No AptX-LL, so you are stuck with the BTR5 if you want/need that. Which is annoying.

I wish E1DA would enter the BT market.

 

[charlescc2]

Anybody messed around with standard vs performance mode using IEMs? Wondering if there's any significant benefit for others and how much battery trade-off there is. Been using performance and feel like I'm getting far worse battery from my little bit of usage so far compared to what others seem to be getting.

 

[abitdeef]

Anybody messed around with standard vs performance mode using IEMs? Wondering if there's any significant benefit for others and how much battery trade-off there is. Been using performance and feel like I'm getting far worse battery from my little bit of usage so far compared to what others seem to be getting.

You using hi gain? And sometimes it takes a couple of battery cycles to get more accurate readings from the indicator. I'm using performance and low gain with 660 ldac and battery seems pretty good.

Better than btr5.

 

[charlescc2]

You using hi gain? And sometimes it takes a couple of battery cycles to get more accurate readings from the indicator. I'm using performance and low gain with 660 ldac and battery seems pretty good.

Better than btr5.

Yeah using performance and normal. I manually set to 990 kbps LDAC in dev options but it doesn't seem to make much difference from best effort (looking at bitrate in the app it fluctuates between 420ish and 990, typically floating around 660).

Yeah I'll give it a few cycles before making any assumptions I guess. I've just seen several people talk about going from 100% to 90% in an hour and it feels like I got there in maybe half that time. But yeah you're right, probably too early to make any conclusions about my device's battery life.

 

[abitdeef]

Yeah using performance and normal. I manually set to 990 kbps LDAC in dev options but it doesn't seem to make much difference from best effort (looking at bitrate in the app it fluctuates between 420ish and 990, typically floating around 660).

Yeah I'll give it a few cycles before making any assumptions I guess. I've just seen several people talk about going from 100% to 90% in an hour and it feels like I got there in maybe half that time. But yeah you're right, probably too early to make any conclusions about my device's battery life.

Well using balanced on performance and high gain is supposed to be about 6 hours battery life, which seems to be about on the mark. Mine fell to 94% very quickly today after charging. But then it leveled off and the drain slowed way down. So I'm assuming it's still calibrating usage.

 

[monsieurfromag3]

Gotten the 5k few months back and this is the only dac I've so far mostly use the phone to and PC to play. I'm very curious between this and the cayin N3pro. In your opinion will there a big step up in audio experience or quality?.thanks

In tube mode it's different for sure, SS wise I actually prefer the 5k. But the tube modes give you rich warmth and a lot of depth to the music, it's hard to describe but it's intoxicating. Especially the linear mode which is a hybrid mode. Good stuff.

You do lose some technical prowess of straight SS such as speed and dynamics, but if you just want to enjoy the music it's awesome. I only got rid of mine because my album art would hang, that's probably been remedied by now.

Out of all the mid range daps I tried, that one actually brought something unique to the table. I miss mine

Think rich organic sound with a holographic sound stage. That's linear mode.

I’m with @abitdeef on how the N3Pro sounds.

@Lokiiami I am using the N3Pro like a 5K - but with tubes! Mostly as an LDAC receiver, and also as a USB DAC; I know you saw my posting on the N3Pro thread earlier today about the issue it has with uninterrupted charging, unlike the 5K which lets you turn charging off. Getting the N3Pro I hoped for a sidegrade with a very different signature, and maybe even an upgrade - after all the Cayin is 4x more expensive in spite of its antiquated screen and software. Well I got both. I find playback on the N3Pro richer, fuller, more involving and emotional, more organic.

The 5K is still wonderful, and so clean! It’s a damn clinic. Software-wise it’s also much better than the N3Pro, more controllable and reliable. And BT is cleaner, everything feels more stable.

If I could take the UI and PEQ of a lotoo and slap it on the n3 pro and then shrink it to say AK sr15 size that would be my perfect dap

As to size, while I hate thick DAPs at least the N3Pro has a good justification for it: those tubes do take up some space! It’s satisfying physically and still really small.

Does the 5k not support AptX-LL? Was planning on buying it to use as a receiver to pair with Fiio BTA30 when watching movies on my PC. Only BTR5 is suitable for the job right? Also, is there any noticeable lag when using the 5k while watching videos/movies?

The 5K ditched aptX-LL, which is a trade-off where low-quality, 160kbps streams allow reduced lag, and replaced it with aptX Adaptive, which ensures lag-free transmission with better quality. The problem is that almost no emitters support Adaptive for now.

 

[abitdeef]

I’m with @abitdeef on how the N3Pro sounds.

@Lokiiami I am using the N3Pro like a 5K - but with tubes! Mostly as an LDAC receiver, and also as a USB DAC; I know you saw my posting on the N3Pro thread earlier today about the issue it has with uninterrupted charging, unlike the 5K which lets you turn charging off. Getting the N3Pro I hoped for a sidegrade with a very different signature, and maybe even an upgrade - after all the Cayin is 4x more expensive in spite of its antiquated screen and software. Well I got both. I find playback on the N3Pro richer, fuller, more involving and emotional, more organic.

The 5K is still wonderful, and so clean! It’s a damn clinic. Software-wise it’s also much better than the N3Pro, more controllable and reliable. And BT is cleaner, everything feels more stable.

As to size, while I hate thick DAPs at least the N3Pro has a good justification for it: those tubes do take up some space! It’s satisfying physically and still really small.

The 5K ditched aptX-LL, which is a trade-off where low-quality, 160kbps streams allow reduced lag, and replaced it with aptX Adaptive, which ensures lag-free transmission with better quality. The problem is that almost no emitters support Adaptive for now.

Good point on the tubes, probably be a struggle to fit them into AK sr15 or hiby R5 size

Yeah and I'm really impressed with the quality of the 5k. I've tried 4 things that have the same dual dac setup - btr5, hidiz ap80 pro, hiby r3 pro saber and another one that escapes me atm lol.

But the 5k has the biggest stage to my ears and is a little more neutral than the more v shaped btr5. The hiby is second and is really good too, and the ap80 pro and the other one didn't impress me much. They were still good but had a more compressed sound stage which I don't like. And with that eq suite it's very nice.

I might have to see if my peeves about the n3 pro were addressed.

 

[charlescc2]

Why does the 5K resume music playback when disconnecting a headphone? I intentionally pause music when taking one out and when I plug another one in music is already playing. So watching Spotify sure enough, if playback is paused and I disconnect the headphone (balanced) the playback is resumed. If I disconnect when music is playing it will quickly pause playback and resume it again. Really strange behavior.

 

[zolom]

The upper volume key (volume rocker) seems to be stuck. When I press it briefly, it stayed pressed, thus increasing the volume.
Any idea?

 

[dw1narso]

So I did something that I think not many people will do.. . I used 5K to drive Hifiman HE5LE.. See how I was sceptic.. I didn't bother to use proper 2.5mm balance plug to the XLR (all 4 poles).. And instead just bought the cheapest ready made 2.5mm 4 poles short cable (bought 20 cents USD or so) and just used eletrical terminal strip to connect to the XLR cable (already have one).

And surprisingly, the balanced output could drive well my planar phone.. I did not even use high-gain. Just normal, 2VRMS balanced output. With LDAC 660Kbps and foobar from my LGV20 android..

Planned just to test it, I instead spent 3 hours of throwing all my music genre library.. Rocks/Metal (Boston, Mr. Big, Metallica, A7X, Bon Jovi, GNR, Radiohead), classical (Vivaldi, Purcell, Mendelshon, Carl Orf, Astor Piazolla, Renee Fleming, Lorraine Hunt), Jazz (Brad Mehldau, James Carter, Bob James, Sarah Vaughn, Holly Cole), Vocals (Adele, Jennifer Warnes, Livingstone Taylor), electronics (Daft Punk, Yello, Alphavile).. All played with dignity..

And oh.. Battery drained very fast.. 50% in 3 hours.. But considering the load and codec choice, it wss very respectable indeed...

 

[CommanderCute]

I got the Qudelix 5K and paired it with my MacBook via Bluetooth and every few minutes I notice some stutter a few seconds.

Does anybody have the same issue or know what I could do about it?

Thanks.

 

[behemothkat]

I got the Qudelix 5K and paired it with my MacBook via Bluetooth and every few minutes I notice some stutter a few seconds.

Does anybody have the same issue or know what I could do about it?

Thanks.

I have Q5k used with my MBP (still on Catalina) - nothing like your described. Codec used to connect is APTX.

Did you try to use different codecs?