i wanted to know from some xd-05 plus users
is it dry sounding?
i want some warm , lush sound amp
i dont want that much details , i just want some thick, musical and enjoyable sound from hd 650
Just received a new XD-05 Plus yesterday after ordering one during the recent 11.11 sale in China.
I thought it might make a nice “stack” with my old iPhone 6s that has been languishing in a drawer for the past two years after it was replaced by my current daily driver iPhone Xs.
Anyway, the sound quality is great and lives up to the praise given to it by Zeos. Sounds every bit as good as my FiiO Q5S with the THX amp.
With some quality double-sided tape, and a Woo Audio lightning to USB C jumper you have a really neat portable stack. Not exactly pocketable but you wouldn’t really buy the XD-05 Plus if that’s what you were looking for…
Makes the Tin P1’s sound better than I’ve ever heard them on the high gain setting and the bass switch flipped on. Also sounds great with my Sendy Aiva’s and Nighthawk’s. Was a bit too much for Elegia’s, but that’s okay.
I don’t have any higher impedance cans, but now I have the incentive to go get some 
.
2 Likes
I don’t see any XD-05 Plus official thread, so I’ll just post it here.
I’ve been opamp rolling with the XD-05 plus for a while now and here’s what I think.
The opamps that I used:
- OPA2134PA
- OPA1612A (The one that it came with. I don’t know if this is correct because the writing was so small I can’t see it.)
- OPA627BP
- OPA627AU (mine was broken. Not because of the 05 plus tho)
- AD827SQ
I think the 05 plus is a pretty nice device for opamp rolling. The safety feature is quite solid. I thought it would be a problem when I put my broken OPA627AU on it, but the safety mode kicked in and everything was fine. So, if you are new to opamp rolling, there’s practically nothing to be afraid of, although if you happen to break your amp, don’t blame me on that one lol.
I’ll start with the opamp that it came with, OPA1612A. I think in terms of performance, it was okay. Okay in detail, okay in staging, okay in timbre, okay in everything, and that’s the problem. When I first got the amp, I was unimpressed. I can’t see how people are hyping this amp up besides because of its power output. So I don’t really spend much time with it.
After finding out about how okay the original opamp was, I tried to put my OPA627AU, but I found out that it was broken. So because of that, I did some research on what similar cheap opamp to replace it with and found out that OPA2134PA is the poor man’s OPA627BP.
When I tried the OPA2134PA, the difference was quite big IMO. The bass was more in terms of quality and separation and instruments sounds more engaging. But then when I tried to play orchestral music or classical music, the details in the music was smeared all over the place, and I feel like the recording becomes fuzzy. So, I think the OPA2134PA is great for pop, hip-hop, rap, EDM, beats and those kinds of music. For a more refined type of music where there are a lot of subtle details and nuances, I think the OPA2134PA simply can’t do the job. If I were to compare it with the original opamp, I would say that the OPA2134PA is still better than the original. It’s just more engaging, although a little bit lags behind in terms of detail.
After that, I tried the AD827SQ. Between the two opamps that I tried, the AD827SQ is monumentally better. The imaging is more 3 dimensional. I can “locate” instruments better around me and the details simply pops up. If I were to describe this with photography, I think the AD827SQ is like looking at a raw photo with a minimal edit. The information for the highs and everything is definitely there, but it’s a little bit not engaging. I think this opamp is best for classical, orchestral, opera, and choir music. For pop, EDM and others, it can still do the job, but it’s not that impactful in the low end region.
Finally after few weeks of waiting, I received my OPA627BP. Between this and the original opamp, the OPA627BP is way beyond the original’s performance. It’s more engaging and surprisingly also brings more energy to the low end region. The separation and imaging is also way better, but I think I find some problem in its timbre. When I listen to an orchestral music, I always feel like brass instruments sound brighter, almost ear piercing. In some tracks where it has vocals in it, I find that the vocals is a little bit pushed back. I personally love intimate vocal presentation, so that quirk in the vocal is a problem for me.
Between the OPA627BP and the AD827SQ, I prefer the AD827SQ. If I’m going to describe the OPA627BP in terms of photography, it feels like the OPA627BP is closer to the pictures that you see in Instagram where the images are colourful and engaging, but a little bit missing in terms of the subtle detail. So between OPA627BP and AD827SQ, they are really different. Since I currently like to listen to orchestral music and those kinds of stuffs, I choose the AD827SQ over the BP. If you enjoy pop, hip-hop, or music that’s engaging and full of energy, I would suggest you to pick the OPA627BP.
I think opamp rolling is necessary for the 05 plus. The original is simply so lackluster. Besides the power output that it has, I can’t see how you would enjoy the amp. Maybe I’m just nitpicking here. Anyway, I’ll also add a comment for Burson V5i. I’m not going to buy it. I think it’s overpriced and for something like an IC opamp and some capacitor, that thing is just too expensive. I don’t thing it’s worth it, but YMMV.
2 Likes
Just wanted to join in, I’ve recently started my op amp rolling journey with my XD-05 Plus and I started with the one that everyone recommends: the Burson V5i-Dual. It’s a huge improvement and I would still easily take it over the stock op amp, but the sound signature just wasn’t what I wanted, since the Burson immediately sounded pretty dark to me.
I’ve currently switched to the MUSES02 and I’m already liking it quite a bit better, though we’ll see if this one ends up going the other way and being a bit too bright after a while. I’m going to live with it for a few days to see how I feel before I try switching the op amp to something else.
Anyway, I would definitely recommend rolling the XD-05, it’s really easy and it makes a very noticeable difference.
1 Like
When I first started using the MUSES02, it was much closer to what I wanted, but it was lacking a kind of fullness, which was easiest to hear for me with acoustic instruments, they just sounded like I was listening to headphones rather than sounding natural. That feeling definitely lessened after listening for a few days, but I couldn’t tell you 100% whether there was some kind of burn-in happening on the chip or if it was just my hearing getting more accustomed to it, so your mileage may vary.
Anyway, I swapped from the MUSES02 to the chip that was recommended by the user above me, the AD827SQ, and so far, I like this one the best of all. I’ve only been listening to it for a day, but so far, the tonality seems good, detail seems good, it doesn’t seem like there’s any major place where it’s lacking, so yeah, this might be the one that I stick with. We’ll see!