got my XD05 a couple days ago and my V5I today⌠heck yeah killer combo
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Xduoo XD05 Basic (AK4490) Review: "This is not chi-fi, this is great engineering."
TL,DR: This is a big review of this big block of metal full of surprises. Tested with Sennheiser HD6XXâs, Fostex T50RPâs and Nad HP50 headphones. The XD05 is the perfect companion to enjoy detailed music on the go (macrodetails). And when you get home, you plug it straight into a better headphone amplifier, and it will show you all the little details (microdetails) hidden in its great AKM chipset implementation. Yes, this is also a great desktop DAC (I mean, itâs as big as one too). It will also take bitperfect audio and switch Bitrate/Khz when a change is detected, via USB (my Android phone) or via coax. This is âlow-cost hi-fiâ paradise, really. Itâs a bit like the Fiio BTR5 for people who need power on the go. Definitely a great value⌠Even at full price.
If you buy this new, youâll probably get the ESS version. But the original âXD05 Basicâ had the AK4490 chip. I bought mine used, and got an AK4490. I honestly hoped my XD05 was the version with an ESS chipset (inexpensive implementations of these tend to have a prevalence for treble), because my desktop DAC is an SMSL Sanskrit 10th, with a prevalence for bass and low-mids (which is, I believe, an AK4493) and I wanted a change. Well, I got my XD05, played some songs, and I actually thought it was an ESS chipset⌠Until I opened it and realized it was an AK4490 inside. Implementation is everything, and itâs a well-implemented AKM chipset. A surprise at this price point. Neutral, clear, detailed, with sufficient treble, whether portable or not (plugged in an external headphone amplifier or not). Some cheap â read: bad â AKM implementations can sound muddy: Definitely not this one. Good.
Details:
The XD05 Basic is damn fast. i.e.: Fast, loud details are perceptible and never lost in âmudâ, one detail never covers another because it happened too rapidly before or after. Fair warning, this is not a portable âdetail monsterâ. But, like, âwhatâs the pointâ : Youâre probably always surrounded by noise. You hear a lot of good things with the XD05 Basic at medium to high volumes. Drums hit hard. Voices sound natural, and quite believable actually. Loud voices, loud guitars, loud instruments are all full of details. And I donât even know the name of the thing, or what it is made of, but in songs with (real) drums, I can clearly hear if the âround puckâ hitting the bass drum is made of ârubberâ, or if thereâs a bit (or a ton) of cloth over it, or not. Clearly. Simply put, the âamount of times Iâve told myself it sounds life-like to price ratioâ with this ~150$ thing is incredible. Thanks to the XD05, I think I now know the definition of âmacrodetailsâ (versus subtle, i.e., âmicroâ details). In the worst case scenario (like⌠treble-y T50RP planars) these âmacrodetailsâ can be a problem, though. Headbang responsibly, enjoy macrodetails with moderation.
Technicalities, gain and powah â Level 3 gain is useless/broken:
More importantly, the headphone out got a fair amount of soundstage, naturalness, instrument separation and depth â even with my T50RPâs, which some people say often sound âmechanicalâ and âlifelessâ. Not here. In terms of naturalness and macrodetails, the XD05 Basic can even make my T50RPâs sound a bit like my Sennheiser HD6XXâs, something that 100$ desktop amplifiers (JDS Atom, Liquid Spark) never did. Impressive stuff.
This headphone out is also 500mW of power @ 32 ohms, so you can go anywhere and rock your planars with it â and thatâs what I do. This is a portable 500mW per channel metal brick that will hit your ears like a metal brick if you ask for it. On gain level 3 itâs a bit too much, though. The three gain levels are like, â4/10, 8/10, and 11/10â. Gain level 3 is overdone, max gain and half volume with T50RPâs is painful and I believe I even hear distortion sometimes. Itâs just too much. On top of that, thereâs channel imbalance unless the volume is high, sometimes too high. So the gain stays at level 2 on mine, and smooth music sounds smooth and energetic music sounds energetic, with no trace of distortion or channel imbalance whatsoever.
The DAC part: âAnd oh, you wanted more subtle details? Surprise: the DACâs got itâ.
I also use the XD05 Basic as a âdesktop dacâ, using the USB input and the 3.5mm coaxial input â yes this exists and yes adapters exist â and the 3.5mm output, which is a âline outâ, i.e.: DAC mode, no volume control, straight to my Aune X7S (a 300$ Class A desktop headphone amp). Another surprise: This DAC can be more detailed than my SMSL Sanskrit 10th desktop DAC. The Sanskrit 10th is a great DAC. Iâve enjoyed, discovered, and re-discovered hours and hours of music with it. Itâs hard to play anything with this DAC and âhurt your earsâ. But itâs âtoo smooth to be life-likeâ. Thereâs too much bass and mids in female voices, for example. So, guess what, I exchanged it with my XD05. The XD05 Basic is now also my preferred desktop DAC. (Funnily enough, the XD05 Basic is an AK4490 chipset and the Sanskrit 10th is an AK4493. Did I tell you âimplementation is everythingâ ?)
As a desktop DAC: Coax (to computer) + USB (power/recharge) in + USB (to computer) + 3.5mm line out (to speaker/headphone amps).
An odd quirk is, to activate the 3.5mm âline outâ (i.e.: always 100% volume output, to use the XD05 as a desktop DAC), you need to turn on the XD05⌠by turning the volume knob up. Which means youâll also be able to power a second pair of headphones via the unitâs headphone out at the same time. Well, why not. Makes A/B-ing stuff easier. Or bring a friend. 
Bluetooth part: LDAC is great, but may be unreliable.
Yes, I also got the little bluetooth module. Play, pause, next track and last track buttons on it are useful. It works great⌠when LDAC works. I remember having it set to 990kbps (24bit/96khz and forced âhighest qualityâ), and it still managed to add a bass boost and compress my 16bit/44.1khz/320kbps (or less!) mp3âs, making it a night-and-day difference when I removed the module and used the âUSB INâ instead. Oh well, maybe itâs my phone, too (âŚeven if it said LDAC in the Bluetooth infos on my phone, and the âbluetooth moduleâ light was white, which also means LDAC data is received). Or maybe I got one of the 100 Android or USB Audio Player Pro config options wrong that time. Anyways, good luck. (By the way, if LDAC changes from 990kbps to something else, youâll hear a little, very subtle âpopâ.)
Iâm not done: You can also switch opamps. And it makes a HUGE difference.
I also bought this XD05 Basic used, with a Burson v5i opamp in it⌠which I promptly uninstalled. There were âcracks and popsâ between songs, and sometimes when turning the volume up/down. Something was wrong. And the cracks and pops between songs even happened via the 3.5mm line out. I also felt like I was drowning in mids, which, among (a ton of) other things, completely killed the soundstage. Maybe the Burson v5i could be good for the 1 watt per channel XD05 Plus/Balanced/etc., but was too much for the XD05 Basic, which is half the power? I donât know. Anyways, all this review, all the technicalities, all the problems with the gain mentioned in this review, it was all with the XD05 and a JRC 5532DD opamp in it (the stock one, I guess).
I also tried a TI NE5532P opamp⌠It smoothens everything, to the point of making the XD05 âboringâ. The bit I said about being able to know what kind of âround puckâ was hitting the bass drum? Iâve just learned itâs 100% because of this JRC opamp acting kind of like a âpeakyâ bass boost (at 75hz-100hz?). So, whatever Xduoo did, the XD05 responds very well to âopamp rollingâ. Another surprise. Yup, the XD05 is not âchi-fiâ. This is great engineering.
Battery (batteries) life(s).
Well, donât forget to charge your phone. And donât forget to charge your XD05 Basic⌠and donât forget to charge the bluetooth module, too. Still:
- I was expecting the mini bluetooth module to die first⌠Until I checked the website and it said it had 12 hours of battery life. I probably used it more than 12 if not 24 hours already, havenât recharged it yet.
- I was expecting maybe 6 hours of battery life for the XD05 itself⌠With T50RPâs, max gain (âŚdonât), volume at 11 Oâclock, blasting mostly electro, rock and metal, I got 10 hours. This is basically the worst case scenario.
- I was expecting an external, battery-powered DAC to still drain my phoneâs battery power a bit: Nope. Even with USB Audio Player Pro and the screen option set to âalways onâ, I lose one percent battery life every 5 minutes.
- By the way, you can play music while charging the XD05, too.
So if youâre worried about battery life⌠Your smartphone battery will surely die first, after more than 8 hours of music playing.
Small downsides:
-Under the sun, you canât see anything on this screen. Activate the bluetooth âmoduleâ, youâll see the blue light. Power the XD05 on, with a bit of luck youâll see the âorangeâ ring around the volume knob. But the screen basically just looks like a mirror. If you rely on it, just crank the volume, find the right input with the switch and wait for the âhappy jumpscareâ to confirm you still have battery.
-It will never shut down automatically after X minutes of (nothing) playing. I forgot it on in a room and the battery just drained. So, donât forget to turn it off!
So, for all these reasons, I repeat: This thing is âlow-cost hi-fiâ paradise, really. Itâs a bit like the Fiio BTR5 for people who need power on the go. Definitely a great value, even at full price. The XD05 is not chi-fi. This is great engineering. Iâll watch Xduooâs stuff more closely from now on. Iâll probably buy another XD05 Basic (the ESS version) to compare with this AKM chipset version. No, this is not an âendgameâ DAC/amp combo. But for 150$? This is great stuff.
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if you didnât check there could be a firmware update available, I know people used to talk about not being able to use high gain in certain situations but I havenât had issues even after swapping to a Burson V5I OP AMP which even more people said made high gain not work
Love this unit. For the price, if you donât mind a bit of a brick I donât think anyone else combines this level of power, build and battery, single-ended too! Great pot and switches. Could easily be a desktop combo unit for a lot of folks, with the added flexibility of battery and BT. When folks ask about budget stacks and donât have big power demands - I think this is a super-smart contender. This offers plenty for most planar and 300 ohm headphones. Adore that it is 1/4" out. That 1/2 watt goes a long way.
Gripes, the BT module isnât a stupendous integration. I wish you could charge both units simultaneously from the BT module port. Still have no idea how to assess its battery on its own. Bass boost is typically a bit too rich and high-reaching of a shelf for my ears.
Wanted this for a long time and finally grabbed one on one of the rip-roaring Linsoul deals prior to this current one. Most people will benefit from the build/flexibility here than require the extra power of a K5 Pro for instance.
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Yeah. This is going in the The âToo good for the priceâ list.
Bass boost is good with HD6XXâs, for example. But I agree, it could be a few dB less. With older recordings itâs great, or with any calm, smooth, or âsoft rockâ music. But with newer recordings where everything got more bass, sometimes itâs like Iâm half-ashamed to keep it on and Iâm half-ashamed to keep it off. 
6 months later: Iâm still using it as a desktop DAC. Still bringing it everywhere when I leave the house for more than one day. Still loving it. Still recommending it. Especially because you can easily buy it used for ~100$ USD. Donât forget you only need to plug the LDAC moduleâs âCoaxialâ plug, allowing you to use the âline outâ to speakers, changing it into a desktop bluetooth DAC.
Incredible value. Poor manâs iFi Gryphon. 