The past few months I have been looking at Bluetooth Receivers like a mad person as I am rebuilding the home office a bit and wanted to go fully wireless for my desk setup as I have working from home the last two years and therefore moving a bit more around when in the office.
Plan was to use a(maybe more) BTA 30 Pro(s) as transmitters from the PC and other units to a receiver so that I can do LDAC/APTX-LL for all the need I have.
So started with the small(ish) ones - BTR5, UP5, Qudelix 5K, ES100, XP2-Pro and so on, these all look great in each their own way and would fulfill 80% of all I need. Mostly using iem’s these days but have been itching for a pair of full size cans again which then introduced the larger formats like; XD05-series, iFi(all version, mostly the Gryphon), YLM M400-series.
Then on top of this there is the growing ranges of DAP’s that would give me BT and local music when needed. Here the Cayin N3 Pro was on the list for the TUBES!! but something as obscure as the Zishan Z4 is also on the list for the cheap and fairly cool spec list.
Unless you have very low impedance IEMs I would say that Topping DX3Pro+ is the way to go. It has LDAC in built, measures great and has plenty of power for any HP you throw at it. And it is 200$ only.
For portable walking around, get the Qudelix. It’s very good and while I mostly use it with IEMs, it can also power many full size cans. I also have the BTR5, sound is identical but the Qudelix is a lot better for everything else, particularly range, size/weight (much smaller/lighter), easier clip to shirt, great app with PEQ, lock LDAC to 44.1kHz on the device. It’s a great device.
I also use it with the BTA30 Pro from the PC, this works well with LDAC. And from phone. Reliable 909kbps.
Yes, that is what I can read about the Qudelix - was only on the fence if I wanted larger harder to drive can down the line (not to have to many of these things in the drawer - if you know what I mean) wanted to hear if it would be better to step up from the get go?
Thanks for the +1 on the Qudelix which really had me with the full PEQ in the app for when using it with my phone still can have the EQ running. Running Peach on the PC over Bluetooth(Running a Avantree DG80 aptx-hd transmitter right now) to my jerry-rigged Topping BC3 strapped to a GAD tube amp. Just wanted one combined unit for easy of use (charging)
It depends on exactly how hard to drive, but the Qudelix will drive many of the most common/popular “hard to drive” headphones. I have all of mine wired for 2.5mm so I can use them on it. It does 4x the power (240mW) and double the voltage (4V) out of the balanced output.
Yeah, saw that and 240mW and 4V on the balanced would properly be enough for most headphones I would own. Have long looked at the Hifiman Aray which might be a bit to much for the Qudelix but I don’t know.
But it’s exactly this has been the question all this time where I have looked into what the setup should be… These small things are getting very, very strong to the point that a audio enthusiast would be able to do every thing of one of them directly without a big bulky desktop setup(I know, I know … desktop setup are not just out of the windows. But I could see my self use Bluetooth 80% of the time)
BT has come a long way the last few year and I actually sometimes can’t tell the difference between just my PowerDac V2 and the combo of a cheap GAD “Tube” Amp with the BC3 strapped to it.
