Douk Audio U5 mini balanced amplifier

TONALITY: 8.5
TECHNICALITY: 8.2/10
DYNAMIC RENDERING: 9/10
CONSTRUCTION: 8.5/10
PRICE VALUE: 10/10

This is a video review of the ultra budget ultra small Douk Audio U5 balanced headphones amplifier. I was expecting a pretty averag amplifier that would negatively affect clarity and imaging of my headphones and hard to drive IEM, but it wasn't the case at all. You can look comparisons against Xduoo XD05plus for example, using burson V5i dual opamp, but let say result is that U5 sound more open, clean and balanced in dynamic, while XD05plus is warmer with harsher upper mids and treble and more compressed layering as well as high distortion.

CONSTRUCTION


Construction is minimalist and industrial looking, yet not made of plastic and seem sturdy enough. Its very small too. 4.4mm jack is gold plated and of good quality while XLR are basic one. Inner circuitry is clean and well done.
The usb power supply worry me at first, but my laptop dont struggle delivering the power properly and don't get hot or anything even after long use. it most be noted that if you plan using another power supply it need to be DC 5V with minimum of 1a.
The power magig of U5 come from the fact it transform 5V load into 24V, im no electrician and don't know how they achieve this, but it sure boost the gain yet without going disastrous since the o.005% of total harmonic distortion specs seem real, the U5 sound quite clean and just add minimal euphony to definition edge and attack sustain-release.


The stock OPamp are basic 4xJRC4580, yet doesn't justify urgen upgrade since their no invasive hiss or distortion with this amp ,again, its not a THX AAA endgame clean clarity, but sens of transparency, articulation of layering of most of all spatial openess headroom is incredible.
But you can easily swap it for an upgrade that can scale up performance of U5, i will need to order 4 OPamps of same model and sure share impressions of what you get. Let say, its more than welcome.
As well, while input is balanced XLR, you can use 3.5se to XLR cable, but i can't say how it will on performance like dynamic and noise floor.



This amps deliver 1400mw@32ohm, surely have high impedance but will be ok with 32ohm and higher IEM. The U5 drive my Final E5000 like no other of my amps, i couldn't beleive it, was expecting distortion or warmer tonality but got the opposite, E5000 become clean W shape with ultra punchy chunky bass, fowards open vocal and extra treble air, imaging and layering was notably improved as well as soundstage.
Hifiman Sundara result was similar, again, great bass punch, lively dynamic and great sens of openess that doesnt make instrument feel distant.

I can't recommend you enough this mini amp, it might be budget audiophile end game solution for hard to drive planar and IEMs.

You can order the U5 for 40$ for Douk Audio Ali express store here (non-affiliated link):https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005003782094643.html
My full detailed review including comparisons against Haafee HA9, Xduoo XD05plus and VE Megatron can be find hre:




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