Qudelix 5k Review - The Little EQ Box
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- Опубліковано 5 вер 2024
- I love little bluetooth DAC/Amps. They are just such functional devices for not a lot of money. It’s a great way to add some convenience to your audio set up, and they’re typically a good bump in quality from a device like a phone or computer’s built-in 3.5mm audio jack. I’ve had my eye on the Qudelix 5k for a while now, as I kept seeing lots of positive things about it online. It was out of stock for the longest time, but now it seems to be available. I picked one up to try it out, and I would say that it is definitely up there with the best of these types of devices. The stand out feature is the app though, which has extensive options for customization and equalization. I might still lean towards the iFi Xcan for pure audio preference, but there is no denying the functionality of the 5k.
Some of the headphones mentioned in the video:
Ifi Xcan: amzn.to/3Og0KND
Qudelix 5k: amzn.to/3PCnbgT
Es100: amzn.to/3zcb4SB
BTR5: amzn.to/3OcJl8v
If you’d like to support the channel, please check out my Patreon link below.
Patreon Link: / mrayrit
List of Gear for Sale (for patrons only at this time): docs.google.co...
Look down below for links to all that gear and some other recommendations.
Of course, I always recommend you take a look at the used market, below are some sites that are great for that.
Head-Fi: www.head-fi.org/
HifiGuides: forum.hifiguid...
Reddit: / avexchange
Hifi-shark: www.hifishark....
US AudioMart: www.usaudiomar...
Some of my favorite equipment for various niches (some links are affiliate):
Supre Budget IEM: Moondrop Chu: amzn.to/3mIY93v
Super Budget Headphone: Koss kph40: koss.com/produ...
Need these pads for the kph40 though: www.aliexpress...
Cheap Gaming Headphone: AD700X: amzn.to/3b4ACUS
Super Cheap Closed-Back Gaming: Recon 500: amzn.to/3numqem
Cheap All-Around Headphone: SHP9600: amzn.to/3b6aUiP
Entry Level DAC: Modi 3+: www.schiit.com...
Entry Level Amp: IEMagni: www.schiit.com...
Entry Level R2R Dac: Cayin RU6:
My Main DAC: Soekris 2541: soekris.modhou...
Recommended Solid State: Violectric V280 Final Edition: massdrop.7eer....
Or Schiit Mjolnir Gen :1 (gotta look used)
Tube Amp: Feliks Audio Echo Gen 1 (gotta look used)
Headphone #1: Drop + Sennheiser HD8xx: massdrop.7eer....
Headphone #2: OG Focal Clear:
Headphone #3: OG NIghthawks: (look used)
Closed Back: t60 Argons: www.modhouseau...
Gaming Headphone: HE560v4: adorama.rfvk.net/6bnGoG
Budget Bluetooth Portable DAC/Amp: XCan: amzn.to/3vJG8WA
Higher End Bluetooth Portable: Gryphon: amzn.to/3R214lT
Wired Portable DAC/Amp: Cayin RU6: (I’d look used, lots on the market)
TWS: Sony XM4: amzn.to/3Glr7Py
Cables:
Hart Audio Cables: hartaudiocable...
Worlds Best RCA Interconnects: amzn.to/3pB2Oa7
Worlds Best XLR Interconnects: amzn.to/3vEdwxO
Recording Gear:
Canon M50: amzn.to/3ba7KKJ
Sigma 16mm 1.4: amzn.to/3vF6SaB
Beyerdynamic Fox Mic: amzn.to/3hoQ01v
Canon M100 (overhead): amzn.to/31lZAxT
Canon 22mm 2.0 (overhead): amzn.to/3dowiAO
#qudelix5k #hifi #review
![If you can't hear this then you're not an audiophile [See description for link to followup video]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/48PxwspDvrE/mqdefault.jpg)
Q5K is an excellent device. Every headphone and IEM can benefit from a bit of EQ. I found that in most cases, proper EQ has larger benefit than finding synergy between sources and potentially spending hundreds of dollars on source to "tame the treble" or "add a bit of sparkle".
Probably the reason why some people hate EQ : no more thinking for weeks, no more compulsive buying "to solve the problem"...
Hell even cross feed is a great feature if you have headphones that offer good imaging/stage it really is nice being able to enable/disable crossfeed from time to time, or on live/acoustic songs. For movies or as a pass through for gaming with a dedicated amp. I still like tidal exclusive with my desktop setup, but since this cost around the price of my modi. Its nice to have just about any/tunable/ideal sound for the same cost on the go or in circumstances where my hifi/needs arent super high like for movies/gaming(k5 passthrough) vs pure music listening(modi) both with a hybrid tube amp. Even if i dont run EQ at all into my hybrid tube amp, you can still use the DAC signal/frequency response filters which then doubles down with a tube/rolling. A nice budget way of enjoying genre specific music like jazz/electronic/technical rock/metal.
True! I was giving up on my SE846s, but this tiny magical device has brought them back to life, all thanks to the PEQ. Pretty much every other (more expensive) DAC/amp fails due to high impedance and/or lack of proper EQ
Paired my 5K with the Shuoer S12 and it's such a KILLER setup!
i work as a delivery driver for a mom n pop business. when it's slow at work I often listen to music and consume content. if not lurk around on discord. this lil device will be great for taking my cooler master mh752 and kph40 on the go and this also has its own mic mixer. considering how flat the mh752 are the eq app is going to be huge fun. same to days where I'm dispatcher and can bring in my gaming laptop and use this as a portable dac/amp directly connected for the laptop which ive been in need of as well. I also liked wearing my Sennheiser jubilees with my g8x when cooking bc I could hear around me and the sizzle of the cooking. I can go back to doing that
I just received mine a few days ago and am using it right now wirelessly to watch your review. The EQ is pretty wild. I found the buttons a bit of a struggle at first but am used to them now. I leave the lights on. Red volume blue for pause and stuff like that. Makes a difference for the sound for sure. You can get lost in all the EQ options and other features. I had ordered the Fiios BTR7 but it was backordered so I just went ahead and bought this for half the price. I am very happy with it. Keep up the good work!
have you tested it with spotify? and if u did does it work?
@@m0nsoonx3 I am sorry I have not. The EQ is native to the Qudelix itself so I would imagine any tuning you run through it will work regardless of the source. It is one of the best features on the device.
Hey how is Qudelix 5K holding up ? Am stuck between BTR7 and Qudelix 5K . I just ordered Beyerdynamic DT 700 Pro X for 250 Euro and am thinking about which one i should get.
Thank you in advence for reply.
@@KuroganeX3 I had the BTR7 and returned it because the user interface on it just sucked. The sound you can get from the Qudelix is just as good to me. The only thing I think the BTR7 would give most users is more power. If you don’t need a lot of power for your IEM or headphones I would still stick with Qudelix for half the price. Just my personal opinion.
@@BrianVallotton thanks for the reply. I just ordered Q5k on amazon for 139 euro. Btr7 costs 100 more
Okay but you obviously missed some critical points:
1. You can set both lights always on so that you know which control is which
2. You can customize your own EQ by holding on the EQ graph so that you have a 20 band EQ to customize
3. You guys (all reviewers) not explaining the Bluetooth setup. Sure any idiot including myself can plug my 3.5 Jack but BT is what sets this Qudelix apart! Nobody explains how to use this incredible feature in detail
I’m still trying to understand why I can’t get my earbuds playing over BT. Simple isn’t it?
My IPhone sees both Qudelix and my earbuds but only plays on the earbuds connection not on Qudelix. What am I missing? Nobody so far explained the proper setup if there’s one
I love my Quelix. The EG and the power is awesome for my IEMs, HiFiman, and Sennheiser cans. Excellent review.
Qudelix 5k is the best bluetooth dac if you move around a lot at work. The range is much better than the btr5. Sound quality is good enough.
I was surprised that using the bluetooth from my MacBook Air I could walk not only throughout my house, but could walk out into my yard out back and still be connected! I have had mine about 3 days now and very happy with it. My 58X's are now wireless! ;-)
@@BrianVallotton how are they wireless?
Trying to think how that works
@@DRC92Hi Donavan. They are not truly wireless. You still have to plug the end of your wired headphones into the Qudelix, but then you are free to move about while the Qudelix receives the bluetooth signal from your phone or laptop... So no getting away from those wires in this setup. What is nice is that you do get some mobility while being able to use your wired equipment. A good compromise.
@@BrianVallotton ahh yeah makes sense, do you notice much drop in quality doing that verses direct connection into the laptop?
@@DRC92 Yes, I would describe it as about a 5 to 10 percent drop off going to Bluetooth. Not bad though.
While there is no sound quality difference out of the box as compared to something like the transparent Apple dongle, where the Qudelix 5K really pulls away is with its EQ. Many phones struggle implementing proper EQ, so getting full control of that is huge. You can really take a "good" IEM or headphone to "great" with the EQ. Just make sure your sending device can do LDAC so you don't lose too much to compression.
Woah, i didn't expect that good mic quality - thought it would be a gimmick, but now i think it might be usable for indoor phone calls :)
Thanks for making this great video!
If Qudelix can fix and improve the buttons and the build quality to rival iFi or FiiO or Shanling devices of this function and price, they would have the most killer BT DAC/amp when coupled with that excellent app! The unmarked rocker buttons were def the dealbreaker for me honestly. I loved the app’s functionality but eventually returned it due to the 5K’s poor physical form factor and difficulty/frustration of use.
Great review btw and good take on the 5K. Glad to see ya found another worthy stablemate to add alongside your xCan!
Take a very small label maker put your itty bitty label of nothing but a period on it stick it on the top of one side take a square and put it on the other side boom you're done
The power button has a bump on top and it’s all you need !
The review was mostly around the EQ & App features, hardly anything on how they sound and the BT range (which is more important to me). I get the message that you can tweak your custom EQ profile to the 'T' but purely from a Dac perspective how clean it sounds and how powerful is the amp (2 biggest considerations, seem strangely missing)
I guess the point was it’s clean. Outside of that, you can tweak it. Good enough is the name of the game with a device like this IMO, and it meets that requirement. I believe I touched base on power which is similar to other comparable devices like the BTR5 and ES100. Not as powerful and doesn’t sound as good as the XCAN IMO, which is my go-to.
Because all dacs sound the same. All amps sound about the same. It was actually a bad sounding item. What sets these different type of products apart is features. Not sound quality.
I have this device for some time and I never have any problems with bottoms. I can easy find which side is which coz one button is profiled little different. Also I clip it to my belt so I always have my bottoms on same position, how I can fail with choosing right one if I remember clipping position? I was watching many reviews and all revivers saying same thing like they copy one from another. Maybe this is a problem if you move from another dac and you have use to it, or you just want look professional coz all reviewers saying same thing. After few days this bottoms are zero problem.
Yeah.
What I especially dislike int he BTR5,
that you cannot use the EQ in wired,
but only with bluetooth.
I cannot really imagine a reason why
they did it that way, maybe the EQ
function is in the bluetooth chip ?
But form the perspective of a user,
this is like a trousers with one leg.
I like your analogy, agree, thinking of buying a qudelix 5k, my phone doesn't have a jack, lame. I know a dongle or whatever but that 5k woj be so cool then the phones can be stored separately, i miss the sansa clip zip, kinda want a dedicated music player, anyways sorry for rambling, $13 an hour gotta be ocd lol good analogy though
How does it compare to just a straight up 3.5mm connection with IEMs with a smartphone? I've never seen any Bluetooth device match that and I'm not particularly picky I just use spotify. But music has always sounded worse on Bluetooth.
I obviously wouldn't mind some more mobility and i do use Bluetooth buds when i exercise. But just having the good old fashioned normal audio functionality along with using my IEM mic for calls probably ranks number 1 for me. The only reason I'm even considering this is because most phones dont have a headphone jack at this point, although there are like one or two options - should I just get a phone with a headphone jack?
I've gotta make a decision on a phone based on this and I'm leaning towards the Asus zenfone. I'm not willing to use a dongle because that completely ruins the ergonomics of daily mobile use with the extra snag points and additional cable coiling up in my pocket.
Can it work battery free and pass through an audio cable ?
Finally someone mentioned car audio. Simple? I have iPhone 12 mini. Help! Thank you for the xlnt review
The EQ settings are way cool but like you, I find flat profile preferable for the cans being used. I ended up saving the matching eq's for each headphone, going into the saved profile and boosting the gain plus 6-10db's....
Using the fiio control app bricked my btr5 so now im looking for a replacement if fiio decides not to replace mine
In Australia The XCAN cost $352 AU = $246 US.
is the 5K sound quality as good as a direct, wired connection?
Just ordered one via Drop. All I need to do now is wait a few months....
Hi...may I know is this Q5K able to drive or match with Beyerdynamic Dt 900 pro x?
The 900 is very easy to drive. I don’t think that would be a problem at all, especially of you can get a balanced cable for it… not sure if you can get a balanced cable…
@@MrAyrit I see...many thanks!
"USB-C for charging as most things are at this point in time"
airpods max in bottom left corner:
I wonder if they’ve updated them at this point.
How does it work in your car if you don’t have Bluetooth but you do have an aux input
You just run a 3.5 to the aux.
I get that lol. Im building a high end system but im limited to my stock head unit because HVAC controls are integrated. So if this provides a cleaner signal to headphones im hoping that it does the same in a car. I also have an audiocontrol LC7 to maintain proper bass which factory radios cut off at higher volume
I love my ES100 but does the company still exist? I've never gotten an update to the app in the two years I've owned it and you'd think they would have an updated version with usb c by now.
If it ever breaks I'd probably get this. I like the app and the option to hear your own voice through your iems/cans on calls. If it didn't overlap so much with the ES100 I'd definitely buy it.
I think they are around. I’m pretty sure they released something new last year, didn’t seem to be a very popular item though. I want to say it was bigger and had a little more power… I could be misremembering things though.
Hi, can it simultaneously play the source from my phone bluetooth and the USB/secondaryBT source at the same time?
creating soundstage with eq? .
Is it gonna have trouble driving non bluetooth Computer speakers? an old phone had no trouble my note 4 had a ton of trouble. Had to have The volume Maxx to even get reasonable volume.
Where do you think this will land?
Powered computer speakers? I can’t imagine there would be a problem.
@MrAyrit there is when the headphone output is low. Seems Samsung is all about liability. They favor weak signal over the risk to people's hearing.
Trying to get an idea where this level might compare
Been looking for something that will take an output signal and send ot yo my ldac headphones over ldac. On sale now i think im going to get one
At present I use my iPhone going into my external desktop DAC via USB. With the Qudelix 5k can I connect to my iPhone and then to my External DAC via USB using just the EQ function along with the DAC in my external DAC at the same time ?
Not sure about that one.
Did you have problems with IPhones? Sometimes the iPhone rejects the device because suspects needs too much power
I did not try to plug it in to the iPhone. I only used the bt.
CAN I USE THE MIC USING THE DAC THROUGH USB?
Yes
@@stuka78TY !
I ordered this. Got it in. It connected automatically..but after i get done using the app once for some reason my phone cant find it no matter what i press
Sorry, I don't have it any more, so I can't help. I didn't like that the buttons weren't labeled well.
where to get the Qudelix apps? how to install it
It was just in the App Store. It doesn’t come up when you search qudelix?
Apple Store for iOS, Google Play Store for Android and Chrome Store for Chrome Based browsers on a computer (Chrome works over USB, the mobile apps over Bluetooth. Settings are shared, so you can use the app on the phone to change settings while listening on your pc)
Hi. What iem did you use in the test?
S12, Chu, Aria, 660s, others that I can’t think of off the top of my head.
how do you compare with the ifi go blu in quality sound? do you think the ifi worth the extra money?
I wasn't a huge fan of the Blu for the money. I did not really think it outperformed these other amps/dacs that you can get for $100 or less. My fav is still the ifi Xcan.
@@MrAyrit thanks for answering my question!
From what you tell me I'm gonna buy the qudelix and use it as a portable and desktop dac for a while. Then, i will go whit the hipdac or xcan for desktop only use to complete my portable/desktop combo
Curious if it will drive my DT 1990 pro…
I don’t recall having much luck with portables and 1990 when I had mine. Correct me if I’m wrong, but I don’t believe you can run the 1990 balanced, so I would say no.
@@MrAyrit no can’t run balanced for the 1990
Yes, but Quadelix5K can run unbalanced…
put phone on desk and record it next time..otherwise great video,Easy subscribe
Thanks
How many bands on the EQ?
Looks like 10 bands to me, but they're might be a way to alter that. The system has a ton of options.
Firmware 2.0 came out a few weeks ago now it is 20 bands. You can also have 10 seperate bands per ear. They say on their website that using more than 10 leads to a slight decrease in battery live, but if you don't need the additional bands you can disable them.
Anyone know a good USB C to lighting cable to use for iPhone?
Fiio otg cable
Yeah that one will do it
Thank you both!
@@ravantgarde1899 but so far I’m limited to use Jack on Qudelix still looking to find a way to listen earbuds via BT…
Is it possible to connect my iPhone and my AirPods via BT and use the EQ of the Qudelix app? This would be my preferred use model. Basically I‘m looking for a way to define the input and output devices. I guess the Q5K doesn‘t support the transmit mode 😂
I don’t think so. Interesting idea though.
Thanks!
Im using what i think is a high quality usbc to 3.5mm dac dongle from amazon. It has a 32bit 384khz chip in it. But for some reason i hear static. Idk why or what i need to do. Would swapping to a 4.4mm dac fix it? Does balanced have less static?
On the 5k? Or are you talking about a different device?
@@MrAyrit just a dongle from amazon. I think i got it tho. It was the internet interference. I started using another phone as an mp3 player on airplane mode the noise left
ummmm, work with audeze maxwell?
I don't see why not, but seems like that would kind of defeat the purpose of getting a Maxwell. They should already have good bluetooth.
@@MrAyrit lol
Can you show eq that you use for p1?
Sorry, I don’t have the 5k or the P1 any more.
Does anyone know of a wired version of a device like this. I need this but I don’t want a Bluetooth version. I need it for DJING and need to be fully wired.
This can work wired
@@stuka78through the usb c? Android usb c to qudelix usb c? I was thinking the usb c was just for charging.
EQ in binary means. Baby Jesus!!!! 🤘 😈🤘
Jones Larry Wilson Paul Anderson Sharon
Can it be used wired as well to listen to music?
Yes