[sirmasterboy]

Practical Devices XM5 vs. iBasso D2 Boa

Which of these 2 DAC/Amps do you think would give the best sound for me to use from my laptop USB out to HD600 cans?

I'm leaning toward the iBasso because it has a lot more reviews and I heard the DAC in the XM5 isn't that great.

Also don't take into account opamp or DAC rolling, I want stock devices.

Thanks

 

[MaxAmplitude]

Quote:

Originally Posted by sirmasterboy /img/forum/go_quote.gif and I heard the DAC in the XM5 isn't that great.

The DAC in the XM5 was changed in June/08. The DAC is now the PCM2702 from BurrBrown/TI - a substantial improvement.

Asr (Headphoneus Supremus) originally reviewed the XM5 here; I'll take a liberty here and summarize his review: "Great! Except the dac's a little weak".
So, we overhauled the DAC, and we're very happy with the result.

We also took the opportunity to swap the input and output jacks on the front panel, to better allow for oversized headphone plugs (picture below).

 

[sirmasterboy]

Wow! they really care about the people

Thank you so much for the great response and good information. I will seriously consider the XM5 now.

 

[Harvey/ Ga]

Quote:

Originally Posted by sirmasterboy /img/forum/go_quote.gif Wow! they really care about the people Thank you so much for the great response and good information. I will seriously consider the XM5 now.

That he does! I have an XM-5 with the new DAC, and, while I can't compare it with the old one, I'm very happy with it. The amp section is better then my older Microshar 107B, but then, the XM-5 costs more

Mine came with the 8397 chip, which seems to have a lot of drive for power hungry 'phones. I tried the 134 chips, and the battery lasts longer, but the max out is a bit less. On day, I may try rolling some other chips.

 

[jamato8]

Pretty fancy. Interesting you used through the hole resistors etc rather than smd. Got a lot in there.