[miserybeforethemusic]

Just got the Qudelix 5k and the Qx-Over for review, good timing too since I just got done with the FiiO BTR5!

Congrats! Looking forward to your writeup on your experience with the QX-Over. Would love to order a pair myself right now, but I'm not really willing to shell out another 20 in shipping.

 

[vsg28]

Congrats! Looking forward to your writeup on your experience with the QX-Over. Would love to order a pair myself right now, but I'm not really willing to shell out another 20 in shipping.

It's joined the portable DAC/Amp collection now, and also now I realized that EarMen Sparrow slid slightly upward during photography

 

[miserybeforethemusic]

It's joined the portable DAC/Amp collection now, and also now I realized that EarMen Sparrow slide slightly upward during photography

Hahahahaha oh man I have messed up so many shots from one thing making its way a little off alignment. Can definitely relate. It'll be interesting to see how the Sparrow and 9038 stack up to the 5K as far as DAC/amps go. Seems to me a lot of people consider Bluetooth to be the 5K's main selling point and I think that's a travesty.

 

[vsg28]

Hahahahaha oh man I have messed up so many shots from one thing making its way a little off alignment. Can definitely relate. It'll be interesting to see how the Sparrow and 9038 stack up to the 5K as far as DAC/amps go. Seems to me a lot of people consider Bluetooth to be the 5K's main selling point and I think that's a travesty.

I'll test both wired and wireless with the 5K, but note that the 9038 is wired only and insanely overpowered for most portable use cases so it's a clear outlier here.

 

[miserybeforethemusic]

I'll test both wired and wireless with the 5K, but note that the 9038 is wired only and insanely overpowered for most portable use cases so it's a clear outlier here.

Do you have the 9038D or S? Ended up with the 3.5mm version and...yeah...that's a lot of power.

The PowerDAC is on a whole other level, for what it's worth. Best pairing for the Tin P1 I've found to date. Wish the 5K had juuuuust a little bit more for them, for example the sub-bass weight that's tremendously present with the PowerDAC just isn't there on the 9038 or 5k. That PD's FPGA is definitely doing some work.

I imagine you're aware, but ASR did test the 5K a while back, so you should have some AP trends and traces to take advantage of, if needed. Should save you some analysis time.

 

[vsg28]

Do you have the 9038D or S? Ended up with the 3.5mm version and...yeah...that's a lot of power.

The PowerDAC is on a whole other level, for what it's worth. Best pairing for the Tin P1 I've found to date. Wish the 5K had juuuuust a little bit more for them, for example the sub-bass weight that's tremendously present with the PowerDAC just isn't there on the 9038 or 5k. That PD's FPGA is definitely doing some work.

I imagine you're aware, but ASR did test the 5K a while back, so you should have some AP trends and traces to take advantage of, if needed. Should save you some analysis time.

I have the 9038D here at the moment, balanced out with portable gear only recently got a winner with 4.4 mm besting 2.5 mm so I wanted to wait it out. Good to know about the ASR tests, I'll only use it if I run into any issues though

 

[Nick-firestorm]

I have the 5k and a pretty serious desktop unit, and really the biggest difference is power. Obviously the 5k can't push the amount of watts that my Burson can, but you're generally not going to notice unless you are using really difficult cans. The SQ and features of the Quidelex are top notch, and the PEQ can really get you to any sound signature you want. Add the convenience, and it's a winner in my book.

so with PEQ you can get a nice musical warm sound out of it just like other nice musical warm DACs?

my experience with equalizers hasnt been the best and im surprised the 5K's one is so lauded, is it really that flexible and different than other choices? you sure can use software on the computer anyway? what's special about the PEQ for desktop?

 

[Mouseman]

so with PEQ you can get a nice musical warm sound out of it just like other nice musical warm DACs?

my experience with equalizers hasnt been the best and im surprised the 5K's one is so lauded, is it really that flexible and different than other choices? you sure can use software on the computer anyway? what's special about the PEQ for desktop?

Well, for starters I don't agree with the idea that some seem to have about the 5k being "clinical" or cold. There are some DAC chips I'm not a fan of, but the one in the 5k isn't one of them.

And yes, I think you can alter most IEMs or headphones quite a bit, but obviously you're not going to turn a pair of TRNs into the same sound signature as a set of high end planars. IMO you need either a lot of experience or a good starting point for PEQ. I stick to regular EQ most of the time, and I've had good luck. Some gear takes to EQ well, there are a few things that don't seem to. The benefit on the 5k is that you can have a lot of presets, and now they apparently switch based on outputs (haven't updated to the new FW yet). It's also portable - that's the killer feature for me. Powerful EQ and other functions in the palm of your hand. Can you do the same thing on your desktop? Sure. But you can't connect a set of Hifiman Devas to it and walk around the house. Oh, yeah - the price point is also pretty good.

 

[monsieurfromag3]

I am one of the people who often described the 5K as cold or clinical.

I sincerely used to view it as such. But my views have changed since pairing the 5K with the QX-Over and the Final A3000. Both, esp. the QX-Over, are the exact opposite. Warm and full, with more decay and thickness than I’d experienced up to now. If anything the QX-Over could do with a bit more chilly precision and speed to improve dynamics.

I come from the V30, which is not a warm source at all but lusher than the 5K, and now use the 5K alternately with the Cayin N3Pro, which is warm, full-bodied and colored. Also my regular fare is IMR, which is not cold but renowned for its divisive piezo treble, quite quick and aggressive.

My new official view of the 5K is that it’s a chameleon, much better on all accounts than its price point suggests, with a tendency towards neutralish, revealing coldness perhaps, that is easily offset by the headphones plugged into it. The ES100 is more veiled and a good match for cold, fast BA sets.

 

[maschoff]

I have 3 5Ks for various applications and it used to be as easy as hitting the pause button to switch to the one I am using.

Recent updates broke this. Can anyone tell me how to get back to that ease of switching?

1.9.4 fixed it, it was Bluetooth related. I had to forget each device and add them again.

It would be nice if they numbered them or allowed you to name them so you could keep track of them.

They are aggressive as well. If I leave my gaming 5K on, which I use Beyerdynamics GT1990 PROs, and go get coffee, when I come back, the gaming 5K will pick up my phone. Mow I can click the upper blue knobbed switch and it returns to my balanced set using Beyerdynamics Xelentos, which I still prefer over the QX-overs.

 

[DopiusX]

Hi there, I'm new to this forum so I'd like to briefly introduce myself. I am 46 years of age, german native speaker so please excuse me if sometimes it might be a bit difficult to understand my writing. This whole world of audio-enthusiasts is quite new to me, though I'm familiar with some of the topics in this forum.

Well produced music is my passion and so is decent audio equipment. My objective is to get the most of my existing hardware and that's how I came to scroll through some of your threads with greatest of interest.

I used to listen to music for a long time by my Fiio X1, using Shure SE215/ Xiaomi Piston Pro HD 2/ Sennheiser Momentum. Then I got my Xiaomi smartphone and I was a little disappointed about it's audio capacities. Maybe it's not the worst, but there seems to be a lot room for improvement. Connecting a Fiio BTR1 Bluetooth DAC to it got things a little better, but dealing with huge connection issues via bluetooth made me search for better gear.

By chance I found the 5k from Qudelix and I ordered the X-over earphones at the same time. Having both connected to my smartphone works now very well for me, but still it isn't perfect. I applied the PEQ settings from Oratory1990 (his preferred ones) which made these earphones sound a lot better than stock, but I'm struggling with the high frequencies. In my ears, they sound a bit too dull with a small, but noticeable amount of sibilance, so I added a peak +1,5db at 16 kHz. With some songs, it now sounds more clear, but especially Hard Rock music suffers from too much harshness now.

Now my question to those still following my text: Is there a way to get the heights of these earphones fixed in a way that might correspond harmonically even with Hard Rock or metal music?

 

[themglean]

Does anyone use this as a desktop dac along with an amplifier to drive bigger cans? I buying this to serve as my main desktop dac to attach to my amp and also a bluetooth receiver for travel. Hopefully It works well, specially when I use it as a desktop dac.

 

[Mouseman]

Hi there, I'm new to this forum so I'd like to briefly introduce myself. I am 46 years of age, german native speaker so please excuse me if sometimes it might be a bit difficult to understand my writing. This whole world of audio-enthusiasts is quite new to me, though I'm familiar with some of the topics in this forum.

Well produced music is my passion and so is decent audio equipment. My objective is to get the most of my existing hardware and that's how I came to scroll through some of your threads with greatest of interest.

I used to listen to music for a long time by my Fiio X1, using Shure SE215/ Xiaomi Piston Pro HD 2/ Sennheiser Momentum. Then I got my Xiaomi smartphone and I was a little disappointed about it's audio capacities. Maybe it's not the worst, but there seems to be a lot room for improvement. Connecting a Fiio BTR1 Bluetooth DAC to it got things a little better, but dealing with huge connection issues via bluetooth made me search for better gear.

By chance I found the 5k from Qudelix and I ordered the X-over earphones at the same time. Having both connected to my smartphone works now very well for me, but still it isn't perfect. I applied the PEQ settings from Oratory1990 (his preferred ones) which made these earphones sound a lot better than stock, but I'm struggling with the high frequencies. In my ears, they sound a bit too dull with a small, but noticeable amount of sibilance, so I added a peak +1,5db at 16 kHz. With some songs, it now sounds more clear, but especially Hard Rock music suffers from too much harshness now.

Now my question to those still following my text: Is there a way to get the heights of these earphones fixed in a way that might correspond harmonically even with Hard Rock or metal music?

Have you burned then in for a while? That makes a difference and loosens up the drivers. Also make sure you're getting a good seal. The Xs are very position sensitive, if they're not "aimed" the right way, the sound is odd.

If you're listening to Hard Rock, the Oratory PEQ settings are, in my opinion and personal experience with the Xs, not great settings. I listen to a lot of rock and metal, and I find that those settings cut the bass and boost some of the treble too much for my personal taste. I found the filter 5 boost (with a 2.0 gain) to be the one that seemed to be a real issue, with too much boost when it shouldn't be. The Harmon 2019 was a much better starting point for me, and I made adjustments from that.

 

[timl]

I applied the PEQ settings from Oratory1990

Where did you find these? AFAIK he hasn’t published these.

 

[KaiSc]

so with PEQ you can get a nice musical warm sound out of it just like other nice musical warm DACs?

my experience with equalizers hasnt been the best and im surprised the 5K's one is so lauded, is it really that flexible and different than other choices? you sure can use software on the computer anyway? what's special about the PEQ for desktop?

You can, e.g., enter EQ settings from ORATORY1990 to get a Harman response on your ’phones:
https://www.reddit.com/r/oratory1990/wiki/index/list_of_presets

I don’t know any other portable amp that offers such a flexible EQ to use that option.
IMO the EQ makes worlds more of a difference than the tiny sound variations you find between (non-EQ’d) DACs/Amps.

After doing a lot of level matched blind A/B-ing of different DACs and amps personally, I‘m very skeptical about the opinions you read all over the internet.
The sound differences usually are so minor, often hard to hear at all, opposed the the idea you can get by reading the “reviews”, that makes you think those are worlds apart.

BTW: without exact level matching every comparison is pointless, it’s always the louder unit that seems to sound better.