Picture Sunday – qdc Anole VX

Disclaimer: This post is part of our Picture Sunday series, where we take a look at new gear in the queue. You can check out more here.

qdc, that’s a name we have never featured on Headfonia to this date. Why? Well, there just were no opportunities I guess. This year we finally got them in for review, thanks to the support of Music Sanctuary and Music Teck who both vouched for us.

qdc is a name that has been getting a lot of attention in the recent months. I’ve been curious about them for a while, but since Europe is a desert for portable audio, it was pretty much impossible to get an audition, especially here in Vienna.

qdc has been praised by many audiophiles for their great price to performance ratio, their good sound and superb build quality. All things I can very much attest to. In preparation for my custom Anole VX I went through different phases of designing the monitor. I went with different color-combinations, many inlays and face plate materials just to land at their stunning standard design they set for their universal version.

qdc Anole VX

Personally, I think the scratched silver face plates, silver logos and silver flakes in the shell just look gorgeous. The fit of my pair is comfortable, but 100% spot on. I don’t ever have the feeling of pressure-relieve when I take them out, it is like I have not worn a CIEM at all.

As followers of qdc certainly know, there are things qdc does that are completely unlike most other brands. They use a protruded 2-pin socket, good, Unique Melody does the same, but then qdc also has inverted polarity. And these very two facts make it a little hard for cable-rollistas to perform their most loved action – rolling cables. Unless you have a qdc pre-defined aftermarket cable, I’m sure you’ll face the same struggles like yours truly. There are ways around that though, an adapter could help, or simply get your desired cable fit for the Anole VX and other qdc CIEMs.

qdc Anole VX

I have had my pair for over one month now, and I’ve been playing with it since then. The Anole VX is a monitor that has been raved about quite a bit, and after hearing it for myself I do get why. It has a mildly warm and neutral signature, that captures emotions and body with ease. It’s a sound that often reminds me of the JH Audio Layla. Anole VX has a wonderful bass reproduction for a BA driven model. It has high resolution and a non-fatiguing treble.

But behold, the Anole VX brings three switches to the table. Flip one or more of them and you can change the signature to more bass, more present mids and/or more treble presence. All in all you get eight different signatures in one monitor. Does that sound like fun? Hell yeah, but I must admit I haven’t played with them just yet. For now I have been enjoying the stock sound too much to delve into the switches… I will certainly go into more detail when the full review comes along. But first, vacation! The Anole VX is on my to-bring-along list of course.