Introduction
Xduoo is a popular company from China with a number of years of experience. They are focused on development, design and distributing high end audio products.
They make multiple headphone amplifiers, portable headphone amplifiers and digital audio players. They are the makers of the famous XD05 portable headphone amplifier. Today we
get to review the Xduoo XQ50 Pro which is a bluetooth receiver and dac combo.
Specifications
USB Interface: Type C
Power Input: DC 5V / 1A
Display: OLED, 128 * 64 pixels
Bluetooth Specification Version: 5.0
Bluetooth Chip: CSR8675
Bluetooth Audio Support Formats: SBC, AAC, aptX, aptX_LL, aptX_HD, LDAC
Transmission Distance:About 10 Meters
Size: 10.5 * 7.6 * 3.4cm
Weight:165G
THD + N:
Optical Output: 0.00087%
Coaxial Output: 0.00087%
AUX OUT: 0.07%
Output Level:
Optical Output: 0.5Vp-p
Coaxial Output: 0.5Vp-p
AUX OUT: 2.5V
Accessories:
1 x Xduoo XQ-50pro Receiver
1 x TYPE-C Cable
1 x Bluetooth Antenna
1 x Manual
1 x Warranty card
Features
XQ50 Pro features a nice oled display which is of high quality. It displays track name, sample rate and format of the track. The resolution of the screen is good.
The unit has a push button in front that can be used to play and pause the track and the response is quite fast. Speaking of formats it supports AAC, SBC, aptX, aptX LL, aptX HD and LDAC.
The bluetooth input is bluetooth 5.0 and the dac chip used is ES9018K2M. That's right! the XQ50 Pro has an inbuilt DAC and can be used as a standalone bluetooth DAC if you want to. The pairing is super fast
due to the Bluetooth 5.0. A useful feature is that the USB can be directly used to connect to PC and use it as an USB DAC for your PC. It has coaxial and optical output to connect to an external dac so you can transform your existing dac to a bluetooth DAC
with the XQ50 Pro.
Sound Performance
I compared the bluetooth input and the wired mode by using the XQ50 Pro by using it as an USB DAC and I am happy to say that the bluetooth input sounds just as good as the USB mode! The dynamics of the sound are also on point in bluetooth mode and there is no harshness in the treble.
This means that the bluetooth input implemented here by Xduoo is really good.
The output of the XQ50 Pro as a standalone DAC is crisp and clear with a clean background with no obvious coloration. It is a very capable DAC. When connected to external DAC via the optical or coaxial output, the sound reproduction out of the dac was totally preserved
which means you can pair the XQ50 Pro with any DAC and still maintain its sound quality no matter what. Overall I am very pleased and satisfied with the performance of the XQ50 Pro.
Conclusion
I have tried a few bluetooth receivers before in the budget range and they were good but the XQ50 Pro is definitely a step up in the right direction. It is built well, the OLED screen is quite cool with its black background and the bluetooth input is very clean. What more can you ask for?