Qudelix K5 Pro - MacOS native app for the community
Not a self promo post. Just an honest contribution to the community. I’ve had a Qudelix 5K for a while, and the official configuration app is browser-based. On my Mac it has never worked reliably in any browser — it would connect, then the device would drop…
Not a self promo post. Just an honest contribution to the community. I’ve had a Qudelix 5K for a while, and the official configuration app is browser-based. On my Mac it has never worked reliably in any browser — it would connect, then the device would drop off USB mid-session, and I’d end up spending more time troubleshooting the connection than actually adjusting anything. I finally dug into why. The browser reaches the 5K through a macOS API that’s very particular about how the USB packets are framed, and when it gets that. wrong the device stops responding entirely. So I wrote a small native menu bar app that talks to the 5K directly instead. It does the things I actually use day to day: 10-band parametric EQ with a live response curve (20-band mode too) Preset import straight from the AutoEq database — 6,000+ headphones and IEMs, searchable inside the app Import/export the standard parametric EQ text format (the same one squig.link and Equalizer APO use) All 20 preset slots, load and save Volume, battery, firmware and sample rate at a glance It’s free (and always will be) and open source under MIT. No account, no tracking; nothing leaves your machine except fetching the AutoEq list when you search it. Caveats: macOS 14+. It’s a universal binary so it *should* run on Intel, but I only have Apple Silicon and genuinely can’t test that. If you’re on Intel I’d like to hear either way. It isn’t signed with a paid Apple developer certificate, so macOS will block it the first time — you have to go to System Settings → Privacy & Security and click “Open Anyway”. If you’d rather not trust a binary from a stranger on the internet, the full source is there and builds with one command. USB only for now. Bluetooth is a bigger job; I’ll take a run at it if there’s demand. Use at your own risk. It only writes EQ, volume and preset settings — the same things the official app writes, and it never touches firmware — but I can’t take responsibility for anything that goes wrong. I am not affiliated with Qudelix in any way. Source code, dmg are here: https://github.com/FrankieMa77/qudelix If it’s useful to anyone I’m happy to keep building on it. And if it doesn’t work on your setup, an issue with the log from the app’s diagnostics panel tells me most of what I’d need. I can’t port it to Windows as i don’t have PC. If somebody needs it, I can look into porting the app to Debian/Ubuntu
Collected discussion
Sure thing. Glad if it helps. If you hit any snags, please let me know, and I will fix them. Feature requests are welcomed as well. One thing I am not going to implement is the firmware updates - too much risk of bricking the device.
Absolutely awesome work and massive kudos to you! I've only had a 5K for a couple of weeks and always used the Android app. But having open-source library code that can talk to the 5K really hypes me up, it opens up all kinds of integrations for smart home systems or switching profiles per connected device. What was the development process like? Was there a lot of reverse engineering, or was everything handled by devicePEQ?
Thank you! There was some back and forth with reverse engineering but the foundation was laid by the official chrome plugin via devicePEQ. This is to make the app work. Now I am working on expanding the communication protocol and several features that do not exist in the official app. Also, I am messing around with oversensitivity of the Qudelix built-in mic. One of the features I wanted to implement is to automate changing presets depending on the connected headphones. Unfortunately the dissection of the Qudelix and ES9219 shows that i can reliabliably destinguish between Balanced/Unbalanced outputs, but not more than that. So I will handle this via UX.
I can, but it's kind of defeating the purpose. I'll get it to the app sooner than later. Resolving BLETransport block is hlaf way there :)
What distro? Also CLI or GUI? This app was to remedy the problem of WebHID in MacOs. The same official Chrome extension might simply work on linux.
Enjoy. Quite a number of features are coming.
Preferably Kubuntu/GUI but I'll check if the official extension works. Just happy to see someone put the effort in for this great piece of gear.
You can install the mobile app on mac for bluetooth support
That's so annoying, glad you fixed it
I've read on their website they're planning for an app release for macos and windows in October Still love this! And will use it
UPDATE The most-asked-for thing was Bluetooth. That's done. Bluetooth. Plug in and it uses USB; unplug and it carries on over Bluetooth. Same features either way — EQ, presets, volume, battery, AutoEq import. The header shows which link it's on. New "Tune" tab. Two ways to set EQ by listening instead of by reading a graph: Compare — blind A/B on your own music. It offers two settings, you pick the better one, and it narrows down over about twenty comparisons. Both options are matched for loudness and never labelled, so you can't just end up preferring whichever is louder — which is what usually goes wrong when you A/B EQ by hand. "They sound the same" is a real answer and it uses it. Tones — plays faint tones at ten frequencies and finds the quietest level you can hear at each. Worth being blunt about this one: with no calibration it measures your ears and your headphones together, it is not a hearing test in any medical sense, and for most people it will tell you there's nothing worth correcting rather than inventing a curve. If you're actually worried about your hearing, see an audiologist. Either session restores your existing EQ if you stop or discard. Also fixed: 1.0.1 could pick the wrong EQ mode when connecting — wrong number of bands shown, and the wrong group used for writes, until the device re-reported itself a few seconds later. Worth updating even if you only ever use USB. Same caveats as before: not signed with a paid Apple certificate, so macOS blocks it the first time (System Settings → Privacy & Security → "Open Anyway"), source is there if you'd rather build it yourself. Only tested on Apple Silicon. Not affiliated with Qudelix. https://github.com/FrankieMa77/qudelix
I would absolutely appreciate a Linux port cause I ain't willingly installing W11 on anything.