Qudelix-5K Bluetooth DAC & Headphone Amp

[CedarX]

2. You are coresct in that the LDAC codec is Sony's. However, aptX, aptX HD, aptX adaptive, etc. is Qualcomm, not Apple.

Anecdotal comment: the development of the LDAC (Sony) library for the QCC5124 (Qualcomm) chip used on the 5K was done… by Qudelix.

SONY LDAC

https://www.sony.net/Products/LDAC/ We, Qudelix, have developed the LDAC library for QCC512x by ourselves, upon the official technical partnership contract between SONY and Qudelix. It's the proof of the world-class R & D capability of our team, and we're very proud of that. Every line of the...

www.qudelix.com

 

[olds1959special]

Qudelix has great customer service. My unit died (from a spark from my speaker cable) but was under warranty and I shipped it back to them. They sent me a new one with a pair of BalPods and clear TPU case. The BalPads sound really good, not bright or tinny sounding, and they fit my ears well.

 

[unpluggged]

I fried my Qudelix 5K. Fortunately they are sending me a new one, it was within the warranty period. <...> Here's how it happened: I’m using a Fosi ZA3 amp. The speaker wires had exposed grounds where they connect to the amp. I had the Qudelix plugged into usb, then had a mini - rca cable plugged into the Qudelix. One of the loose rca plugs touched the exposed ground of the speaker wire connection.

What does warranty have to do with this? Or are you saying you misled the manufacturer?

 

[olds1959special]

What does warranty have to do with this? Or are you saying you misled the manufacturer?

I told them exactly what happened and they agreed to fix it.

 

[unpluggged]

I told them exactly what happened and they agreed to fix it.

Wow.

 

[patoulol]

Do you think it can work well with an HD800S?

 

[Mort]

Do you think it can work well with an HD800S?

Sure I use it like that. There are several EQ profiles already

 

[Jimbob54]

Do you think it can work well with an HD800S?

Pretty sure at least one member has mounted a 5k onto an 800 for daily wireless use .

 

[Berwhale]

Pretty sure at least one member has mounted a 5k onto an 800 for daily wireless use .

In this thread... https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...-dac-headphone-amp.17386/page-37#post-1547799

 

[tifune]

The battery on my 5K is wearing out; given that it's holiday sale time I'm shopping around for an upgrade but I'm hard pressed to find anything better. Basically what I'm looking for is a Qudelix with 4.4mm jack and more output power. Hard to believe after a few years there isn't one out there?

 

[CedarX]

The battery on my 5K is wearing out; given that it's holiday sale time I'm shopping around for an upgrade but I'm hard pressed to find anything better. Basically what I'm looking for is a Qudelix with 4.4mm jack and more output power. Hard to believe after a few years there isn't one out there?

More power, 4.4mm, no BT: Qudelix’ own T71?
4.4mm, less-featured PEQ: FiiO BTR13?

 

[staticV3]

The battery on my 5K is wearing out; given that it's holiday sale time I'm shopping around for an upgrade but I'm hard pressed to find anything better. Basically what I'm looking for is a Qudelix with 4.4mm jack and more output power. Hard to believe after a few years there isn't one out there?

FiiO makes them.

Model	Output Power @32Ω	Perceived loudness
Qudelix 5K	245mW	100%
FiiO BTR7	320mW	108%
FiiO BTR15	340mW	110%
FiiO BTR17	650mW	134%

That being said, coming from the Qudelix, you'll likely find using the FiiO App frustrating.

4.4mm, less-featured PEQ: FiiO BTR13?

The BTR13 has less power, just 220mW @32Ω.

 

[somebodyelse]

The battery on my 5K is wearing out; given that it's holiday sale time I'm shopping around for an upgrade but I'm hard pressed to find anything better. Basically what I'm looking for is a Qudelix with 4.4mm jack and more output power. Hard to believe after a few years there isn't one out there?

Battery replacement doesn't look too hard based on this disassembly video. If you don't have the skill yourself a local phone repair place could probably do it for you. Or try a repair cafe if you have one nearby.

Edit: post at https://forum.qudelix.com/post/user-replaceable-battery-10554227 gives some battery details:

It can be fairly easily replaced by electronics repair shop, or by yourself if you can solder.
Just need to order the right and good battery, maybe you would be able to find one from the same manufacturer, the original sample i have seen was made by - Chongqing VDL Electronics Co.
It is Li-Ion 4.35V max (3.8V nominal). And size 682134, meaning 6.8mm thick/21mm wide/34mm long.

 

[Berwhale]

Battery replacement doesn't look too hard based on this disassembly video. If you don't have the skill yourself a local phone repair place could probably do it for you. Or try a repair cafe if you have one nearby.

Have you tried to find one of these batteries? Searching for '682134 battery' on Google returns links to threads about replacing the Q5K battery on Qudelix forums, Head-Fi and Reddit (soon to be joined by ASR!). I couldn't find anywhere that actually sold them (I also looked for the slightly larger 682434 which is suggested will fit in Q5K).

 

[somebodyelse]

Have you tried to find one of these batteries? Searching for '682134 battery' on Google returns links to threads about replacing the Q5K battery on Qudelix forums, Head-Fi and Reddit (soon to be joined by ASR!). I couldn't find anywhere that actually sold them (I also looked for the slightly larger 682434 which is suggested will fit in Q5K).

I haven't tried. Given the number of sellers with a wide range of cell sizes I assumed something the same size or slightly smaller would be available. I thought the 3.8V nominal voltage might be more of a restriction.

 

[Deleted member 79113]

Has anyone tried the Qudelix with I-Phone using a cable? I just got one and it is giving me lots of trouble (it connects and disconnects all the time)

PS: The reason for trying a cable instead of Bluetooth is that (as far as I know) LDAC seems not to be an available codec for I-Phone and the other codecs are rather lossy, but please do correct me if I'm wrong

 

[AdamG]

Has anyone tried the Qudelix with I-Phone using a cable? I just got one and it is giving me lots of trouble (it connects and disconnects all the time)

PS: The reason for trying a cable instead of Bluetooth is that (as far as I know) LDAC seems not to be an available codec for I-Phone and the other codecs are rather lossy, but please do correct me if I'm wrong

Hi Zimmerman,

I use daily with my iPhone 13 promax. Running iOS 18.3. The cable must be an “OTG” type USB-C to Lighting. It has to be able to pass digital data to the Qudelix. Thus the “OTG” capability.

Here is the cable I currently use: (You can find cheaper versions out there)

Questyle USB C DAC OTG Cable 1.2m,4ft Audio Adapter for iPhone 13/12/11/X/8/7/6/Plus, iPad Pro/Air/Mini, iOS15 to Type C Male Adaptor(Only fit for Amplifier M12i M15i) https://a.co/d/4Uq8U19

 

[StevenEleven]

I just ordered my Qudelix 5k last night (a little late in the game I know) and received it via Amazon this morning. It took me a short while to get the hang of it, but I have some well recorded choral music playing with the specific Oratory 1990 preset for my old Senn HD580 Precisions (I was kind of amazed that all of these hundreds of EQ profiles are pre-loaded). The EQ preset provided a very large bump in SQ for my taste. I am very grateful for this.

I first had it hooked up USB-c to USB-c on iPad and now I am streaming via AAC Bluetooth on iPad.

I’ve got some android stuff with LDAC Bluetooth, etc., too, and more old nice headphones, and an older iPhone with lightning cable (I’ll order an otg cable as suggested above). I intend to play around with this!!

I am really happy with this device and I am truly amazed.

Thanks once again to @amirm for his now deep and invaluable catalog of insightful reviews. It’s quite an accomplishment.

 

[Deleted member 79113]

Hi Zimmerman,

I use daily with my iPhone 13 promax. Running iOS 18.3. The cable must be an “OTG” type USB-C to Lighting. It has to be able to pass digital data to the Qudelix. Thus the “OTG” capability.

Here is the cable I currently use: (You can find cheaper versions out there)

Questyle USB C DAC OTG Cable 1.2m,4ft Audio Adapter for iPhone 13/12/11/X/8/7/6/Plus, iPad Pro/Air/Mini, iOS15 to Type C Male Adaptor(Only fit for Amplifier M12i M15i) https://a.co/d/4Uq8U19

Thank you so much

 

[Phorize]

I just ordered my Qudelix 5k last night (a little late in the game I know) and received it via Amazon this morning. It took me a short while to get the hang of it, but I have some well recorded choral music playing with the specific Oratory 1990 preset for my old Senn HD580 Precisions (I was kind of amazed that all of these hundreds of EQ profiles are pre-loaded). The EQ preset provided a very large bump in SQ for my taste. I am very grateful for this.

I first had it hooked up USB-c to USB-c on iPad and now I am streaming via AAC Bluetooth on iPad.

I’ve got some android stuff with LDAC Bluetooth, etc., too, and more old nice headphones, and an older iPhone with lightning cable (I’ll order an otg cable as suggested above). I intend to play around with this!!

I am really happy with this device and I am truly amazed.

Thanks once again to @amirm for his now deep and invaluable catalog of insightful and invaluable reviews. It’s quite an accomplishment.

As far as I'm concerned this device is the best £100 one can spend in audio. Just FYI in case it's important, if you are using the autoeq preset with oratory1990s data then you are using the autoeq equalisation target using oratorys measurements rather than the target oratory has on his site. There's not a vast difference but they aren't the same.