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blorg t1_j1pumxt wrote

The BTR5 and Qudelix have the same power into low impedances, both are 80mW on the SE and 240mW on the balanced. The Qudelix has very slightly higher power only into high impedances, as it has very slightly higher max voltage (4V vs 3.6V). At the 18Ω of the Edition XS neither is going anywhere near their max voltage, so it's the mW power number that matters and they are the same. Both use the exact same chip in the exact same configuration, so it's the same, BTR5 just puts a cap on the voltage slightly below the max.

Qudelix is IMO a better device but it will not make any difference to the sound or the power.

If you get it, I would put a balanced cable on it. The Edition XS is moderately hard to drive and either Qudelix or BTR5 are IMO OK with the balanced but limited on the SE, even more so if you are going to EQ. You can get a balanced cable for $10-20, no need to spend more than this unless you want to splurge for look/feel. I have a $10-15 FAAEAL cable on it, all the cables in the first pic are suitable for the EXS and except the Tripowin ($30-50) they are all under $20.

A balanced cable is not this big investment, and it's not something you can't just swap out when you want to. You can swap the cable easily if you want to use it single ended, OR you can just use a 2.5mm to 3.5mm adapter, or for that matter a 2.5mm to 6.35mm adapter, which is what I use. If I didn't use my 4.4->6.35 and 2.5->6.35 adapters I'd be using a 3.5->6.35 so it makes no difference and I just wire everything for balanced.

It's a different experience to the Dusk, it's "bigger" sounding. I don't think it blows the Dusk out of the water, but I don't think anything does really, the Dusk is very good. Edition XS is very good for the price it's at, it's very similar tonality to the Arya Stealth and is like 90% of that IMO for much less money.

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Sleepless_in_Bristol OP t1_j1q51g0 wrote

Thanks for the long reply. Yes, that's what I'm thinking so far - $15 isn't much to be able to use it in balanced mode which, most seem to agree, will let them work happily with the BTR5.

I may upgrade to a BTR7 later to give me more power overhead and the ability to add the 2 EQ tweaks that several reviewers think is all that is needed to make them 'perfect' but that's the simplest solution.

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blorg t1_j1q74vj wrote

If you are upgrading, I'd get the Qudelix over the BTR7, the PEQ on the Qudelix is much better. The one on the BTR7 is limited, and only had one saved preset vs 20.

The BTR7 doesn't have that much more power than the BTR5 or Qudelix either (300mW vs 240mW @32Ω). This isn't enough that it's going to make any difference, it's under 1dB difference in the max volume which is imperceptible. If you find you need more power, you'd be better off getting a proper 1W+ desktop amp, the amount of power you need to get significantly more volume is exponential (double the volume needs 10 times the power). 1.25x power is an insignificant difference.

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Sleepless_in_Bristol OP t1_j1xq1lh wrote

Thanks. With the Quedelix and BTR5 being roughly equivalent I keep thinking that if I'm going to spend money it should be on an actual upgrade such as the Topping DX5, which I like the look of but oddly it doesn't have balanced output!

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blorg t1_j1xw2x3 wrote

Balanced or not balanced doesn't inherently matter, balanced is just often an easy way to give much higher power, particularly in small battery powered devices. If a particular device has both, the balanced is often better and usually significantly more powerful. But it's entirely possible to produce a single ended device that outperforms a balanced one. The DX5 would have plenty of power for the Edition XS single ended, it's really in the small portable stuff you benefit more from using the balanced out. Or some desktop amps where the balanced is more powerful, and you have a really hard to drive headphone like the HE6SE.

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Sleepless_in_Bristol OP t1_j1y3m1e wrote

Yeah, I'm hoping to be able to stick with my BTR5 using its balanced output for the extra power and with that in mind and not wanting to have to swap cables too often, it seemed notable that the DX5 doesn't have it.

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blorg t1_j1y55de wrote

DX5 has an XLR out, it's just not balanced.

If you have stuff wired for 2.5, you can use a XLR-2.5 adapter, this what I use on my main amp for stuff I have wired for 2.5, it has XLR, 4.4 and 6.35. I leave that plugged in as I have stuff wired for 2.5, 4.4 and 6.35 but not XLR.

I also have 6.35->2.5 and 6.35->4.4 adapters, so I can use the balanced stuff on my single ended amps as well. This works in that direction, it's the other direction you can't go (balanced output to single ended).

You need 2.5 for the BTR5 and no desktop amp is going to have a 2.5 output so you need an adapter anyway. Like you usually need a 6.35->3.5 adapter for single ended, they are a bit bigger than those but same idea.

You can also get 3.5->2.5, if you got something like a Topping DX3 Pro+ that only has 3.5.

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