[TK33]

It me! If you want know anything about the the 5K from a non-audiophile point of view (usability, features, and comparisons to my old ES100, bugs, or annoyances), I should be able to quickly check and comment. I'm not a pro, so can't really comment on audio quality though . It's comparable to the ES100, if that's enough of a reference point.

As far as the mic, I just came back from a long walk, and it's pretty neat and very clearly picked up my voice and rejected background noise. I did a few real and The Test Call calls and they worked out just fine and rejected most road/wind noise, especially while I was speaking. When I first got the device yesterday, I did a few test calls in the house while a radio was playing in the background. The radio was completely rejected and my voice was loud and clear. At least compared to the ES100, this is a major difference and makes it practical for me to take calls directly on the 5K without taking out my phone.

Just note that although there is a sideband mode that mixes your voice with phone audio during a call, this only works during a call. There is ambient mode (no way to mix outside sounds with device audio). I have a feeling that the noise cancellation would make such a mode less useful as the audio from the mic is pretty clean...it's literally just voices speaking directly into the device.

That's the scoop on the mic. Kinda wish this was out when I settled on the ES100, but just had to grab it, and then I just had to grab this when it was released . I guess the spending stops now until the next random wireless DAC comes out.

Great news on the mic! That was one of the things I do not like about the ES100 and some of my true wireless buds...call quality is terrible. Currently have to switch to my SE425s for calls bc it is the only IEM I have that has a cable with an Inline mic.

 

[cttttt]

Thanks for that.

is the clip function any better than the ES100?

Twice mine unclipped then bungee jumped off my shirt or jacket lapel and then detached to fall down once into a rainy gutter and once into a (filled - gross!!) toilet.

The 5K's clip is moderately strong and deep as it runs the entire length and width of the device. It can't crush your finger by any means, but what it lacks in strength, it makes up in depth. It should stay put when clipped to a collar, sleeve or pocket. The clip has a nib at the end and does the gripping. This presents a gap of about 2mm along the length of the clip between the nib and the top of the device. This gap could securely grip your cables if they're thick enough. I have a 16 core cable, and the gap strongly grips the full 16 core part of the cable (between the bridge, and the connector) and only moderately grips onto the 8 core parts of the cable (between the IEMs and the bridge in the cable).

As far as working the clip, whereas the ES100 clip opened when any part of the clip was depressed, only the outer edges of the top of the clip on the 5K can be depressed. This may ensure that the clip isn't always being worked and could prevent the clip from falling apart spontaneously.

As for construction. I'm not sure if it's metallic, but the clip feels about the same quality as the rest of the device and actually feels as square as the rest of the device. It's solid.

When working the clip, there is no left-to-right play or mushiness in the clip. The only motion is the opening and closing of the clip.

All this said, I don't really plan on using the clip because of trauma from the ES100 clip (which is extremely fragile and broke for no reason very soon after getting it).

Update: Also the clip has two holes (on the two sides of the top of the clip that can be depressed) that you can run a thin lanyard through. Again, no way I'm touching these, though, because I'm afraid of clips on devices.

 

[VICosPhi]

And looks like the first batch is already sold out!

 

[zolom]

Well, listening is a pure bliss.

Tidal hifi, via Usb audio player pro, samsung s10, LDAC 990 and Beyerdynamics T5p headphones.

Regarding baterry:
1. It charges only up to 98%. Is it ok?
2. What should be the battery life? Under which settings (codec, volume level, output impedance)?

 

[AlexCBSN]

Damn, it’s already sold out

 

[MaxD]

. What should be the battery life? Under which settings (codec, volume level, output impedance)?

https://www.qudelix.com/blogs/5k-dac-amp/battery

 

[adriansb]

Well, listening is a pure bliss.

Tidal hifi, via Usb audio player pro, samsung s10, LDAC 990 and Beyerdynamics T5p headphones.

Regarding baterry:
1. It charges only up to 98%. Is it ok?
2. What should be the battery life? Under which settings (codec, volume level, output impedance)?

I did not know that 'Usb audio player pro' can output to Bluetooth, does this means I can get in theory 24-bit/96kHz from tidal MQA over LDAC? Would this work on any Android phone?

 

[Incognito73]

Blimey. It seems that their express shipping service is really express. Picked up on Thursday arriving after 2 working days (to UK).

Recently, I started to experiment with those little BT wonders. I also have Shanling UP4 so it would be interesting to experiment/compare things and decide which one to move on.

 

[Marco Angel]

Blimey. It seems that their express shipping service is really express. Picked up on Thursday arriving after 2 working days (to UK).

Recently, I started to experiment with those little BT wonders. I also have Shanling UP4 so it would be interesting to experiment/compare things and decide which one to move on.

Same here, today will be arriving my K5, can only compare with my ES100 and SE846 in balanced, but will try to give my best to compare them both.

 

[Pro-Jules]

Keep the reports coming!

 

[alex5908]

Yesterday my 5K battery level was 70%. Today it's 60%. I don't think I used 5K after this. I might be wrong, though. But it's not a good sign if I am not as it means K5 drains the "juice" from the battery even when it is OFF. And 10% for the idle time in the night is toooo much. Could anybody check on that too?

 

[ClieOS]

I did not know that 'Usb audio player pro' can output to Bluetooth, does this means I can get in theory 24-bit/96kHz from tidal MQA over LDAC? Would this work on any Android phone?

MQA doesn't work over LDAC (or any BT codec for that matter), so there won't be any 2nd or 3rd unfolding. Also, 5K doesn't support MQA.

However, UAPP (as well as Tidal) will still provide the 1st unfolding (*core decoding).

 

[Pro-Jules]

Does it work ok with Amazon Music HD?

 

[cttttt]

But it's not a good sign if I am not as it means K5 drains the "juice" from the battery even when it is OFF. And 10% for the idle time in the night is toooo much.

Hmm. I've observed the battery graph plateauing when the device is not in use or off:

See https://imgur.com/a/seNYSoC

The decline is while listening over LDAC to a mobile phone. The plateau is overnight after I fell asleep and whatever I was listening to stopped. The rise is when I plugged it in as a USB DAC in the morning.

 

[alex5908]

Hmm. I've observed the battery graph plateauing when the device is not in use or off:

I don't use the app in this phone. It's just the OS (Android) reading. I'll check it on another phone where I installed the app. I'll do it on both phones for the night before going to bed and then report it here.