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5uperman8atman t1_jbcqeyw wrote

Reply to comment by Soggy-Ad7318 in Absolutely Stunned... by Cyberspace242

That's an Ifi Hip DAC he's running the IEMs off of. I have both the Qudelix and the Hip DAC. Let me tell you, the Qudelix is a great little thing, but it can't hold a candle to the Hip DAC in terms of sound quality and power. The Qudelix doesn't have a lot of power, even on balanced output. It gets plenty loud on most things, but by comparison, it has a thinner sound than the Hip DAC. The Hip DAC provides a punchier, more rich and wider experience. It's basically the mobile equivalent to the Zen DAC, which is Ifi's desktop DAC amp. I use the Qudelix when I am up and moving around, doing work or cleaning up the house. It provides a good experience. I love the app and all of the features that come with it. But when I am kicking back in the recliner I wire it up to my phone or tablet and use the Hip DAC. It's a much more satisfying experience.

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Soggy-Ad7318 t1_jbcwy3h wrote

I couldn’t agree more! I have 2 different desktop setups and both are more resolving and powerful but for portability and convenience the 5K can’t be beat for the price!

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5uperman8atman t1_jbczzy6 wrote

Yes, it's a great all around product! Definitely a great companion for IEMs and easy to drive headphones. I like it with my Koss stuff especially.

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pkelly500 t1_jbfz26p wrote

True.

I owned the original hip-dac and the Qudelix 5K. The Qudelix is a marvelous little device, stuffed with cool features like onboard parametric EQ in such a tiny form factor.

But its wonky multifunction buttons suck compared to the simple ergonomics of the hip-dac, and music sounded much more organic and alive with the hip-dac due to the Burr-Brown DAC chip and bass boost button.

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Cyberspace242 OP t1_jdndb24 wrote

It's a fantastic little amp.

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pkelly500 t1_jdnktej wrote

Yep, probably the best among the Bluetooth DAC/amp dongles, when you factor in the size, all the features and the price.

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pgfoundali t1_jbd7rzt wrote

Does IFI have a good speaker Dac/amp?

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zoemoff t1_jbggcfd wrote

The Ifi gryphon has surprised for the better. I started out on an IFI go blu which is great for portable uses. The gryphon has lots more features like XBass II and X Space, and my favorite feature is the switch on the back that basically balances power between 3.5mm, 4.4mm and then they have IEMatch that cuts off the hiss for higher sensitivity IEMs. Not to mention it has a Bluetooth feature too

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pgfoundali t1_jbgqd02 wrote

Interesting! I’ll look into those, appreciate it

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mindhead1 t1_jbfmt36 wrote

If you don’t mind being tethered to a phone or tablet you should check out the Earmen Eagle. It’s great with my Moondrop Aria and DT177X.

The SQ is on par with my Zen DAC v2.

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