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earlgrey77
26
Nov 14, 2017
Hi everyone,
having owned two of these units for a year more or less, I'd like to share my experience with the XDuoo XD-05:
Initially, as a new owner, I reported yet another "very happy best ever heard price performance" story. However, I am now less enthusiastic about this product. Over time, and in comparison with other headphone amps, I found that this amp's sound has a significant flaw in voice reproduction at all volume levels. Female voices in particular do sound quite grainy, unnatural, and for some time I was wondering whether these flaws are in the recordings. Later, I stumbled across some blog posts, suggesting to use the DAC section only, paired with an external amp. And, wow, what an improvement! Not only the female voices issue, but bass reproduction, reduced overall stress level at high volumes, so much improvement.
So I suggest to all XDuoo XD-05 owners, if you use this product on your desk (and not for portable use), do yourself a favor, and try routing that line-out at the back into an external, more capable amp. The XDuoo XD-05's DAC sounds great.
Other than that, there are several functional flaws. People already mentioned the USB male connector design issue. I personally don't face that issue, since I picked the right cable, and mostly non-portable use. One other problem bothers me quite frequently: The amp's output protection relay (?) cuts off the signal when the device starts charging (I usually have the charger permanently connected). The signal does not return, and one needs to turn off and on again. This defect is reproducible on both units I own. Not an issue when using an external amp, since the line-out is not affected.
And while I love the physical volume knob, the volume pot actually exposes quite a channel imbalance at low levels. One unit more than the other.
I suggest to the manufacturer to do some homework for the next product release: Get rid of that clunky USB connector, fix the amp-mute upon charging issue. Improve the amp section. Better quality control / selection for the volume pot.
And don't get me wrong, I still like this little gadget. The XMOS+DAC sections alone are worth the price I paid (USD 140...150). I love the display, the overall design, the volume knob. Very enjoyable product, but not without flaws, and not audiophile "best ever heard" as some people keep saying.
Cheers, and happy listening!
gpwz
12
Nov 14, 2017
earlgrey77another good thing is you may update the opamp and play with it, myself update it with v5i and the improvement is quite obvious. you may wanna try it. (photo attached is from burson audio)
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earlgrey77
26
Nov 15, 2017
gpwzTrue, and I have this upgrade option on my list. One question though, do you know what stage this op amp represents? Is this the DAC conversion stage which would also affect the line-out, or is this the headphone buffer stage? With my recent findings on the amp versus line-out, I am more interested in line-out improvements, and I will keep my external amp connected. Whatever modding we do, I doubt that the internal amp section can beat anything dedicated external, like discrete class-A topology, for example.
AWBradley
0
Nov 16, 2017
earlgrey77I agree, Hearing ot testing the waters often reveals some items shortcomings! I am a proud owner of a Fiio Q1, I think its a fantastically built product, good Burr Brown D/A converters, heffty (but still op-Amps) TI, ones, its not gonna win any major awards, But for 59 bucks, wow. I have after a week with it, about 10 hours, I have found the nit picky things. I would get it all over again though. Its built extremely well, This will encourage me to try out other things from FiiO, Their cool hi~res music players are a steal now, once like 300+ now like 130.00 We have so much to choose from, its stupefying, But much of it is priced right! Many are overpriced, making it some bumpy seas to navigate. So thanks for good ear reviews like yours, it helps! Now Im looking for a 2 to 300 tube home dac, (or not tube) havent decided yet, any recommendations? Anything you wanna sell,lol
earlgrey77
26
Nov 16, 2017
AWBradleyI am not a tube user. But honestly, in the 2...300 dollar range, I would not consider tube products. IMO, these must be compromised. Good tubes are expensive. Transformers are expensive. If ever, spent at least 300 on a separate tube component (amp, preferably), but not on an integrated combo (DAC/amp). And I would never look for a tube in a DAC design. DACs are supposed to transform the signal domains, preferably as transparent as possible. Tubes might be desirable for adding sound signature in a pre-amp or amp, depending on your headphone characteristics and personal / musical preferences.
earlgrey77
26
Nov 16, 2017
AWBradleyAh, and re. Fiio products, I do have the E17k, and it has been replaced by the XD-05 on the first day, and it's been unused in the drawer ever since. The E17k is a good product, and - opposed to the Xduoo - very portable. However, the XD-05 sounds more involving and dynamic, better soundstage. Other than that, I very much prefer the haptic perception of the Xduoo product (the volume pot! try this with the Fiio), the display (the Fiio cannot even display the sampling rate correctly), the advanced XMOS interface (up to 384k, async), and the separate charging connector (very important to me). So overall, the Xduoo has a lot more to offer than the E17k, unless you really want to carry it with you. You would probably need to look at the E18 from the Fiio range, if you are looking for XD-05 alternatives below USD 200.
AWBradley
0
Nov 16, 2017
earlgrey77I agree. I am lucky,I've got a tube amp guru of a friend, He builds custom Fender amps for a living. there sweet. and yes the little tube amps, do do high current, They dont even fire up the big heaters. I already own about 1,000 vacuum tubes, My Grandfather used to do tv and radio repair as a hobby. So I have quite a few NOS American made late 50's early 60's tubes, lotsa 12ax7's, and variants. Not many power tubes, like 6L6's, or el~34's. I've sold most all of them. You can get a decent to even good 12ax for under 20 bucks now, and I do highly recommend doing so with these inexpensive little amps, It does help them. But yeah. I want to try one. I probly wont be satisfied, But I really wanna do it so I can let my tube guy mod it for me. My little Q1 I was telling you about.I think ther dac part of it is awesome, They are Burr Brown d/a's. I think its the less expensive but still decent op amps that may be holding this little amp back. But It does much better than my phone. Still I love see what other people think about these many choices we have now. Thats awesome!!
AWBradley
0
Nov 16, 2017
earlgrey77Thanks, I will check out these other ones. I was wondering about the Xudoo ones as well. Thx!!
AWBradley
0
Nov 16, 2017
gpwzThats a good looking board.
mvsantorini
39
Dec 24, 2017
earlgrey77Earlguy -
By and large agree with your comments, I've not had the channel balance issues you've seen, but I do try to keep my input levels low enough that the XDuoo's volume knob is 50-70% rotated because many small linear taper pots track more closely as their resistance decreases.
Changing the pot on this unit looks to be a PITA, and getting a unit that will both fit the board and track accurately won't be cheap - adjusting your gain structure to avoid the issue us easier & pretty much free.
There's a reasonable cure for XD's spitty midrange graininess, Bursin Audio of Hong Kong makes a drop-in quasi-discrete opamp that (barely) fits in the XD - it makes an impressively significant improvement in both soundstaging and tonality. It's not cheap @ $60 USD, but for what it does is a decent deal:
https://www.bursonaudio.com/products/supreme-sound-opamp-v5/
I normally sneer at most audio-foolery as an efficient way to separate Orthodontists and Venture Capitalists from their excess earnings, but a very hard-headed friend who buys Burson opamps by the tray to rebuild studio gear lent me one - it didn't return & I bought him dinner.
Cheers Jim
rexhu17
19
Dec 25, 2017
earlgrey77(almost) all potentiometers have channel balance issue at low volume.
earlgrey77
26
Dec 25, 2017
mvsantoriniThanks Jim, I do have the Burson v5i on my shopping list. I was just too busy recently, so that I did not hit the order button yet. The pot is not so much of an issue (at least for one of my units), as I am now permanently using it with an external amp - which has a much more precise ALPS.
sirkuttin
145
Jan 16, 2018
earlgrey77i felt like the changes when upgrading to the burson were a bit subtle. but i feel like it will exactly help the issue you are speaking of. however, if you have another amp already, not sure there is a need.
Anent
167
Mar 3, 2018
gpwzCurious: what’s the actual opamp in the enclosure?
mvsantorini
39
Mar 3, 2018
AnentApparently Xduoo has used several dual opamps in their production - I checked the one from my unit & it was an opa1612....
Jim
sirkuttin
145
Mar 3, 2018
mvsantoriniyeah. mine also had the opa 1612a
Anent
167
Mar 3, 2018
sirkuttinI actually meant the V5i, but ty.
mvsantorini
39
Mar 3, 2018
AnentSorry misread your post - my belief is that the Bursons are actually discrete component operational amplifiers using SMD components.
Not sure how discrete the Bursons are - my hunch is integrated logic IC's with output transistors.
You can build an opamp with the topology of choice - HP used Nuvistor-based opamps in their last generation tube oscilloscopes....
Cheers Jim
sirkuttin
145
Mar 6, 2018
Anent The newly developed Burson V5i is a hybrid audio opamp, which is both partially IC and discrete.  It bears the sonic signature of its bigger brother, the V5 discrete opamp, considered by many as the reference in audio application. https://www.bursonaudio.com/products/supreme-sound-opamp-v5i/
Anent
167
Mar 6, 2018
sirkuttinThanks. I had looked at this, but it wasn’t clear what IC etc they are using in the enclosure. Curious....
luk1111
0
Mar 20, 2019
gpwzWow my photo :)
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