Hey all,
My Xduoo X2 came in about a week ago, so I wanted to post about my experience with the pairing so far. In general, I definitely like it. My expectations for the Xduoo X2 were probably too high though, I was hoping for it to be a giant slayer of epic proportion (much like the Monk itself). While it's not quite in the same price-to-performance ratio (the Monks one is insane imo) I'm definitely enjoying it. I mostly listen to a variety of genres and artists (Pink Floyd, Dire Straits, Bob Marley, Amy Winehouse, Lauryn Hill, Dave Brubeck Quartet, Daft Punk, Bluetech, Ott, Younger Brother, Quanta, Hibernation, Notorious BIG, De La Soul, The Pharcyde, etc etc) in FLAC (16 bit 44.1khz) during the daytime and will vary in volume between 14 to 22 depending on indoor or outdoor use. Though hiss has been reported with sensitive IEMs, I have not had any issues with that at all using the X2 with the Monks.
My hopes were that the soundstage would improve coming from my laptop (without dedicated amp) - the opposite was actually true, which was a bit of a let down for me at first being somewhat of a soundstage fanboy. I found I got a more airy feel in the high mids & treble region from the laptop, and the soundstage went from out of head (not incredibly spacious but nice, like 'in the studio' I guess) to in my head on the X2. Disappointing as I had read great things about the Xduoo X2, one of those supposedly being a really nice soundstage. I have no idea what DAC is in my laptop - random onboard one probably, but I suppose it turns out to actually be reasonably capable (it's a Dell Inspiron 15R (3537) in case anyone is wondering). The airy highs plus wider/deeper soundstage on it also gave the impression of (even) a bit better seperation straight out of the laptop.
This may sound a bit negative, but that's not the whole story thankfully
. Apart from the soundstage not quite meeting my (probably too high) expectations having experienced better through the Monks, I do really like the X2 and the pairing. I definitely notice what they say about the X2 being a warmer source (I reverted from v7 to v6.1 and also feel it sounds a little bit better, but ymmv). Though I definitely do not experience the Monk's bass as weak (I find it nicely balanced) sometimes I wouldn't mind it to have a little bit more oomph - depending on genre, artist and sometimes song, and especially when outdoors.. The warmer X2 helps out in that department, and even more so with EQ (more later). The highs I got from the Monk using the laptop were really airy and sparkly, but thankfully the X2 still brings out a nicely detailed pleasant sound. Seperation is good.
Lastly - as noted before in X2 reviews and user experiences on here, I too am finding that the EQ function on the X2 works very well, as in: change relative frequencies WITHOUT a general degradation of sound quality. Though EQ has a sketchy rep around here, I'm happy it's there on the X2 - it plays very nicely with the Monks. Depending on the genre and mastering of the track I like to turn it on - for instance DBB (digital bass boost?) to give the lows a push. I'm experimenting with silicone bud covers atm that I just received which to my ear sound like somewhere between naked buds and the donuts - the mids and highs are unhindered but bass is (probably) a little bit lighter than I get with foamies. The silicone covers are however grippy and so far really help the Monks stay put after I get the fit right - save a lot of adjusting, I'll probably write a bit more on the covers in a later post. Anyway, the EQ helps, for instance it puts some extra meat on the bass of the Wailers accompanying Bob Marley and helps it stand out even when I'm walking around outside
. Though I haven't quite worked out what freqs are changed and how much, the Rock setting also seems to work nicely for - you guessed it - rock
.
Conclusion: though I don't think the X2 has as shocking a value-for-money ratio as the Monks, considering the price paid and the performance I'm pretty happy & wouldn't hesitate to recommend it as a
very nice budget DAP to pair with the Monk!
