Qualia are phenomenal properties of experience, a soul is something some religions claim exists outside of measurable physical reality which represents the "essence" of an organism, implying that consciousness is some divine process and conveniently letting us draw lines over whom and what we can and can't morally kill.

Qualia can be an entirely physical phenomenon and is not loaded with theological baggage.

The color Red is often used. A human can experience 'Red', but 'Red' does not exist out in the universe somewhere. 'Red' Doesn't exist outside of someone experiencing 'Red'. I think philosophers are just using the word qualia to quantify this 'experiencing' inputs.

But, it is still just a way to try and describe this process of processing the inputs from the world.

It isn't metaphysical, because it can be measured.

I might have said 'unknowable' a little flippantly.

I just meant, in these arguments, some people start using 'qualia' to actually mean some extreme things like our mind creates the universe or something.

It's one of those words that isn't defined well.