xDuoo XD05 Bal Headphone Amp/DAC
$1,850
- Premium Dual DAC Chipset featuring 2*ES9038Q2M DAC chips.
- High-Performance XMOS XU208 USB Signal Receiver
- Qualcomm CSR8675 Bluetooth Chip
- LDAC, AptX HD, AptX LL, AptX
- 6.35mm Single-ended headphone output,4.4mm Balanced headphone output.
- PCM up to 32-Bit/768kHz, DSD up to DSD512
- USB Type-C input support.
Conclusion
The xDuoo XD-05 BAL is a brilliant DAC/AMP, taking advantage of all the features introduced in previous generations: versatile design, complete I/O, excellent sound.
Once again, the brand didn’t reinvent the wheel and took all the good points found in the basic and plus version, and polished them. Balanced circuit with a 4.4mm output, Bluetooth chipset, no more channel imbalance, and the same sound signature.
Add a mind-blowing bundle, excellent price/performance ratio, and the XD-05 BAL directly goes into my recommendation list, replacing the XD-05 Plus.
Final Thoughts
The xDuoo XD-05 Bal is a very welcome evolution over the previous XD-05 devices as it integrates a few changes that are quite welcome: USB-C is certainly one of them, but so are Bluetooth and the 4.4 mm output. The XD-05 Bal is quite a complete device that offers a ton of functionality in a design that’s quite convenient to use and that’s built to last. It also offers some quite unusual options, too, such as AES input, as well as an accessory set that is beyond complete.
Overall, the xDuoo XD-05 Bal is quite a great device that trades blows with the de facto rulers of this space, the iFi products, while having a much lower price. And while it’s by no means perfect, it’s a device that has a lot to offer as a portable desktop DAC/amp. So much so that I can’t see any valid reason not to put it in the “Best of” page – it’s just so good I can’t avoid recommending it.
Reviews
There are no reviews yet.