Practical Devices XM5 - Page 15

If anyone is curious about OPA627 sound but hates the idea of forking over $18 a piece for them, grab yourselves a couple LME49710 ($2.65 a piece) and enjoy.
The only difference i can discern is *maybe* a hint of more detail on some vocals with the LME49710.
Good enough to sit on my hands and not click on the AD8065 for a while...

audiophonicshz: If you ever find anything out about the DT880/600 on XM5, let me know.
DT880, K702 and HD600 are all on my want list, if i could do 600 instead of 250 on the DT880 before i have a desktop amp, it would be most interesting.
Even though i think i will build me a PPAV2 considering i got enough OPAs to keep those sockets filled......

I'll have to go back over my notes with my AKG K240M 600 ohm and see what I wrote.

Anybody here using the XM5 with IE8s?

I just got the AD8065's and had a quick listen after I installed them. I only listened to two song so far but I can hear a definite upgrade.

Bass is stronger, sound stage is wider, it sounds smoother without any sacrifice in details, left and right separation is more precise.

With the stock amp I did notice some slight distortion at times with these new opamps I did not notice any distortion.

I will post additional impressions tonight or tomorrow when I get more time to listen.

But really quick, the improvement was well worth the 28$ from the practical devices website.

...SOLD!

Thanks...you just cost me $28 Thanks a lot! Really.

I'll post my thoughts when my 8065's arrive.

Is this with or without the BUF634 in the amp?

He has the buffers so I'm guessing that he kept them in.

It is with the BUF634's

I'm $32 lighter. Now to wait a week...to be continued.

IIRC, the BUF634's have a different pinout then other buffers. Single opamps usually have the same pinout, so you're OK here. Many of the different opamps have a low current output , so keeping the BUF634's would be beneficial if you have a phone that needs power.

Setting here with my newly arrived xm5 with the ad8397, hooked up to my toshiba into dt-150's. Bela Fleck sounds great!!!

Nice! I'm currently enjoying a Andy Narell CD "The Passage" (steel pan) with XM5/DAC & HD 650.

"Tales from the Acoustic Planet" here. Ripped at 128 but compared to listening with just the Toshiba it still sounds great!

After listening for a few hours with the AD8065's my first impressions were pretty dead on. These opamps are freakin SMOOTH!!! that is the best way to describe them.

The stock opamps in comparison were pretty harsh and actually distorted at times. I just tried to ignore the distortion as it wasn't to bad but the stock opamps definitely distorted and clipped during really complex musical sections.

These do not distort or clip at any point and basically take the most stuff complex you can throw at it and presents ever details in it's right place with little strain.

To me pretty much sounds like a completely different amp now, which I guess it kind of is seeing as the guts have been upgraded.

Listening fatigue is now at ZERO, no more harsh highs or distortion, the sound is so smooth yet detailed it's really hard to turn it off. Bass is more detailed, punchier and of course smoother.

Practical Devices should probably just tack on 30$ to the price and sell them with these in them default I can't imagine choosing the stock opamps over the AD8065's in any scenario.

I ordered mine an hour and a half ago...