[runssical]

@dsrk, off topic but who do the solder-incompetent members of this forum turn to when they need a headphone cable repaired?

 

[Nixdmon]

Hello @runssical,

First up, I don't want you to take this negatively or think I am being an a**h***. I can see where you are coming from. I've seen you on ASR and here silently, and believe we are mostly interested in a similar class of products.

Doing research is good and making an information decision based on that is even better, but at some point you have to take things as they are. Ultimately it is a compromise, one cannot get everything they desire. I feel I was on a similar quest but after wasting time and sleep I thought life is too short for this sh**..

Now you can tell me to screw off and I'll be okay with it.. I had to get it off my chest...cause I can feel passion behind your posts.

 

[runssical]

@Nixdmon, I hear you.

 

[dsrk]

@Giru, I went on a rant the other night. Thanks for the detailed reply.

My main concern with any portable and what dissuades me from buying the xCan or the XD05 is the battery. Eventually it will wear out and you're left with a dead device. Finding a suitable replacement battery is no easy task and may be impossible for the vast majority of these portable devices.

Thus they are built to go obsolete within a short time frame of 12 months to 3 yrs. The "owner" of the portable is in essence just renting the device for 12-36 months.

I tagged the iFi rep and asked about battery replacements and got a vague unhelpful reply.

I did some googling and found the following commentary:

https://audiophilestyle.com/forums/...-award-winning/?do=findComment&comment=863149

That guy is spot on about how crappy this industry is regarding batteries and offering replacements. They want your device to die.

I'll never buy one of these products unless I'm assured that the battery is user replaceable and just as importantly that there are replacement battery packs on the market (eBay ect) that are high quality.

If you like your XD05 all the power to you. But regardless of it's sonic merits of you're not able to replace that battery it's going to turn into an expensive paperweight.

If anyone here has done a battery replacement on the XD-05 or any other portable I'd like to hear how it turned out.

I understand your concern and I agree with you. I remember those days when I used my FiiO E11 with Nokia batteries without even worrying about the batteries. These days most of the battery power devices come with non-user replaceable batteries but most do not care IMO.

@dsrk, off topic but who do the solder-incompetent members of this forum turn to when they need a headphone cable repaired?

May be PETEREK, periapt cables is also very good.

Hello @runssical,

First up, I don't want you to take this negatively or think I am being an a**h***. I can see where you are coming from. I've seen you on ASR and here silently, and believe we are mostly interested in a similar class of products.

Doing research is good and making an information decision based on that is even better, but at some point you have to take things as they are. Ultimately it is a compromise, one cannot get everything they desire. I feel I was on a similar quest but after wasting time and sleep I thought life is too short for this sh**..

Now you can tell me to screw off and I'll be okay with it.. I had to get it off my chest...cause I can feel passion behind your posts.

+1

 

[Giru]

Ok thanks. Do I get dual or single muses03?

XD05plus supports two single channel opamp or one dual. The Muses03 is dual, so one. Here's the thread you're looking for: https://www.head-fi.org/threads/xdu...-amp-introduction-impressions.789886/page-118

@Giru, I went on a rant the other night. Thanks for the detailed reply.

My main concern with any portable and what dissuades me from buying the xCan or the XD05 is the battery. Eventually it will wear out and you're left with a dead device. Finding a suitable replacement battery is no easy task and may be impossible for the vast majority of these portable devices.

Thus they are built to go obsolete within a short time frame of 12 months to 3 yrs. The "owner" of the portable is in essence just renting the device for 12-36 months.

I tagged the iFi rep and asked about battery replacements and got a vague unhelpful reply.

I did some googling and found the following commentary:

https://audiophilestyle.com/forums/...-award-winning/?do=findComment&comment=863149

That guy is spot on about how crappy this industry is regarding batteries and offering replacements. They want your device to die.

I'll never buy one of these products unless I'm assured that the battery is user replaceable and just as importantly that there are replacement battery packs on the market (eBay ect) that are high quality.

If you like your XD05 all the power to you. But regardless of it's sonic merits of you're not able to replace that battery it's going to turn into an expensive paperweight.

If anyone here has done a battery replacement on the XD-05 or any other portable I'd like to hear how it turned out.

Yeah that's sadly true for almost all tech these days. I'd really appreciate if atleast audio equipment manufacturers made their devices user serviceable to some extent. It's not like we not gonna buy new equipment anyway .

Although, if you're initiated, the unit has a 5000mah 3.V battery. Shouldn't be difficult to source a replacement from aliexpress, ebay or what have you.

Doing research is good and making an information decision based on that is even better, but at some point you have to take things as they are. Ultimately it is a compromise, one cannot get everything they desire. I feel I was on a similar quest but after wasting time and sleep I thought life is too short for this sh**..

Amen!

 

[docentore]

The trend recently has been to coupled designs that remove caps from the signal path. This is widely seen by the industry and even diy'ers as ideal. Looks like xDuoo has caps in the signal path and they use the old school electrolytics which degrade overtime in their capacitance performance. That has to impact the sound at some point whether now or down the road as the device ages.

XD05+ has electrolityc caps on path only for the line-in, nowehere else.

 

[runssical]

XD05+ has electrolityc caps on path only for the line-in, nowehere else.

Appreciate the info.

 

[runssical]

Well this XD05-BAL launch has been one big dud. Not seeing any buzz on the product and the Drop deal is not seeing any uptake. I was hoping someone from xDuoo corporate would crawl out of their cave and answer the concerns raised here and elsewhere. Sending out free samples in exchange for gentle reviews seems to be the extent of their marketing and customer outreach efforts. Even on social media xDuoo relies on Chinese retailers like Apos and Shenzhenaudio to promote their products.

https://drop.com/buy/xduoo-xd-05-bal-balanced-dac-amp

So far the only thing resembling a review of the XD05-Bal comes from reddit user jsallison5 who said the following:

I revived mine today and have had a few hour to play with it. First it is an XD05 the build quality is very good. It’s a solid unit. Just like with each new XD05 the controls are familiar but of course they moved them around. On the new bal you have a 4.4mm and a 6.5mm headphone jacks on the front. Along with a on/off switch, a boost switch and a gain switch. There is also a decent screen up front. On the side that nice metal volume switch is side mounted barrel style in red. It has a great feel the sound is strong. I used my GL2000 ( these could be a problem, it makes it hard for other units) ran different genres it took everything in stride. I also love they encourage op amp swapping for custom tune of your unit. I ordered a pair of Burson V5i op amps. The XD05 Bal at $410 to $440 performs nearly as good as my Topping 50S stack, and my Honey H1 which cost hundreds more. If you like the XD05 sound you will love the BAL unit. I did install the second set of op amps that were included with the DAC/Amp. It warmed the tone slightly. I’ll update after I install the Burson v5i op amps I did test them with HD600 and HD6XX’s. The 6XX were right after the 2000 they were a real let down the HD600 faired much better. I’ll do more with my Sennheiser and get back too everyone.

Those are impressions I can't put much stock into since he's using Senns, bought into the discrete opamp nonsense, and his reference is a Topping stack. That's like a trifecta of Dont's right there.

 

[runssical]

What's up with these photos I keep seeing every so often of volume guards on XD05+ units. Are they coming that way standard or is it an addon?

 

[dsrk]

What's up with these photos I keep seeing every so often of volume guards on XD05+ units. Are they coming that way standard or is it an addon?

Volume guard comes with Bluetooth module BL 05 not with XD-05. Or you can buy it seperately but I am not sure.

 

[runssical]

Volume guard comes with Bluetooth module BL 05 not with XD-05. Or you can buy it seperately but I am not sure.

Hmm that's interesting. The guard is a smart idea and should be standard imo.

 

[runssical]

@dsrk could you do me a favor and give me a few details on the battery the XD-05 uses. You may have to open the case so if that's a problem I'll understand. I would like to know the dimensions of the battery pack and what connector it uses. It looks like it had a 2 pin JST type connector but I'm not sure of the pitch. There's several common pitches for these batteries. PH is 2.0mm and XH is 2.5mm or 2.54mm. A couple photos of the connector would be great!

 

[dsrk]

@dsrk could you do me a favor and give me a few details on the battery the XD-05 uses. You may have to open the case so if that's a problem I'll understand. I would like to know the dimensions of the battery pack and what connector it uses. It looks like it had a 2 pin JST type connector but I'm not sure of the pitch. There's several common pitches for these batteries. PH is 2.0mm and XH is 2.5mm or 2.54mm. A couple photos of the connector would be great!

There you go

 

[dsrk]

I am using XD-05 Plus with Plenue M2 and M11 Pro. I attached 3M Command strips, this works better than velcro or double sided tape.

 

[runssical]

There you go

Thanks dsrk! Looks like there might be two different cells wrapped together because I see two sets of (+) and (-) wire leads. Not an ideal setup for a drop in replacement but it might still be manageable by extracting the crimps from the old battery connector and inserting the two crimps from a replacement battery.

Hey, what opamp do you have there?

I am using XD-05 Plus with Plenue M2 and M11 Pro. I attached 3M Command strips, this works better than velcro or double sided tape.

Nice. Are those the mushroom head interlocking type? I think that's the same as 3M Dual Lock but marketed for picture frame mounting. I used Dual Lock for my FiiO A5 and smartphone.