Headphone Reviews and Discussion - Head-Fi.org

This is the best review I've read so far for xDuoo Link2 Bal!

I've been avoiding buying it since I kept reading it's "neutral" sounding. And to me neutral sounds like flat and boring so it's not exactly what I'm looking for.

But based from what you said about thick and musicality. I think it has re-ignited my interest to give this another chance, thanks!!!

@Hyde00 thanks mate, its my subjective impressions but im confident to say this aint a neutral dongle. Tempotec HD PRO and HD V are (both in a non boring way). Their clearly a hint of extra mid-sub bass and warmth with it, which is evident when we compare with Tempotec E44 that doesnt have extra amping section but have same dual DACs. I'm not a fan of dead flat neutral dongle....THX amp are dead flat neutral for ex, imo.

@NymPHONOmaniac Yeah I find a while back there was this measuring craze where everything need to be perfectly measured and dead flat. Which isn't exactly to my taste so I'm kind of glad things are dialed back to musicality again. Though I might be on the extreme side where I strongly favours musicality over linearity LOL. Normally I prefer a boost to the upper mids / low treble (female vocal) but it's ok I think only Dragonfly series do that out of any dangle that I tried lol.

As for the Tempotec E44, is it the CS43198 which is dac only and CS43131 which is dac/amp?

But yeah otherwise I have ordered the xDuoo Link2 Bal and hopefully this will fit to my taste. Thanks!

@Hyde00 E44 is dual CS43131 and use chip amp...oh, your an upper mids kinda guy, i do like a slight lift there too, can't say it's the focus of Link2....though female focal sound great, well rounded way with fowards yet non agressive presence...in fact i dont thin i test any dongle with boost in upper mids (including this dragonfly). ill get the Xduoo Poke II soon....this one is dual CS43138. Seem very very promising dac-amp ''army knife''.

@NymPHONOmaniac lol yeah I don't think I know any other dongle dac that has female vocal emphasis. I'm using Dragonfly Red now which brings it forward but just...... a bit low resolution in today's standards. It's ok I'll accept it's a very niche thing that I look for. I think I should still enjoy xDuoo Link2 Bal.

Also xDuoo Poke II look interesting lol.

Just got it, so good...! I have Shanling ua2 and Fiio BTR3K. Xduoo has that "sound presentation is bigger than life", as the BR3K, even a bit more, and has the clean sound UA2 has. Really fantastic sound!
Pairing with the Shuoer S12, looks like an end game for me.
Eddit: I forgot to tell that it is not really power hungry, much less than the shanling. And the USB connection is much more reliable with my phone.

@Krucoz im very happy you enjoy it bro, my love for this dongle isn't short lived and i will keep it forever. best CS43131 implementation i heard yet, they sure nail highly immersive musicality presentation. if i compare it to the excellent Questyle M15, spatiality is sure more vast, more it goes, more i thin amping section is even more important than DAC section. these 2 dongle are prime example of that.

Great review! I'm looking forward towards reading your impressions on the xDuoo Poke 2. I'm not eager for dongles, but very interested in that kind of devices, as I believe that a stable independent source of power is of great importance in audio. A source independent volume control with decent precision is also a "must have" feature for me. Have been eyeing the TRI TK2 for quite some time now, but I have more trust towards xDuoo as a brand that has already established itself very well, especially with their more recent products.

@JeanPaul Petrosyan thanks, its my next review on the way....tonaly wise its near polar opposite to Link2 Bal....lean crisp neutral with vivid yet effortless details. im not sure to ever had listen to something that high in resolution in a delicate non offensive way. it will be a very interesting review. and indeed, durability is more trustable with Xduoo, i already have issue with TK2 usb-c connection, which get loose and instable. sigh.

what's better than it for musical enjoyment under 200$ i got the adv model 3 ba2 for it lol

@LikeHolborn i would say Fiio KA17 for multiple reason, musicality is different, more U shape and cleaner yet energic in slam too, as well, their different soundsig we can say, due to 4 level of gain from low to high to deskop low-high to deskop with extra power unlucked (can reach up to 650mW this way). other interesting factor is the low impedance, since you have 2BA IEM, this might be very usefull to achieve cleanest most naturaly balanced response. KA17 is a soundstage booster too. Crisp and dynamic. not mid centric nor very lush but with mid centric IEM its good match.