DeBilbao
100+ Head-Fier
- Joined
- May 20, 2003
- Posts
- 149
- Likes
- 185
My desktop rig has been stable since years ago, and every time I try to replace it I end up thinking that the combination of my Sennheiser HD 650, Rega EAR MK II and Rega DAC offers me the music as I like it, with great dynamics, detail and sweetness at the same time.
It's a fact that my brain is used to this sound, completely burnt-in (my brain, not my gear), and probably someone else won't have the same opinion after listening to it. You'd say that at this point, I should stop and relax enjoying my music with it, but I'm also curious and open to new experiences, so once in a while I try new gear.
Because technology is evolving and a rig like this has its own limitations. The Rega DAC's USB input is only capable of processing 16bit and 44.1kHz signals – but oh my! how well it delivers! -, and through the coaxial digital input I can only reach 24bit and 192kHz, using the U2 converter from Douk Audio.
This is not a problem for my music collection, which basically consists of FLAC ripped CDs at 16/44.1, but the new streaming services are capable of delivering higher resolution signals or formats that I can't process natively. My reference streaming service is TIDAL, and I love how it sounds and the quality I get with players on all platforms, whether it is my desktop computer, my laptop, a tablet, a smartphone with iOS or Android or a dedicated DAP, all of them have good software solutions to get a bit-perfect playback of the highest quality.
In addition, this rig takes a lot of space from my desktop, so finding a more compact and modern alternative is a plus. When I saw the latest proposal from xDuoo with the XA-10, I told myself that I had to try it, because on paper it offers everything I need to be a serious contender.
And it is.
The difference in size is noticeable and the looks of the XA-10 over the desktop is gorgeous. xDuoo has managed to raise the perceived quality of its products with better materials and finishes, and the XA-10 is no exception. Excellent build quality, sandblasted matte grey color finish accentuated with this prominent, informative red volume wheel. It follows the same line of the XD-05 Bal, the Link2 Bal, alternatives designed for portable audio that I have also been able to try with very good results.
Al specs and data are avialable on the page of the XA-10 on the xDuoo website, where you can buy it for 479 USD, about 450 EUR at the actual exchange rate.
The equipment comes very well protected in a box of generous size, padded everywhere so that it does not suffer whatever the carrier do with the package. The power supply is external and you can select the power cord when ordering to suit your country (here the European connector), a USB cable, a 3.5mm to 1/4" adapter and an antenna for wireless input. The manual is in Chinese, but also in English.
I'm an iPhone user, but during the last weeks I'm also testing a Google Pixel 4a with the latest version 12 of Android and I'm impressed for the value that this device offers at a fraction of the cost of my iPhone 12 Pro.
On the front of the XA-10 we find the volume wheel, which is digital and 100 steps. In each quarter of a lap you have 8 steps, and I appreciate this design because this little monster is very, very powerful. It invites you to listen to it at high volume, and I've found a comfortable listening level with my Sennheiser HD 650 at 40 steps, in high gain.
This headroom is a very convenient power reserve that comes in handy when you find a low level recorded album or when you use a less sensitive headphone that requires more power as the XA-10 is able to deliver up to 4 Watt.
The volume control wheel sports a screen inside it. It's cleverly designed appearing to be round, but it isn't. It's a small OLED rectangle that shows source input, gain, filter, signal and volume. Informative and not disturbing.
At the bottom of the front we find three headphone jacks for, a traditional single-ended with a quarter inch jack and two balanced connections, one XLR and another with the usual 4.4mm connector that I use with an adapter because my balanced cables and devices are ended with the smaller 2.5mm connector.
On the right side we have three buttons, the input selector, menu selector that lets you change the gain or choose the sound filters, and the Bluetooth button.
I've tested not only the Sennheiser HD 650, but also the AudioQuest NightHawk Carbon and the in-ear headphones that I own: Sennheiser IE 300 are my latest acquisition and I love their fit and the Senn's sound signature and the adictive low-end. I've also tested the IMR R1 and the Final Audio E4000 with no trace of hiss in any of them. The XA-10 offers a clean sound without any background noise with any of them, something that has pleasantly surprised me. More sensitive in-ears could catch some hiss but it's not the case with these.
What has surprised me too - and I expected something else - is that I hardly notice any difference from using the balanced or single-ended output. I usually notice immediately a greater volume and more dynamics in other devices, but in this one I get the same sound. I don't know if there is any electronic adjustment to match the output volumes, but with my ears I can't get any difference, as it happens to me for example when I use the HiBy R3 Pro player, in which the outputs of 3.5mm and 2.5mm are like night and day.
Strange.
The XA-10 announces that it is capable of reaching 3,000mW for single-ended output and up to 4,000mW for balanced output. That's 3W and 4W of power, and compared to the memory I have of other xDuoo equipment, that power is controlled and the sound is cleaner and I find more organic, it may be because I use the double DAC AK4493 from AKM, which I personally like more than those of ESS, which I find too cold or analytical.
The back shows that it is a device designed to be connected with almost everything. Three wired digital inputs, a USB input controlled by an XMOS XU216 circuit that supports PCM signals up to 32bit and 768kHz and DSD up to 512, a coaxial digital input with RCA connector and an optical digital input with Tos-Link connector.
It also has a Bluetooth input that you can use to send the signal from another device, such as your smartphone. I've tried it with both the iPhone 11 Pro and the Pixel 4a and the results are very good. If I compare it with the direct signal through the USB port it loses, but what arrives by Bluetooth is perfectly enjoyable and for an occasional use perfectly valid, being a must-have complement for a party at home with friends, keeping them away from your rig.
It also has RCA line input and output, so you can place it together with your stereo equipment and do the function of preamp and headphone amplifier. Very convenient if you want to improve your listening experience with a pair of high quality headphones next to your Hi-Fi setup.
The power supply is 12V and external, the type used in laptops, and has a connector also on the back along with a good quality on-off switch. Keeping the power supply out of the unit helps reducing the size of the unit and there's less chance to get interferences.
The experience with the Google Pixel 4a is being so satisfying that it has been the first source I've connected to the XA-10. The first impression with Sweet Jane from the Velvet Underground's Loaded by has been quite impressive. I didn't expect that closeness and definition on the guitars and in Lou Reed's vocals.
In Tidal it is available on 24/192 and the album sounds wonderful.
https://album.link/i/1050415251
Then I continued with a classic: Green Onions by Booker T. & The MG's. With a base of blues, you get a little bit of everything, from organ to guitars and drums. The recording is quite old and it could be better by today's standards, but the PRAT effect is there and I can't stop moving my feet.
https://album.link/es/i/159363079
Very, very enjoyable and as with the Velvet, on the screen of the Pixel 4A I see that Universal Audio Player Pro makes the complete unfold of the MQA stream and I am playing a FLAC 24/192 through the USB input, also confirmed by the OLED screen of the XA-10, which also always shows the input, the gain level and the sound filter applied.
As always happens to me with filters, I can't observe differences between each of the different types. I always leave it in Slow roll-off that by its name sounds more relaxed, but it could be in any position.
Time to move to my desktop and compare the XA-10 face to face with the Rega combo that gives me so many hours of musical enjoyment.
Seeing them next to each other, the feeling is classic versus futuristic. I like both proposals, as I find the XA-10 very nice and understated. The blue light inside that the photo has captured is quite dim and to me that I'm very picky with those things, it does not bother me at all.
The sound of the XA-10 reminds me of a tube amp, with detail and a point of sweetness at the same time, so I select something intimate highlighting a good voice, like this Waltz for Debby by Bill Evans with Monica Zetterlund, an album that offers sweetness and that the XA-10 reproduces beautifully. Unfortunately it's not available in streaming, and I can't share its link.
With the Sennheiser HD 650 I am using a balanced cable terminated in a 2.5mm connector that I use with an adapter to the 4.4mm balanced input of the XA-10 and with another to the single-ended input of the Rega set. I've matched volumes to "ear" and switching between systems is as simple as plugging in and disconnecting the cable.
I know this album very well, and the result is quite even with the XA-10 doing an excellent job, but looking for nuances, the Rega set using the USB input of the Rega DAC is a tad warmer and more pleasant. Maybe I'm very used to their sound, but that's the first impression.
I continue with another album that I know very well and with a song that gives me goosebump every time I listen to it. Ada Montellanico's version of Billie Holiday's Strange Fruit is simply stunning. It is not available in streaming, and I keep the cd collection of L'Expresso and La Repubblica in La Casa del Jazz as gold in cloth.
It starts with the string of a double bass that introduces you to this protest song that talks about the lynching of black americans, comparing the victims with with "strange fruit" hanging on the southern trees. The sweet voice of Ada gives it a less aggressive point than the original version from Billie Holiday. In this case the quality of the recording is excellent and the extra definition point that the xDuoo XA-10 gives is much appreciated. The piano, voice, string, and sustained notes are all accurately distinguished.
But I stay with the original version where Billie Holiday's voice, broken and torn, narrates the drama in a very close way. Here you can see one of the interpretations he made of this song and that he always included in his repertoire, a fact that more than once caused him a problem. Here's a fruit, for the crows to pluck...
The xDuoo XA-10 asks me to continue listening to well-recorded voices, and I decide on the delicious voice of the New Zealander Nadia Reid, which I recommend you listen carefully if you do not know her. The start of this 2015 album, Listen to Formation, Look for the Signs is perfect for a spring sunset looking at the sun.
But Jazz calls me. I'm a follower of the Italian Jazz scene where it's very easy to find works that combine a good voice and the warmth of a trumpet played as Enrico Rava does, accompanied here again by Ada Montellanico. Another album to taste calmly, like many others from the Philology label. In Quasi Sera the balance between voice and trumpet produces an almost magical result and the XA-10 transmits it to me clearly, and although I would say that I like the Rega set a little more, in this case I do not think it passed a blind test.
https://album.link/i/307671049
I leave Jazz looking for xDuoo something more recent and with an impressive production quality. Parcels is a group that seem to be from the Berlin whexre they recorded this Vol. 1, but in fact they are Australian and make an electronic pop that sounds like fantastic. Both the xDuoo and the Rega are able to reproduce it wonderfully, but in this case I think I like a little more the extra definition that the XA-10 offers, but again I see them very, very close to each other.
https://album.link/es/i/1506250361
But this XA-10 asks me to enjoy the voices, and I turn to the rock side of my brain (which I do not know how many sides it has, but it is very polyhedral), and I switch to Patti Smith's Horses and here I don't care if the XA-10 or the Rega sounds, both get me moving my feet or head.
I find the reproduction of Patti Smith's voice very remarkable in the XA-10, and once again I have the feeling that the Sennheiser HD 650 is capable of going even further.
https://album.link/es/i/266367955
And finally, the incredibly full-sounding soundtrack album of the documentary Uprize!. A pure sonic enjoyment that seems to be made for the XA-10 to show off all its virtues. The song with which he opens the album, Bantu Education, has the full range of frequencies there and as a test song it's priceless.
https://album.link/es/i/1527489888
The XA-10 did not have very good measurements by Amir in his AudioScienceReview review, but for me the measurements are secondary and the sensations and musical enjoyment that I achieved with it is what really matters. If you read the thread, you can see that there are a few who have tried it and rate its sound as good or very good.
I am convinced that if I got rid of my Rega equipment I would miss it, but I have to admit that this xDuoo XA-10 is a worthy rival for its sound and is much more prepared for new formats and ways of consuming music.
It's still with me and l'll continue testing it, comparing results and sharing my experience with you, Head-fiers.
It's a fact that my brain is used to this sound, completely burnt-in (my brain, not my gear), and probably someone else won't have the same opinion after listening to it. You'd say that at this point, I should stop and relax enjoying my music with it, but I'm also curious and open to new experiences, so once in a while I try new gear.
Because technology is evolving and a rig like this has its own limitations. The Rega DAC's USB input is only capable of processing 16bit and 44.1kHz signals – but oh my! how well it delivers! -, and through the coaxial digital input I can only reach 24bit and 192kHz, using the U2 converter from Douk Audio.
This is not a problem for my music collection, which basically consists of FLAC ripped CDs at 16/44.1, but the new streaming services are capable of delivering higher resolution signals or formats that I can't process natively. My reference streaming service is TIDAL, and I love how it sounds and the quality I get with players on all platforms, whether it is my desktop computer, my laptop, a tablet, a smartphone with iOS or Android or a dedicated DAP, all of them have good software solutions to get a bit-perfect playback of the highest quality.
In addition, this rig takes a lot of space from my desktop, so finding a more compact and modern alternative is a plus. When I saw the latest proposal from xDuoo with the XA-10, I told myself that I had to try it, because on paper it offers everything I need to be a serious contender.
And it is.
The difference in size is noticeable and the looks of the XA-10 over the desktop is gorgeous. xDuoo has managed to raise the perceived quality of its products with better materials and finishes, and the XA-10 is no exception. Excellent build quality, sandblasted matte grey color finish accentuated with this prominent, informative red volume wheel. It follows the same line of the XD-05 Bal, the Link2 Bal, alternatives designed for portable audio that I have also been able to try with very good results.
Al specs and data are avialable on the page of the XA-10 on the xDuoo website, where you can buy it for 479 USD, about 450 EUR at the actual exchange rate.
The equipment comes very well protected in a box of generous size, padded everywhere so that it does not suffer whatever the carrier do with the package. The power supply is external and you can select the power cord when ordering to suit your country (here the European connector), a USB cable, a 3.5mm to 1/4" adapter and an antenna for wireless input. The manual is in Chinese, but also in English.
I'm an iPhone user, but during the last weeks I'm also testing a Google Pixel 4a with the latest version 12 of Android and I'm impressed for the value that this device offers at a fraction of the cost of my iPhone 12 Pro.
On the front of the XA-10 we find the volume wheel, which is digital and 100 steps. In each quarter of a lap you have 8 steps, and I appreciate this design because this little monster is very, very powerful. It invites you to listen to it at high volume, and I've found a comfortable listening level with my Sennheiser HD 650 at 40 steps, in high gain.
This headroom is a very convenient power reserve that comes in handy when you find a low level recorded album or when you use a less sensitive headphone that requires more power as the XA-10 is able to deliver up to 4 Watt.
The volume control wheel sports a screen inside it. It's cleverly designed appearing to be round, but it isn't. It's a small OLED rectangle that shows source input, gain, filter, signal and volume. Informative and not disturbing.
At the bottom of the front we find three headphone jacks for, a traditional single-ended with a quarter inch jack and two balanced connections, one XLR and another with the usual 4.4mm connector that I use with an adapter because my balanced cables and devices are ended with the smaller 2.5mm connector.
On the right side we have three buttons, the input selector, menu selector that lets you change the gain or choose the sound filters, and the Bluetooth button.
I've tested not only the Sennheiser HD 650, but also the AudioQuest NightHawk Carbon and the in-ear headphones that I own: Sennheiser IE 300 are my latest acquisition and I love their fit and the Senn's sound signature and the adictive low-end. I've also tested the IMR R1 and the Final Audio E4000 with no trace of hiss in any of them. The XA-10 offers a clean sound without any background noise with any of them, something that has pleasantly surprised me. More sensitive in-ears could catch some hiss but it's not the case with these.
What has surprised me too - and I expected something else - is that I hardly notice any difference from using the balanced or single-ended output. I usually notice immediately a greater volume and more dynamics in other devices, but in this one I get the same sound. I don't know if there is any electronic adjustment to match the output volumes, but with my ears I can't get any difference, as it happens to me for example when I use the HiBy R3 Pro player, in which the outputs of 3.5mm and 2.5mm are like night and day.
Strange.
The XA-10 announces that it is capable of reaching 3,000mW for single-ended output and up to 4,000mW for balanced output. That's 3W and 4W of power, and compared to the memory I have of other xDuoo equipment, that power is controlled and the sound is cleaner and I find more organic, it may be because I use the double DAC AK4493 from AKM, which I personally like more than those of ESS, which I find too cold or analytical.
The back shows that it is a device designed to be connected with almost everything. Three wired digital inputs, a USB input controlled by an XMOS XU216 circuit that supports PCM signals up to 32bit and 768kHz and DSD up to 512, a coaxial digital input with RCA connector and an optical digital input with Tos-Link connector.
It also has a Bluetooth input that you can use to send the signal from another device, such as your smartphone. I've tried it with both the iPhone 11 Pro and the Pixel 4a and the results are very good. If I compare it with the direct signal through the USB port it loses, but what arrives by Bluetooth is perfectly enjoyable and for an occasional use perfectly valid, being a must-have complement for a party at home with friends, keeping them away from your rig.
It also has RCA line input and output, so you can place it together with your stereo equipment and do the function of preamp and headphone amplifier. Very convenient if you want to improve your listening experience with a pair of high quality headphones next to your Hi-Fi setup.
The power supply is 12V and external, the type used in laptops, and has a connector also on the back along with a good quality on-off switch. Keeping the power supply out of the unit helps reducing the size of the unit and there's less chance to get interferences.
The experience with the Google Pixel 4a is being so satisfying that it has been the first source I've connected to the XA-10. The first impression with Sweet Jane from the Velvet Underground's Loaded by has been quite impressive. I didn't expect that closeness and definition on the guitars and in Lou Reed's vocals.
In Tidal it is available on 24/192 and the album sounds wonderful.
https://album.link/i/1050415251
Then I continued with a classic: Green Onions by Booker T. & The MG's. With a base of blues, you get a little bit of everything, from organ to guitars and drums. The recording is quite old and it could be better by today's standards, but the PRAT effect is there and I can't stop moving my feet.
https://album.link/es/i/159363079
Very, very enjoyable and as with the Velvet, on the screen of the Pixel 4A I see that Universal Audio Player Pro makes the complete unfold of the MQA stream and I am playing a FLAC 24/192 through the USB input, also confirmed by the OLED screen of the XA-10, which also always shows the input, the gain level and the sound filter applied.
As always happens to me with filters, I can't observe differences between each of the different types. I always leave it in Slow roll-off that by its name sounds more relaxed, but it could be in any position.
Time to move to my desktop and compare the XA-10 face to face with the Rega combo that gives me so many hours of musical enjoyment.
Seeing them next to each other, the feeling is classic versus futuristic. I like both proposals, as I find the XA-10 very nice and understated. The blue light inside that the photo has captured is quite dim and to me that I'm very picky with those things, it does not bother me at all.
The sound of the XA-10 reminds me of a tube amp, with detail and a point of sweetness at the same time, so I select something intimate highlighting a good voice, like this Waltz for Debby by Bill Evans with Monica Zetterlund, an album that offers sweetness and that the XA-10 reproduces beautifully. Unfortunately it's not available in streaming, and I can't share its link.
With the Sennheiser HD 650 I am using a balanced cable terminated in a 2.5mm connector that I use with an adapter to the 4.4mm balanced input of the XA-10 and with another to the single-ended input of the Rega set. I've matched volumes to "ear" and switching between systems is as simple as plugging in and disconnecting the cable.
I know this album very well, and the result is quite even with the XA-10 doing an excellent job, but looking for nuances, the Rega set using the USB input of the Rega DAC is a tad warmer and more pleasant. Maybe I'm very used to their sound, but that's the first impression.
I continue with another album that I know very well and with a song that gives me goosebump every time I listen to it. Ada Montellanico's version of Billie Holiday's Strange Fruit is simply stunning. It is not available in streaming, and I keep the cd collection of L'Expresso and La Repubblica in La Casa del Jazz as gold in cloth.
It starts with the string of a double bass that introduces you to this protest song that talks about the lynching of black americans, comparing the victims with with "strange fruit" hanging on the southern trees. The sweet voice of Ada gives it a less aggressive point than the original version from Billie Holiday. In this case the quality of the recording is excellent and the extra definition point that the xDuoo XA-10 gives is much appreciated. The piano, voice, string, and sustained notes are all accurately distinguished.
But I stay with the original version where Billie Holiday's voice, broken and torn, narrates the drama in a very close way. Here you can see one of the interpretations he made of this song and that he always included in his repertoire, a fact that more than once caused him a problem. Here's a fruit, for the crows to pluck...
The xDuoo XA-10 asks me to continue listening to well-recorded voices, and I decide on the delicious voice of the New Zealander Nadia Reid, which I recommend you listen carefully if you do not know her. The start of this 2015 album, Listen to Formation, Look for the Signs is perfect for a spring sunset looking at the sun.
https://album.link/es/i/1153582180
But Jazz calls me. I'm a follower of the Italian Jazz scene where it's very easy to find works that combine a good voice and the warmth of a trumpet played as Enrico Rava does, accompanied here again by Ada Montellanico. Another album to taste calmly, like many others from the Philology label. In Quasi Sera the balance between voice and trumpet produces an almost magical result and the XA-10 transmits it to me clearly, and although I would say that I like the Rega set a little more, in this case I do not think it passed a blind test.
https://album.link/i/307671049
I leave Jazz looking for xDuoo something more recent and with an impressive production quality. Parcels is a group that seem to be from the Berlin whexre they recorded this Vol. 1, but in fact they are Australian and make an electronic pop that sounds like fantastic. Both the xDuoo and the Rega are able to reproduce it wonderfully, but in this case I think I like a little more the extra definition that the XA-10 offers, but again I see them very, very close to each other.
https://album.link/es/i/1506250361
But this XA-10 asks me to enjoy the voices, and I turn to the rock side of my brain (which I do not know how many sides it has, but it is very polyhedral), and I switch to Patti Smith's Horses and here I don't care if the XA-10 or the Rega sounds, both get me moving my feet or head.
I find the reproduction of Patti Smith's voice very remarkable in the XA-10, and once again I have the feeling that the Sennheiser HD 650 is capable of going even further.
https://album.link/es/i/266367955
And finally, the incredibly full-sounding soundtrack album of the documentary Uprize!. A pure sonic enjoyment that seems to be made for the XA-10 to show off all its virtues. The song with which he opens the album, Bantu Education, has the full range of frequencies there and as a test song it's priceless.
https://album.link/es/i/1527489888
The XA-10 did not have very good measurements by Amir in his AudioScienceReview review, but for me the measurements are secondary and the sensations and musical enjoyment that I achieved with it is what really matters. If you read the thread, you can see that there are a few who have tried it and rate its sound as good or very good.
I am convinced that if I got rid of my Rega equipment I would miss it, but I have to admit that this xDuoo XA-10 is a worthy rival for its sound and is much more prepared for new formats and ways of consuming music.
It's still with me and l'll continue testing it, comparing results and sharing my experience with you, Head-fiers.
Last edited:
