[CZ Eddie]

Which would power my 60 ohm 3.5mm speakers with more power?
The 5K or my current Elecom LBT-PAR500AV?

The Elecom is "rated" at 200mW on its 3.5mm output.
https://www.head-fi.org/showcase/bl...mplifier-class1-nfc-black-japan-import.20851/

Speakers:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B..._title_dp_1?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=A134ZS3X4AEHCU

 

[DBaldock9]

The second Q5K that I ordered, arrived today (Amazon did provide a refund for the first one, that they said couldn't be shipped to me).
It's paired and working well using BT LDAC (990) with my LG V30 phone.
However, I'm not having any luck with getting it to show up as a USB DAC on my Kubuntu 20.04 Linux PC.
The cable, connected to a USB 3.0 port, does work with my FiiO BTR5, and other USB-C devices.

I tried connecting the Q5K, as a USB DAC, to the Win10 PC at work on Wednesday - and it worked fine while listening to YouTube.
.
Still need to figure out whether there's a setting to change, so that it will work as a USB DAC for my Linux PC at home.

 

[rkw]

Still need to figure out whether there's a setting to change, so that it will work as a USB DAC for my Linux PC at home.

Which DACs have worked on your Linux PC? Try to identify what is different.

 

[C_Lindbergh]

I've been using the 5K for about 1 week now together with a pair of Fidelio X3, for the price it's a really incredible little device, I highly recommend it.

The company also seems really passionate and down to earth, you can't say that about every company out there.

Some quick pro's and a few cons

Pros +

Price:
It just costed me around 109 EUR from their polish distributor

Sound quality:
Not much to say here, other then that my headphones sounds absoluty incredible whilst using this device, both via USB and LDAC.

Build quality:
The clip feels really sturdy, the rest of device is also top notch

Bluetooth connection:
Because of the plastic build, the Bluetooth connection is really solid.

The app:
there's so many options for various settings, many of them are beyond my knowledge, but great if you're really into the audiophile hobby

Multipoint:
The multipoint function is also great, you can choose which device to prioritise

USB-dac function
I love the fact that the device can power itself from the usb connection when it's plugged into a PC as a USB-dac, means that the battery will last longer

Amp power:
It's quite incredible that I can drive a pair of open back headphones from this tiny device, and I'm not even using it at max volume nor the most powerful amp setting

Battery Life:
The battery life is quite phenomenal, even when paring it with a pair of open-back headphones using the 2.5mm outlet I'm getting a pretty decent battery life.
------------------------------------------------------------------
Cons -

Buttons:
I'm not a huge fan of the buttons and their placement, the actual buttons are very tactile, but both the buttons are placed in a symmetrical fashion. So it's really hard to learn which button is which unless you're actually looking at them (for the LED-light). I'd prefer a different button layout, were you can feel what you're doing with your finger.

App navigation:
Sometimes you just feel that it's a bit too complicated to navigate through the app, there's just so many options and different tabs. I'd suggest an option for a "normal mode" and a "advanced mode". The normal mode would make the app a bit more simple and more easy to navigate, whilst the advanced mode would give you all the options and settings.

Bascially I just want more information and "essential" settings to fit into the first start screen.

Another idea is being able to navigate the different tabs with swipes, top part of the screen could navigate you thorough the top tabs and the bottom part the bottom tabs.
------------------------------------

In total it's a clear 5/5

I'll definitely buy more products from this company in the future.

For 5k V2 I hope we'll get:

Scroll wheel for precise volume control
Wireless charging
A slightly bigger battery

 

[digitaldufferme]

I am a complete noob when it comes to headphones/IEMs as I listen mainly on speakers. I need to use a portable setup soon and found my pair of SHURE SE846 iems in my drawer. Never really used them and my current phone Note 10+ doesn't have any headphone jack. May I ask if this Qudelix 5K device would be suitable for my SE846? I understand that the impedance of these IEMs is very low but was wondering if anyone is using this combo and would be kind enough to share their experience and relevant settings before I place an order. Thanks very much for your help.

 

[DeJaVu]

I am a complete noob when it comes to headphones/IEMs as I listen mainly on speakers. I need to use a portable setup soon and found my pair of SHURE SE846 iems in my drawer. Never really used them and my current phone Note 10+ doesn't have any headphone jack. May I ask if this Qudelix 5K device would be suitable for my SE846? I understand that the impedance of these IEMs is very low but was wondering if anyone is using this combo and would be kind enough to share their experience and relevant settings before I place an order. Thanks very much for your help.

I see no reason why it wouldnt be suitable fore them. As a bonus, with higher sensitivity iems you get better battery life

 

[mrmorpheuz]

Got the 5k recently. First impressions are excellent. So far I don't notice any difference in sound quality between the 5k and my laptop or any other output. I don't own any other dedicated DAC/amp, though. The parametric EQ (the reasons I bought it) works as advertised and completely transforms all my headphones (e.g. using Oratory1990's presets + own adjustments to taste). For me, it has enough power to drive the HD600 in the 1v mode, but I do not listen very loudly. I think the 2v mode should be plenty loud for most, but who knows... The firmware and app still have a few quirks, but nothing major.

Connection is stable so far, also with two devices simultaneously, but I noticed that the AAC bitrate sometimes fluctuates significantly and never exceeds 237kbps when connected to an iOS device. This seems low... is that normal for iOS bluetooth connections? I expected to see stable 256kbps.

 

[TK33]

I am a complete noob when it comes to headphones/IEMs as I listen mainly on speakers. I need to use a portable setup soon and found my pair of SHURE SE846 iems in my drawer. Never really used them and my current phone Note 10+ doesn't have any headphone jack. May I ask if this Qudelix 5K device would be suitable for my SE846? I understand that the impedance of these IEMs is very low but was wondering if anyone is using this combo and would be kind enough to share their experience and relevant settings before I place an order. Thanks very much for your help.

I don't know what phone you used previously buf you were content with using them out of your phone before, I think you will be fine with the 5K. Your phone probably had the same output impedance issue that you mentioned and you will probably be happy if you were happy before. SE846 + 5K will be my travel set up whenever I start flying again and want bluetooth.

I love my 5K but use them mostly with my SE535 since I EQ those. For my SE846, I prefer my Dragonfly Cobalt for a portable setup. I found the SE846 sounds better if you can keep the OI below 1ohm. This was and will probably continue to be my commuting/portable setup for everyday use. I just find the DFC better with staging, instrument separation and bass impact. The SE846 is very picky and the sound does seem to change depending out source. That being said, I will reiterate, if you were happy with the phone, I think you will be fine with the 5K. Benefits as I see it of 5k vs. DFC:

1. MUCH cheaper than a DFC
2. Bluetooth (if that is what you are looking for). I prefer this when I am flying so I am not tethered to my phone.
3. The PEQ is fantastic on the 5K. I dont EQ my SE846 because I like how they are tuned but I do EQ lther headphones.
4. I get betfer volume control on the 5K vs. DFC. For the DFC, I find I have to use it on the lowest volume on my PC and LG V60 (never had this problem on my Galaxy S9 since the Samsung seemed to have more steps).
5. The 5K will allow you to add a mic for calls/ambient mode to your SE846 if your cable does not have an inline mic already. If you already do have one, the 5K can utilize it if you want.

 

[digitaldufferme]

I see no reason why it wouldnt be suitable fore them. As a bonus, with higher sensitivity iems you get better battery life

I was concerned eg about hiss/sibilance as that's what I'm sensitive to.

 

[digitaldufferme]

I don't know what phone you used previously buf you were content with using them out of your phone before, I think you will be fine with the 5K. Your phone probably had the same output impedance issue that you mentioned and you will probably be happy if you were happy before. SE846 + 5K will be my travel set up whenever I start flying again and want bluetooth.

I love my 5K but use them mostly with my SE535 since I EQ those. For my SE846, I prefer my Dragonfly Cobalt for a portable setup. I found the SE846 sounds better if you can keep the OI below 1ohm. This was and will probably continue to be my commuting/portable setup for everyday use. I just find the DFC better with staging, instrument separation and bass impact. The SE846 is very picky and the sound does seem to change depending out source. That being said, I will reiterate, if you were happy with the phone, I think you will be fine with the 5K. Benefits as I see it of 5k vs. DFC:

1. MUCH cheaper than a DFC
2. Bluetooth (if that is what you are looking for). I prefer this when I am flying so I am not tethered to my phone.
3. The PEQ is fantastic on the 5K. I dont EQ my SE846 because I like how they are tuned but I do EQ lther headphones.
4. I get betfer volume control on the 5K vs. DFC. For the DFC, I find I have to use it on the lowest volume on my PC and LG V60 (never had this problem on my Galaxy S9 since the Samsung seemed to have more steps).
5. The 5K will allow you to add a mic for calls/ambient mode to your SE846 if your cable does not have an inline mic already. If you already do have one, the 5K can utilize it if you want.

I had considered the DFC (or Red since I use Qobuz not Tidal) but decided against using it since friends who used this when travel was normal found that in time it damaged the USC socket of their phone. I thought bluetooth would be "safer" if there wasn't hiss. I honestly can't remember how the SE846 sounded with my phone years ago as I didn't use it often at all since my listening tends to be with the hifi at home. Was mainly concerned with sibilance. Have you had any experience with this with the combo? Crazy question but are they used balanced (aftermarket cable) or unbalanced (with the stock cable)? I don't know much about headphones/iems so have no idea whether balanced is possible/desirable. Thank you for having spent the time for such a detailed response, really appreciate your experience sharing.

 

[TK33]

I had considered the DFC (or Red since I use Qobuz not Tidal) but decided against using it since friends who used this when travel was normal found that in time it damaged the USC socket of their phone. I thought bluetooth would be "safer" if there wasn't hiss. I honestly can't remember how the SE846 sounded with my phone years ago as I didn't use it often at all since my listening tends to be with the hifi at home. Was mainly concerned with sibilance. Have you had any experience with this with the combo? Crazy question but are they used balanced (aftermarket cable) or unbalanced (with the stock cable)? I don't know much about headphones/iems so have no idea whether balanced is possible/desirable. Thank you for having spent the time for such a detailed response, really appreciate your experience sharing.

I didn't notice any hiss with the 5K + SE846. The higher impedance seems to change the frequency response of the SE846 but I don't think hiss will be an issue. I am very sensitive to treble as well but the SE846 is not known for its treble extension so it sounds great to me. The benefit of the 5K is that you can EQ it to your taste and the PEQ works really well.

I have stayed away from balanced cables for the SE846 because they are really easy to drive (I do have balanced cables for other IEMs/headphones). Also, I understand that balanced doubles output impedance, which could actually be detrimental to SQ depending on your amp. If you are looking at cables because you think you need balanced for the SE846, I would save your money.

For my SE846, I got the Meze Audio Rai Silver Plated cable (3.5mm single ended version). Don't really believe or know if cable material makes a difference but fit and comfort definitely do and these work really well for me (way more comfortable than stock). Probably overpriced but I also just liked the way they looked.

https://mezeaudio.com/products/rai-...-plated-upgrade-cables?variant=31471860449337

Some people had recommended it on the SE846 thread and I've been pretty happy with it.

 

[digitaldufferme]

I didn't notice any hiss with the 5K + SE846. The higher impedance seems to change the frequency response of the SE846 but I don't think hiss will be an issue. I am very sensitive to treble as well but the SE846 is not known for its treble extension so it sounds great to me. The benefit of the 5K is that you can EQ it to your taste and the PEQ works really well.

I have stayed away from balanced cables for the SE846 because they are really easy to drive (I do have balanced cables for other IEMs/headphones). Also, I understand that balanced doubles output impedance, which could actually be detrimental to SQ depending on your amp. If you are looking at cables because you think you need balanced for the SE846, I would save your money.

For my SE846, I got the Meze Audio Rai Silver Plated cable (3.5mm single ended version). Don't really believe or know if cable material makes a difference but fit and comfort definitely do and these work really well for me (way more comfortable than stock). Probably overpriced but I also just liked the way they looked.

https://mezeaudio.com/products/rai-...-plated-upgrade-cables?variant=31471860449337

Some people had recommended it on the SE846 thread and I've been pretty happy with it.

That's wonderfully helpful, thank you so much for your rapid and detailed reply. Really appreciate it mate, have a great day (evening?) ahead.

 

[metcomar]

Qudelix 5k is my absolute favourite Bluetooth portable device. It's universal, I can connect to any my iem and headphones before I used Utws3 to make my iem Wireless. However, it's not useful if you have different connection like 2 pin or mmcx. So, after some time I decided to get Qudelix, and it is a brilliant . I still have some hard time with it for example it can connect to 2 devices in one time but how to swipe between two of them?

 

[peter123]

5K's output impedance for both 3.5mm and 2.5mm output are measured and calculated to be 0.21 ohm.

Post #826 in this thread

 

[MayaTlab]

Connection is stable so far, also with two devices simultaneously, but I noticed that the AAC bitrate sometimes fluctuates significantly and never exceeds 237kbps when connected to an iOS device. This seems low... is that normal for iOS bluetooth connections? I expected to see stable 256kbps.

I've always seen AAC's bitrate fluctuate a little bit with Bluetooth Explorer when connecting AAC enabled headphones to my Mac, whether they're AirPods, Bose 700, etc... including the Qudelix. Someone with better knowledge of how audio over bluetooth works would probably be able to tell you why but I have a feeling that it's entirely normal.

One question that I would have though is that when using SBC or aptX (I currently have no way of testing other codecs) the "bitrate" field on the Qudelix 5K stays at "N/A". Is there a reason for that ?