QUDELIXT71 USB DAC Headphone AMP (BAL 2.5&4.4mm 8VRMS, UNBAL 3.5mm 4VRMS)

I’m new to the whole “audiophile” world. I decided to take a leap of faith bcz this device is not cheap. Now im in love with it. Makes my music so much more crisp and powerful. It has its own equalizer but you have to use the Internet Browser and install an extension. This extension has a huge amount of customizations that i don’t even know where to start. I’m using it will my Sennheiser 650 headphones. They make such a perfect team. The battery last quite a long time. The only downside is that it does not have Bluetooth but it’s ok because using the cable you are getting the full and clear music straight to your ears without any loss of quality.

The packaging for this is pretty simple but includes everything you need for it to function. I did not test this on android but do know it has app support for that platform. Testing was done with my iPhone as well as my desktop. For iPhone there is no app support so most of the controls will be done on the DAC itself while on Desktop you get full functionality BUT only on a browser that supports the extension since there is no dedicated app. This was the one nitpick I had for the device since overall it is incredibly well build and the design is very sleek.The formats that this support are great and the power that this delivers is actually incredibly surprising given how small the device is, which is thanks to the amps and the fact that it does have a battery inside to power your headphones. There is a hybrid mode for using USB power along with the internal battery for powering more demanding headphones which I thought was very nice. Set up for most people will be plug and play but if you do want to EQ yourself and adjust things as needed the web app offers plenty of options. The buttons on the device could have nicer indicators other than lights but the functionality of this is great and overall the value for a portable and desktop DAC is great.

Good build quality, battery life is good, amp provides plenty of power, sound quality is great, the app does have a bit of a learning curve, eq functionality uses a 10 band primary eq and a 10 band spk eq, only downside is no Bluetooth, and is a fair bit larger than the qudelix 5k

tldr; Fantastic audiophile sound for the price from a portable DAC, but more features and capabilities than most users and devices can use.I'd heard good things from an audiophile friend about the Qudelix 5K, and on their recommendation of the Qudelix sound when I saw the Qudelix T71 I placed an order. After a couple of weeks listening I think I'm ready to write my review.Before I start, ears are funny things and what sounds great to me might not sound great to you. Also at this level of DAC the equipment around it and source material make huge differences. Finally, there are spec sheets and technical reviews everywhere if you want frequency charts go find one because I'm going to be speaking more to how easy this DAC is to use and the problems I ran into.I tested the T71 using my desktop directly connected to my media library and also plugged in to my cellphone playing the same uncompressed media from my library via quality player with no EQ set. I used a combination of FLAC lossless 96KHz and 44KHz tracks, and also MP3 at various bitrates for legacy testing. The first thing I noticed with these setups was that out of the box the DAC just worked and sounded great. The buttons are intuitive, the default functionality and disabled EQ just as I would set the device if I needed to. Later, after installing the companion Qudelix app on my phone I saw the huge breadth of EQ settings and other configurations avilable, but found myself enjoying the default of EQ off, Performance Profile, Normal Gain, and the Minimum Phase Super Slow filter for silky smooth audio that revealed every detail. Briefly the audio quality through all of my monitor headphones was superb, with each set of headphones revealing their own characteristics over the solid delivery of the T71.With great (DAC) power comes great responsibility, and I did discover very quickly that my 96KHz files would push my cellphone beyond its capabilities and glitch and stutter if played via the 7.1 channel mixdown the DAC is capable of. Switching to the equally good 2 channel mode allowed them to play but did mean that some of the additional depth of the 7.1 mix was missing when using my phone. Everything works perfectly, and I can enjoy the 7.1 96KHz full mix from my desktop, again the limitation was my phone hardware, not the DAC.One other thing I found strange was the inclusion of microphones on the DAC. I have these disabled in the app, and they are disabled by default, but with a DAC that sounds this good, and is clearly pitched at the audiophile market I couldn't see any reason for including them. Might be a personal choice thing, and if you need them they are there.In use, it was easy to plug in and forget about it, just enjoying the amazing detail of the high definition tracks rendered so cleanly. Separation was superb, and I found myself spotting details in harmonies, or subtle synth touches that had been lost in the mix with earlier equipment. Listening on my high end studio monitor headphones I really got lost in the bright details, and amazing depth of the sound.As a dongle, it can be a pain to carry as its bulk makes it unsuitable to strap to the phone and drop in a pocket unless you have very big pockets. I found myself dropping my phone in my back pocket and the dac in my front pocket when listening on the move. However, this is really for fine listening, and sat in a comfy chair the small brick of the DAC isn't an issue sat next to my phone. The display is bright and easy to read, and the brightness can be adjusted via the app if you need to.It sounds so good, and is so capable it is obviously a 5 star review, but is it trying too hard by attempting to be all solutions to all users? I'll let you decide, I'm just going to settle down, close my eyes and lose myself in the music.