Review on 🎧 Qudelix-5K Bluetooth USB DAC AMP LDAC aptX Adaptive aptX HD AAC Dual ES9218p 3.5mm Unbalanced & 2.5mm Balanced Output by Stephanie More

Hello. I want to give my opinion on Quedelix 5K after almost 3 months of use. I hope what I'm sharing below will help others better understand this device. The Quedelix 5K is a very demanding audio device. I've noticed that it primarily/mostly captures "serious" sound lovers/enthusiasts. I myself like it so much and am really impressed by its sound quality that I feel it necessary to introduce it to a wider audience than just audio enthusiasts. For this reason I will try to explain it in a simpler than technical way. Simply put, a device like the Qudelix 5K can do two things: 1. As a Bluetooth receiver (receive BT audio and send analog audio)2. As a USB adapter for analog audio (USB-C for analog audio output) The 5K USB-C connector is a dual-function connector. We could use it to charge the battery at 5K, or use it to interface a USB analog audio dongle, or both. The Quedelix 5K sends analog audio through the 3.5mm or 2.5mm jack on the top of the device. On each of these ports we can connect headphones/headphones or route the output signal to an external audio amplifier (e.g. home audio or car audio). (Note: The 2.5mm connector is designed to operate in "balanced" audio mode. If you don't know what that is, please do not use it. Do not attempt to use a 2.5mm plug/ plugging in a cable without a proper "balanced" mode of audio. Using the wrong 2.5mm jack/cable can damage the 5K.) Depending on how we like to use the 5K, how deep we get into the possibilities of Wanting to immerse ourselves in 5K and work with the accompanying mobile app, we can turn this device from great to amazing. We could use the Qudelix 5K like a simple BT receiver/audio dongle.. The device comes pre-configured by the manufacturer with optimal presets. IMHO the default settings for 5K are more than enough to keep the average/most listener happy Enough to open them up to a world of enhanced sound reproduction while still having the freedom to use headphones/earphones vo n their mobile phones (ie wireless). Please don't feel humiliated/humiliated if I mention "average". By "average" I mean people who enjoy music more than they care how their audio devices work (that's why there is the term "audiophile" for this kind of love :) ). I myself am more of a music lover (80% of the time) than a music lover, although I do enjoy hearing how my music sounds best. Quedelix offers 5K with a companion mobile app (available for iOS on the AppStore and Android on the PlayStore). The application is designed to perform many tasks such as: B.: regularly updating the "software” in Quedelix 5K; to improve its performance and stability - to officially launch the manufacturer's 5K guarantee - to configure the behavior when connected as a USB dongle - to enable/disable certain Bluetooth audio codecs (note: by default all codecs are enabled ) - to configure button behavior/actions - configure power/battery management - set it to get the best sound quality (remember: this is not required to get good sound out of 5K as I mentioned above ) - Set the built-in equalizer to 5K to sound better to our tastes (note: human hearing and ear profiles never match from person to person), or to "correct" imperfect headphone/earphone performance, or to enhance room reproduction of a home/car radios compensating system and so on. The interesting part of the app is that the Qudelix app is really just a UI to set those settings to 5K. Any settings we make in the app are not saved in the app but directly in 5K and the app is no longer needed for 5K to work. Settings to 5K follow him everywhere, no matter mobile phone or computer use 5K as BT receiver or USB audio dongle. So once I've used 5K with a friend's phone or tested the phone in a store, all the settings (including the sound profile) are 5K. Then, with such features, the Qudelix 5K app is a bit difficult to use. You will need time to really understand and use all the features. I was confused myself when I first used it. But don't feel too overwhelmed but the app if you find it too difficult to understand just leave it. The Quedelix 5K already sounded good with all the default settings. I don't want to describe all the settings and features of Qudelix here. You can find them in their user manual. I will list what I liked about Quedelix 5K.1. Amazing sound. I have repeated this several times above. It just sounds incredible. Whether you just use the basic AAC/Apt-X codec, or a very advanced codec like LDAC, or use it as a USB audio dongle. It sounded many times better than my other Maceton WM4U BT receiver. It sounded two or three notches higher than my LG V20 phone; A phone highly regarded for its sound quality: better resolution, better layers of music, better performance, more sophistication.2. Long battery life. It depends if we want to maximize the battery life or adjust it for the best sound quality, we can get 10 to 20 hours of playback.3. Strong driving force A device like the Qudelix 5K is technically called a DAC (Digital to Analog Converter). The DAC takes digital audio and converts it to analog audio. The analog audio is then converted into a sound wave that we humans can hear through the interaction of amplifier and converter (i.e. loudspeakers, headphones, headphones, etc.). Usually, the analog audio output from the DAC alone is pretty weak, and louder sound requires an external amplifier. The Qudelix 5K has a built-in small amplifier powerful enough to drive a variety of headphones. The 3.5mm connector is powerful enough to power many headphones. However, the balanced 2.5mm connector offers twice the performance. In balanced mode, it's powerful enough to make my very demanding Hifiman HE5LE planar magnetic headphones sound pretty loud. Amazing Bluetooth range. Qudelix is hyped for the unique 5K BT antenna design and they don't just hype it. I was able to play 5K at 8 meters from my LG V20 phones through 3 layers of brick wall (about 6 inches each) at home, using LDAC as codec and streaming from my LG V20, which can only work with BT4. .2.5. The amazing Qudelix 5K equalizer features two 10-band equalizer options; Graphic equalizer (GEQ) and parametric equalizer (PEQ). The equalizer is created in the digital domain with a 64-bit precision calculation, which means that the equalizer can adjust the frequency level and amplitude of the sound without affecting the quality of the modified sound. GEQ is familiar to most people. But PEQ is a beast leveling tool. This gives us much more flexibility to shape the frequency of the sound to affect the response of our earbuds/headphones or the response of an external audio system room. Note that the PEQ is generally considered a professional instrument. However, professional audio equipment does not necessarily have a PEQ parameter. Some bass/mids even only have 3 to 5 PEQ bands. Surprisingly, the 5K packs a highly accurate 10-band parametric EQ in such a small package. Now you should understand why I mentioned that the Quedelix 5K is such a complex audio device. Despite its humble looks, the Qudelix 5K is truly an amazing, customizable, and cutting-edge audio device. Below is a list of the audio devices I've used with the 5K so far. Headphones: Sony MH755, Blon BL-03, Fiio FH1. Headphones: Drop. E-MU Purpleheart, Audeze Sine (Balanced), Hifiman HE-5LE (Balanced) Source (BT Transmitter): LG V20 Music/Songs: I'm not limited to any particular genre of music. I listen to everything: classical/romantic/baroque/renaissance, rock (progressive, rock and roll, hard rock, etc.), jazz (all derivatives), metal, pop, folk/country, vocals, etc. . hp The Qudelix 5K has a built-in microphone that is very sensitive but lacks noise cancellation. The voice coming out of the microphone is actually very good, but if we attach the Q5K to the clothes, it can easily pick up the sound of the 5K rubbing against the clothes and transmit the sound to the other end. If we don't like it and our headphones have a built-in microphone, we can disable the 5K microphone and use an external microphone on our earphones/headphones instead. On the other hand, if our headphones don't have a microphone (or we send the audio output to an amplifier, for example), we can use the Q5K's built-in microphone to make phone calls. PSS Comparison of Graphic Equalizer (GEQ) and Parametric Equalizer (PEQ). GEQ roughly divides the frequency range of human hearing (20 Hz to 20 kHz) into two frequency scales (31.5, 63, 125, 250, 500, 1K, 2K, 4K). , 8K, 16K) with a fixed "impact” bandwidth to boost or cut in a peak/trough pattern. PEQ is a much more complex equalizer since this frequency scale is freely adjustable by us depending on how wide the effect is and whether the effect is acting as a peak/through or shelving filter. Don't be fooled by this parametric equalizer. It seems complicated at first, but it's actually not that difficult to use. What makes it more difficult is using PEQ effectively to shape the headphones, for example we would need to measure the frequency response of the headphones. At the same time, we know in which part of the answer the phones have too little or too much volume. Then we fix them with PEQ. Luckily, some sites are willing to share their measurements, like this list: https://www.reddit.com/r/oratory1990/wiki/index/list_of_presets. The PEQ example I'm attaching as one of the images shows my way of correcting my Fiio's responsiveness. IEM FH1. I'm not following a Harman curve, but I use other great sounding IEMs as a reference. Without the equalizer, the sound sounded smooth, but flat and uninteresting. PEQ turns it into a live sounding IEM that I couldn't even dream of before.