Ehh..."Hi-Res" Certification does indeed have to do with digital, which is evident in the digital half of that standard that you left out when you pasted from their website.
The cables are 2.5 balanced to 3.5 trs balanced. However, they're boutique and so without dismantling them i can only assume they're wired correctly, hence my interest in ruling them out as a source of issue(s). It sounds like the vol difference you hear btwn unbal-bal is much more noticeable...
At least one 'issue' is due to the behavior of the EQ - when enabled, switching to the bal input defaults to a profile (?) with very low/no vol. , which seems to agree with what @Lunafag is saying. I say 'profile' but it sounds like it's just a default vol setting. @Bimbleton , thanks I should...
Hi all - new (posting) here - great info and community!
I have the Q-5K and have been listening via 3.5/unbalanced with my HE400SE, iphone 12 Pro Max with apple camera usb dongle. Sounds great, and the Qudelix app has worked great/consistently. I've recently bought a 2.5/balanced to 3.5 x2 trs...