xDuoo XD05 Bal Portable DAC/Amp Preview

xDuoo have been researching the audio field for nearly ten years. They have a mature technical team with professional knowledge background and unique tuning audio method. They have won wide acclaim in the china audio industry with their well-known products like the tube amplifier lineup “TA” series including powerful TA-30, TA-20,  or the latest USB type-C ESS9118EC chip Dac connector the xDuoo Link2.

The most popular product from xDuoo should be XD-05 plus portable headphone amplifier, which adopts XMOS XU208 and AK4493EQ chips. Now they are going to launch the latest portable DAC/Amp, which most of audiophiles have been looking forward for a while, XD05 Bal. It will be for USD $429.00, and it is for pre-order now, we will keep tracking the determine dispatch date and update for you. 

As a portable high-fidelity DAC & balanced headphone amplifier, XD05 bal integrates USB, coaxial, optical, AES, Bluetooth decoding and amplifier. It uses two high-specification ESS’ES9038Q2M chips for DAC,  with better decoding performance, extremely low noise and higher resolution, which greatly improves the sense of sound. The amp circuit adopts the OP+BUF architecture, the output power reaches 1000mW, such strong power can easily feed various kinds of headphones.

In terms of input, USB receiving chip adopts XMOS' XU208, supports up to PCM 32Bit/768kHz and DSD512; AES supports up to 24 Bit/192kHz and DSD64; Bluetooth supports aptX、aptX LL、aptX HD、LDAC and other high-definition formats. Speaking of the output, except for the 6.5 phone out as normal portable amp, the highlight of XD05 Bal is one 4.4 balanced phone out, with balanced headphone, which greatly improves the S/N and dynamics, and the quality of sound would be improved a lot.

Bluetooth chip uses Qualcomm's CSR8675, supports Bluetooth 5.0, aptX, aptX LL, aptX HD and LDAC formats. It also adopts dual active low-phase noise crystal oscillators, data shaping processing through FPGA achieves a unified clock and reduces jitter. Built-in filter circuit and high-efficiency power conversion circuit, optimize supply design through the LDO circuit, and separately supply power to the decoder chip, LPF, amplifier, XMOS, and digital receiver chip.

External gain setting and boost setting to adapt to headphones with different impedances. And external DAC filter settings, SRC settings, a lot of playability. In addition to the gain setting, boost setting, DAC filter setting, and SRC setting functions, the external functions have added a power selection function, so you no longer worry about battery life. This product is suitable for advanced players who have higher requirements for portability, sound quality, and thrust.

 The Reviews for xDuoo XD05 Bal posted by Z Reviews on Feb 28, 2021: