thanks for the answer.
correct me if I’m wrong, so basically what you’re saying is sound was fine on both and comparable for IEM use , but the user experience and overall quality of life was better on Q5.
I don’t know if my 3K is broken or all of them are like this. but battery won’t last more than 4 Hrs. no matter the volume and IEM I use on it…!
but the sound is fine and I feel it tames the brightness of my CCA CRA
That is typical on battery life and I am leaving sonics up to you and your ears. I will say in my mind this is not really a contest.
The battery life on my 3K isn’t great either. Especially in balanced. It’s slightly annoying but I always try to charge it as much as possible when I’m on the go. The BTR7 looks interesting, and I wonder what different features it has over the 5.
I think something is wrong with your 3K. I use mine for a whole work day (~8 hours), either listening to music or doing video meetings. My IEMs never leave my ears until the end of the day and I usually have >20% batter ly left according to my phone
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What’s the battery difference you see between SE and BAL?
Tbh I barely use it in SE however, in the off chance that I have in the past, I notice that it’ll probably last me about an hour longer than usual. Please not that I have mine in the high performance mode, on about 24-26 volume. I assume this drains the battery a hair faster.
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Damn that’s sexy
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This really hypes me up for my cable! Mine should be here in two weeks. I look forward to your review!
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im legit going to have to find a well tuned 50 bucks and under IEM and one that will ship soon… i have the blon and like it but the cable sticking out is a major issue for me (maybe the mele will work), also i know the T2 plus is a recommended option too
As others said before, the difference and value for such dac/amp lies in your use case.
I don’t have the btr3k, but I have a dying es100 and received my new q5k a week ago. I didn’t find the courage to A/B them yet, but here is what I can say:
- the sound shouldn’t be much different. I think we can safely say it will be 5% diff max.
- if you want to drive headphones, more powerful should be better, but then, I could get my hp loud enough with my es100 already (in balanced, I don’t recall having tried SE)
- what is important, then, is convenience, friability and ease of use. Fiability/robustness is hard to tell, but I would trust fiio a little bit more on this: bigger company = more test capabilities. On convenience, the q5K buttons can be a bit odd to use and feel a bit fragile. I don’t know fiio app, but q5K app hat a shitload of options for things like battery managing, sources, peq,… And it is a joy, even though a little cluttered to my taste.
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The Fiio just drained battery faster. It needed charged after every listening period. The Qudelix is just a better version of the idea. You get so much more. I know the Fiio looks nicer but my Qudelix is still looking good and working well after a year. They do update it alot with downloads. If you do not want portability and blue tooth then there are many options. I rarely use Bluetooth so something like the new Moondrop is interesting to me but the K5 is a quality product and the buttons are easy to use after a bit of time.
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Even without bluetooth, i can’t get around the button limitation many usb dongle have: I need play/pause and fwd/back buttons, because I can’t stand having to reach my tablet/phone to do that. On that part, the es100 is the best, as it has separated buttons for each of these functions.
But I guess I’m one of a very small group, as so little dongles have these functionalities, these days.
Bluetooth is pretty much my #1 reason for getting the device so connection stability and ease of use is my top requirement. I like everything the 5K offers, my biggest concern are the buttons right now
The buttons are fine once your used to them . There is nothing wrong with it. It has many capabilities. You want to drive full size headphone the new Moondrop be good but that is entirely different beast.
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How common is it in this hobby for people to adopt the IEM life full time, leaving behind over ear cans (at least for a long while)?
I feel like it depends on what’s convenient for you. Over ears are so inconvenient for me, so I’ve fully adopted the IEM life style. It comes down to whether or not someone is sat at a desk whilst they’re listening to music, or they’re on the go like my self.
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I pretty much exclusively use IEMs and speakers, although I do break out my Hifiman Arya’s from time to time; reason being that I travel a lot for work, so IEMs are convenient on the road and when I’m home my speakers are just there and don’t require any extra hassle.
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IEMs exclusively for me except for a pair of WH1000XM2s I’ve had for awhile. Which only ever get taken out for flights. Even when I’m sitting listening to music I just don’t find over ears very comfortable. A majority of my listening is done on the go so they just fit my needs better. Also like the ease of portability and space savings.
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I’ve been using my Sundara less and less these days. If I manage to get my hands on @Rikudou_Goku’s earbuds, then I might even sell off my Sundara!
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