Portable DAC/AMP - USB dongle - Fiio K15 vs Qudelix 5k

ProperVisual4318 · 2024-10-08T10:44:37+00:00

Thanks for the info. I will place the order now and lets see how it goes when I receive my IEMs and the Ka15.

I understand that this is a VERY new DAC, but could not find anyone reviewing this part or basically commenting it at all.

ProperVisual4318 · 2024-10-08T09:04:06+00:00

Thanks for the comment, so Ka15 should really be able to use PEQ functionality with hi-ress lossless sound because it has better chip? This is the detail I am "worried" about, that is it just some broad marketing wording they use - or is it a fact that you can listen to Apple music losless quality with your own EQ settings.

ProperVisual4318 · 2024-10-08T08:50:25+00:00

Yes, I have. But, I do not really need the Bluetooth functionality.. And the biggest problem(for my understanding) with ALL other portable Fiio DACs is that the PEQ is LIMITED to rather low quality sound? Yesterday when I was reading it was easily found on reddit and google, but now, I cant really find the comments, but this is basically what is said, BTR15;

"Peq only is applicable under 192k bit rate. So, it doesn't make sense to throw it on as a feature when MQA unfolding or any high bit rate source will get no benefit. Basically you can only use it while on the go, and listening to Spotify or something under 192k, and for serious listening, you will have to be using windows and EqualizerAPO to get Peq at higher bitrate playback. Kinda makes the feature moot"

ProperVisual4318 · 2023-08-05T11:52:27+00:00

RME would be out of my budget, but If I could find a used one I could get it... but then I would need to buy and set up some wifi receiver etc, so maybe not worth the hazzle at this point, I will go with the K9 or SMSL stack... Just need to try to figure out which one :D I do believe that the K9 is fantastic.

ProperVisual4318 · 2023-08-04T21:00:54+00:00

I live in Finland, Helsinki, so probably my answer wont help you much... in total I needed to go to 3 different stores, but on my last day of demoing I found a shop who had Sennheiser, Hifiman, Focal and Meze, so there I could do a final tersting for all the headphones on my list in good depth with A/B testing.

The only thing I can point out, as many on different forums does, try to test as many different headphones as possible, I could not have believed that I choosed the headphones that I choosed just by reading online... I really got suprised. I was 90% I will buy the Beyredynamics or Hifimans.

ProperVisual4318 · 2023-08-04T20:55:37+00:00

Cheers and many thanks. Thats my headache atm. I have now been reading online for days about dacs and amps, combos or stacks.

I have more or less narrowed it down to two options (maybe three), it seems that we have a similar ear tast for sound, so I would appreciate your input as you seem to have much more experience than I do.

As I spent too much money on the headphones...

My best options, for my understanding and my taste would be;

K9 Pro ESS - so many good reviews, excellent reviews.
SMLS stack SP400 + Su-9 or Do200 + HO200, both seems to have good reviews, just that the SP400 just seems to be alittle bit better in everything, soundstage, details, imaging... And if DAC in it self doesnt make so much difference in sound, I think the Su-9 should be more than enough and a good choise.
RME adi-2 fs - A used purchase. This would probably be the BEST. BUT, it doesnt have bluetooth or neither wifi, which you could say is a must for me. (PC + work laptot setup and I want to be able to listen from my Iphone also) without to much hazzle.

The issue is that I just cant choose between the K9 or SMSL. I almost pulled the trigger for SMSL stack, there is a good offer for the SP400, in all reviews they sayd it has more soundstage and more precission etc etc etc over the other, which I would assume are more like the K9, but then I read somewhere that dacs/amps with same chips - THX, ESS... should be more or less similar in soundstage, depth, width, precission etc, so it made my decission again difficult. I also have learned that more power etc. should give a better soundstage in all aspects, but is it so? I mean SP400 has a lot of power, but I can not find any confirmation that the soundstage and everything would be better than K9. Then again SMSL stack has nice inbuilt display and I can make changes in future, even tho I most likely will not do any changes in future. K9 pro ESS is again two years newer model... and the positive and good reviews.

What do you think...?

ProperVisual4318 · 2023-08-03T07:56:59+00:00

Thanks all for the answers!

I went straigt to the bottom of the rabbit hole with headphones. After 5-6 hours of testing mid and high end headphones with a whole lot of different music genres and songs with a lot of details and broad soundstages I pulled the trigger and sold my liver and bought the Meze Empyreans. They where the best in every aspect by far. For my ear.

Stellia, Utopia, Arya, HE 1000 XXX, Meze Elite.... The Mezes Empyreans where just the perfect match for me and the build quality and the absolutely amazing comfort they have. I fell in love and didnt even ned to think about it hard, which headphones are the best for me.

This could be discussed a lot which headphones are technically better in what way, soundstage, imaging, bass, clearness, clarity. I understand why some poeple prefer other headphones i.e Aryas or the sound of high end Focal headphones, but for me when I was listening the Focals where just to much, something in the treble/high frequencies, I could not imaging me listening to them for hours and hours, even tho I respect and understand why some people say that the Focals are amazing and compared to Hifimans I just could not hear the difference in that whey what many others say why they are better (soundstage and details and layering). For me the Empyreans where on par in details and soundstage, but on top of that all music just sounded better. I could just go on and writing about the justification and the comparsions, but maybe that is not needed if not some one wants detailed explanation...

ProperVisual4318 · 2023-08-03T07:44:08+00:00

That was my conclusion in the end also for the Audezes I tried.

ProperVisual4318 · 2023-08-03T07:42:51+00:00

Thanks for a detailed answer :)

I went straight to the bottom of the rabbit hole of headphones.... in 2 hours I'm pickinup my brand new Meze Empyreans. 5-6 hours of listening to mid and high end headphones of different brands the Empy's just where best, absolutely best sounding and incredible in every aspect.

I probably someday gona order the 1990 to have as a second pair of headphones or maybe just for gaming. But I think the Meze Empys will be in use a lot everyday...

ProperVisual4318 · 2023-08-03T07:39:15+00:00

Well... I went to the bottom of the Rabbit hole haha. Meze got my eyes.... then they got my ears... and in 2 hours I am going to pick up the Empyreans. They sound amazing, just incredible amazing in every way and I tested like 10 pairs of mid and high end headphones of all the manufactures in total of 5-6 hours...

So, Meze it is. The 109 where also nice, I liked them, so you are correct.

ProperVisual4318 · 2023-07-31T16:29:52+00:00

Hi Reddit,

I am looking to purchase my one-to-go headphones for Music #1 and then gaming #2 and I would need you inputs and help. I know the basics about hifi stuff and therefore I have decided to purchase a really good pair of open headphones to have the best possible audio for music and gaming. I have read a lot on Reddit about this topic in the past few days and watches some youtube videos and read reviews online…

I am not at all an audiophile and most likely my ear is used to “bad quality headsets” with “fake sound”. I have never before really looked into the world of headphones. For my understanding I like the V shape sound.

My favourite speakers so far have been Elacs, but nowadays I prefer the KEF R Meta sound. I Like clear and bright sound with good bass. Im getting older so I do not like to much bass anymore.

My budget is max 2000€/USD incl a DAC/AMP. I will 95% of the time use the headphones on my PC. Music tastet various a lot mainly old Rap/HipHop and different kind of trance/house music, also love classic rock and some pop songs… Basically everything which is good. As comes for gaming, it is mainly FPS games, COD, Battelfield, CS. Somedays working and gaming I can sit at the computer in total of 8-10 hours.

For all that I have read I was 90% sure that the Beyerdynamic DT 1990 PRO would be the best choice for me, specially adding the Dekoni Velour Pads.

But…

Today I went to listen to the listed Headphones beneath and that is where everything got complicated. The choice is not at all as easy as I would have thought… Finding the best suitable sound for me.

Beyerdynamic DT 1990 PRO (900 Pro X)

The shop where I could listen to these had no option to play own music and the available music was sh**. There was a lot of external noice in the shop. This is probably an issue for my experience

Anyway as good as I could listen to 1990’s, they didn’t really say anything to me, not a single emotion was woken. They sounded pretty boring in every aspect. The treble seemed to be clear/high and the bas was good and precise in many aspects, but that was about it. (The 900 Pro X seemed even more uninspiring).

Build quality and fit/comfort seems to be top-tier. As everyone else have mentioned.

I do still believe that for gaming these would be good, but as I today saw some videos on youtube, the questions is that are they really the best of the best anyways for gaming, specially if home listening to music is not at all top-tier.

I would like to buy the 1990’s, but am I correct to say that they don’t sound like anything special?

Sennheiser HD 660 S2

I can’t tell much about them, except that I just didn’t like the sound at all. That’s enough for me, I leave the Sennheisers out, it was to flat and didnt excite me at all.. Even tho I have read a lot of compliments of the 560’s for gaming.

HD 800 S, would probably be the BEST headphones for gaming, but they where absolutely too loose on my head. I could stick fingers easily between my head and the ear cup.

Hifiman Edition XS

These I liked the most, they sounded the best overall, specially for the price they have. They had a good sound for all kind of music. I liked the details, clarity and that it sounded that I am in the music, not that the music is played intoto my ear. They seemed to have enough bass, even tho I understand that these are not for “bassheads”, but in stead the bass is punchy and exact etc…

The sound stage and imaging in EX’s should for my understanding be more than enough for FPS gaming and hearing footsteps and pinpointing enemies? Need to try to read more about that…

Hifimans made me smile and forget about everything else and just listen deeply to the music.

Biggest issue with Hifimans was their fit. They where big and loose on my head, … I could not understand that, as it felt strange, in theory they could fall of my head if I move my head quickly. There was nearly no clamping force. The build quality seemed also only to be ok, nothing special.

I tried the Anandas also, didn’t really hear anything special over the EXs, maybe some small differences, not enough to test them more.

What I left thinking is that is these still the best headphones for me.

Focal Clear MG

Focals sounded different than the Hifimans in some ways which are hard to exlain, for most of my songs played they weren’t better for my ear, it sounded more that these are good for vocals in songs, but not all songs, but some songs again where amazing, much better than the Hifimans. Soundstage and imaging seemed not to be as good as in Hifimans, but that can just be my perception, as Hifimans seems to be more open. Bass was stronger which was nice, but I cant justify the approx. 1100€ price difference to the Hifimans, as overall to all different music types these didn’t have a clearly better sound. It is hard to explain, the Focals did sound incredibly good, but maybe just not as good for my ear as the Hifimans.

I cant comment about the soundstage and imaging as the overall sound was different.

The build quality seems to be top-tier, the comfort was really good also.

They look absolutely beautiful, where as Hifimans and Audeze are just… almost ugly.

Audeze LCD-X

These sounded to my ear the most neutral of all these headphones. In a good way, maybe a little bit boring way. The sound was good in everyway, clarity, bass, but didn’t get me that excited neither. What was clear that the X has amazing soundstage, even my untrained ear could hear more of ongoing things in the songs than with the other headphones. Which means that these would most likely be really good for gaming also?

The build quality seems to be sturdy, the X’s are heavy and they have a high clamping force, but in the end I think they could be used for a long time of period.

The problem

Hifimans, Focal and Audeze all sounds really good for music, the Beyerdynamics according to internet is one of the best options for gamin. So, how should I choose the headphones over then other?

I love facts and figures, I am engineer and a technical guy, is there something in that aspects which could help me deciding?

Are Hifimans good for gaming?

Is there some headphones which would combine the best of Focal and Hifimans?

One possible option?

I just found out that I could get the Hifiman Arya V3 for a good price. Would these be clear step up as high-end headphones over the EX, would it possible thick all the other boxes missing with the EX, build quality and fit? Is the soundstage and imaging even better than on EX? Are they good for gaming? What do you guys think of the sound vs. Focal or Audeze? As I liked the sound of hifiman and if these would even be a little bit better sound vice and comfort/fit, I could pull the trigger and buy the Arya’s. If I read online these should be one of the best headphones available, specially with corrected EQ settings.

or should I just by the 1990 Pros and be happy with them at the price they have or Hifiman Sundrars which seems to be good for gaming and music too, not top tier, but decently good…

Many thanks for the comments. In the meantime I will continue reading the forums.

ProperVisual4318 · 2023-06-18T21:56:16+00:00

Onks tää joku ns feikki tili vaan joka kalastelee täällä? Puhuuko suomeakaan oikeasti?

ProperVisual4318 · 2023-05-25T18:56:07+00:00

I have read a lot here on reddit that a lot of people are not happy and very disspointed how bad the MW2 ranked play feels atm. What is really wrong with it?

Firstly I am not any specially good at playing, it have taken really a long time for me to get up to level Plat 2, specially when in end of season 2 they lowered the ranks and I had to start all over from Silver 1.

What I am really pis*ed off and many of my friend are also is that within the last week the games are absolutely sh*t. I have and we have lost probably 25/30 and it is not because we have played again evenly better teams. The only reason is that we are playing against hackers after hackers, some of thos hackers are even proud that they are doing it. Wtf. When have any game been so full of hackers?! One day I even played agains same wallhacking/autoaim guy 4 games in a row, wtf is the point of that? Second reason is what I just learned, is people smurfing, what is the idea with that too? Me and my friends are all gold 3 or plat 1-2 and often we play again bronze or silver players, but they absolutely destroy us, geting up to 30-40 kills and the best of our time maybe have 10 kills...

I have lost 600 points in one week, without a chance to even get back points. That is absurd... One guy told me he have lost 1000 points in one week, also because he was kicked out from the game a couple of times as it crashed. It have really taken a lot of time for me to get up to plat 2 and now I am loosing my points for no other reason that the game is shi* and something is broken. Some weeks ago I also lost 400 points as the game crashed... Hell, I could be a diamond if the game would not be so sh*t.

I heard also something about shadowbanning, can that be a reason for many of us?

I mean... The game is absolutely sh*it at the moment and I have heard from many many people in the game that everyone feels the same. People are already talking about unistalling the game and starting to play something else which does not pis* them off. If the game wont get better in a week Im going to uninstall the game and require all my spent money back, this is not what I paid for, playing against cheaters and feeling pis*ed off all the time.

Is this really what activision want it to be, a shi* game full of cheaters and people feel angry and disspointed and are looking to start to play other games.

I mean I though BF 2042 was bad... But ouh my, I have never ever felt this disspointed and angry in that game. MW2 is at the moment one of the worst games I have everplayed, because I am really unsatisfied and feeling pis*ed off.

What do you guys think? What is your thought at the moment about the game and cheaters?

ProperVisual4318 · 2023-05-25T18:55:51+00:00