Tried the Harman EQ for the FiiO FH3 and felt it was doing way too much with the highs.
Just noticed an auto EQ preset tab (how long has this been there?) and found a preset for the FH3 (crinacle) and have to say it's greatly improving the sound for me. Creates better vocal separation without going overboard like the Harman EQ. I've been sticking with flat EQ over the Harman and felt things sound sightly muddied, but this crinacle EQ completely opens things up. Absolutely loving the FH3 now.
Still blown away every day by how much value the Q5K is for the price.
Crinacle's EQ is based on his IEF Neutral Target curve which has less treble emphasis than Harman 2019. And do note: it EQs everything flat from 1khz down.
I prefer this target over Harman 2019, but since I like more bass, I use the Harman target for frequencies from 20hz to 150hz to get the best of both.
Crinacle's EQ is based on his IEF Neutral Target curve which has less treble emphasis than Harman 2019. And do note: it EQs everything flat from 1khz down.
I prefer this target over Harman 2019, but since I like more bass, I use the Harman target for frequencies from 20hz to 150hz to get the best of both.
Yeah wow, going Harman target for that range with Crinacle for the rest definitely kicks up the bass a notch. Will have to go back and forth for awhile comparing it with Crinacle's standard EQ, but I'll at least be using this EQ situationally.
Bootstrapped to a Little Bear B4-X, it's effectively the first portable bluetooth tube-fed amplifier I've had the pleasure of listening to. Surprisingly usable while moving around the house, too.
I am a little confused, though, about the optimal volume settings for using the 5K as effectively just a DAC and having it send a Line Out signal to the B4-X. Am I introducing distortion if both the Bluetooth and 5K volume sliders are maxed out? Even if they're both at -1.0 dB? Seems like I lose a lot of usable volume with this combo compared to some of my more powerful sources.
Yeah wow, going Harman target for that range with Crinacle for the rest definitely kicks up the bass a notch. Will have to go back and forth for awhile comparing it with Crinacle's standard EQ, but I'll at least be using this EQ situationally.
From what I've read , Crinacle just loves sub bass, so I'm sure he boosts the bass for his own listening pleasure.
His IEF Target is just his take on what is absolute Neutral in-ear tonality. To some people, neutral tone is boring. Feel free to tweak any setting to suit your taste, use his target as a good starting point. Our Q5K makes it fun and easy to experiment.
I am almost sure not .. as you probably just get muddy boring bass with doing this.
With good headphones or IEM => you get fastest, clearest and deepest kicks almost without EQ or little EQ in Bass and Sub bass (IER-Z1R, HEDDphone Z7M2) and many other IEM you really need to lower sub bass and bass by a big margin to get detailed music and not just muddy rumble (Xelento).
Harman target is often like a disaster for bass and sub bass details and impacts speed.
With good headphones or IEM => you get fastest, clearest and deepest kicks almost without EQ or little EQ in Bass and Sub bass (IER-Z1R, HEDDphone Z7M2) and many other IEM you really need to lower sub bass and bass by a big margin to get detailed music and not just muddy rumble (Xelento).
Almost all IEMs come stock tuned with some bass (and treble) emphasis and yeah the really well tuned ones need little or no EQ.
But we're discussing here about applying the AutoEq filters for the IEF Neutral Target in the Q5K. It would entirely flatten their careful bass tuning. I don't think many people would find such ruler flat bass sufficient. My advice is to realise this and not apply the IEF Neutral Target wholesale, especially at the bass end.
The nice thing about EQ is that it can open up many more choices in IEMs and headphones for any individual. Rather than hunting for the perfect one it is possible to turn many into good enough ones…. While still hunting for your perfect one!
I used to have a deep aversion to EQ. Seemed almost… impure. Now I realize that was a bias with little merit, and probably served vendors and manufacturers better than it served me since it kept me buying stuff. No, EQ, cannot fix technicalities, but for most of my day to day listening, tonality / timbre is what is important, along with ergonomics.
Thinned out my IEM collection to where all I had left was Buds+ while waiting for Dunu SA6 to come in. Been working from home pretty much exclusively and I've started using the CAL SE more. Great combo with the convenience of the Q5K, and the lightweight, comfortable CAL SE and warm sound signature.
Bootstrapped to a Little Bear B4-X, it's effectively the first portable bluetooth tube-fed amplifier I've had the pleasure of listening to. Surprisingly usable while moving around the house, too.
I am a little confused, though, about the optimal volume settings for using the 5K as effectively just a DAC and having it send a Line Out signal to the B4-X. Am I introducing distortion if both the Bluetooth and 5K volume sliders are maxed out? Even if they're both at -1.0 dB? Seems like I lose a lot of usable volume with this combo compared to some of my more powerful sources.
I've tried the same combo, instead strapping 5K to the side whereas it fits well width-wise. I get a bit too much noise for this combo to be usable on daily basis due to BT interference from 5K being too close to B4-X that becomes inaudible only at fairly high volume levels.
In terms of volume adjustments, when there's an option to adjust input level to amp through pre-amp or dac, I adjust it to a level so that end head amplifier is operated somewhere in 11-12 oclock volume knob range. Wiseman once told me that head amplifiers generally best operate when their volume level is in that 40-50% range.
You should also watch out for clipping, which is somewhat alleviated due to not being able to turn off 5K's amp, aka "double-amping". If there's not enough headroom on B4X's knob and things clip too early, that's a sign to reduce output level from 5K.
I've tried the same combo, instead strapping 5K to the side whereas it fits well width-wise. I get a bit too much noise for this combo to be usable on daily basis due to BT interference from 5K being too close to B4-X that becomes inaudible only at fairly high volume levels.
In terms of volume adjustments, when there's an option to adjust input level to amp through pre-amp or dac, I adjust it to a level so that end head amplifier is operated somewhere in 11-12 oclock volume knob range. Wiseman once told me that head amplifiers generally best operate when their volume level is in that 40-50% range.
You should also watch out for clipping, which is somewhat alleviated due to not being able to turn off 5K's amp, aka "double-amping". If there's not enough headroom on B4X's knob and things clip too early, that's a sign to reduce output level from 5K.
Sad that many would keep searching for another earpiece to buy when a little EQ will fix their issue with the one on hand. I even had someone tell me EQ is wrong as it changes the studio engineer's intent! This was in response to the suggestion to EQ his hifi for room resonance (boom). So he spent $$$ on room treatments instead. A Behringer DEQ2496 would have saved him thousands, and produce a better result.
I've nothing against acoustic wall tiles to reduce surface reflections as there are some things EQ alone cannot do in the room.
Ordered this just now because screw it, why not, it looks like I'm getting into IEMs so something a bit better than the Apple lightning-to-3.5mm dongle and a bit smaller than the iFi BL would be nice.
I wonder if it would be worth it to get a cheap Android phone just for the LDAC support. Probably not right now, since I'm just streaming Spotify currently? Has anyone gone from iPhone's AAC to Android's LDAC recently (specifically with Qudelix 5k or another similar BT DAC-amp)?
There are DAPs that also transmit LDAC that are probably cheaper and defo smaller than a cheap smartphone e.g. Hidzs AP80, Shanling M0, HiBy R2 and TempoTec V1-A (this one has a 2nd mSD slot, btw). All of these DAPs can be controlled by an app on your phone so you can still have a big screen experience, but without actually adding another big screen.
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