[Holypal]

opa1612 does look good on specs. I think it's designed for portable gears. Many DAPs and HIFI smartphones choose it.

 

[timorinolee]

Quite funny how they look better on paper, but my ears say otherwise. It's all down to personal preference at the end of the day.

 

[HardstyleLoco96]

I think this combination of V5i and Xd-05 are taking me right up to the limit of what my ears can perceive.  Maybe I can distinguish the differences on more expensive units, with higher end cans, but to get there the cost outlay would rapidly take me into the realm of diminishing returns that I could not justify.  I'm glad I got a great deal on the Xd-05, which I got shipped from gearbest at around $156 and the op amp upgrade coming in at a total of $54, brings me right up to the price of a non-discounted Xd-05dou.  Taking all that into consideration, this is a fantastic price to performance bargain.    


For those of you with the dough to get the V5i, go for it.  I think it's the final piece of the puzzle for the Xd-05.  But I like I said in my first impressions, it just sweetens the deal, enough to be just noticeable in a good way, but it won't be transformative.  If you are listening to low-quality files, you will still get low-quality sound.  One thing to mention, though, with the extra detail found with the V5i, you will more readily hear imperfections in recordings.  It's Snot super transparent, but transparent enough to where flaws don't have much room to hide.  Sometimes these imperfections come out in a way where you say, "whoa is something wrong with my headphones/amp?"  But really it's just the recording.  


Now let's talk about pairings, which from here on out will refer to pairings with the modified Xd-05/V5i combo.  If you are looking for a versatile solution for the Fostex T50rps, this is your little fella right here.  Clarity, speed, punch, and enough power to really drive these hard to drive cans.  

  

My favorite pairing so far is with the Fidelio X2.  Just the right (to my ears) balance of clarity, warmth, space and musicality.  I don't know how much money I would have to spend to surpass what I'm hearing from this combination.  For me, that cost would probably be prohibitive.  YMMV.


I don't have much in the way of IEMs, save for a couple of cheap KZ pieces.  I'll give them a run later this weekend and report back.


Would love to hear what others are out there pairing with.

How much does the detail retrieval improve in the X2?

 

[nplateau]

How much does the detail retrieval improve in the X2?

I can't give a specific percentage as I don't have any such measuring equipment, but for me, it's noticeable enough.  The OPA1612 is no slouch, but I would go so far as to say that it is just a bit more forgiving, meaning poor(er) quality recordings might sound a bit better with it.  With the V5i, recording errors or bad quality files have a little less room to hide.  When paired with the Fidelio X2, the Xd-05 with V5i shines with well-mastered recordings, bringing forth elements in the background of tracks that might have otherwise been somewhat muted.  Not so far forward as to be distracting, but enough to not have to strain to find them.  The layering is of detail is very nice with this combination. 

 

[nplateau]

Hey Bill, don't know if anyone has replied to you or not, but the simplest way to make sure it's aligned properly is that when the XD-05 is facing you (volume knob toward you), the writing on the Burson V5i will be in the correct reading orientation (not upside down).  

 

[gug42]

Hello,
 
Could you tell me some good op amp for xduoo xd-05 (cheaper than v5i) ?
 
cu

 

[rha61]

  opa1612 does look good on specs. I think it's designed for portable gears. Many DAPs and HIFI smartphones choose it.

it's used on the probably best headphone amp actually (Neurochrome hp-1)

 

[nplateau]

Hey All!  I have an important update!
 
I don't know whether it is just my unit or not, but I have discovered a problem since installing the Burson V5i into mu XD-05.  It may be a minor problem for most, but it is a problem nonetheless as it affects how the XD-05 functions.
 
I don't usually use high gain, so it had gone unnoticed.  But I was playing some more quietly recorded tracks and I needed to crank up the amp to feed my power hungry Fostex when the problem reared its ugly head:
 
HIGH GAIN WON'T WORK!!!  Allow me to explain...  If my XD-05 w/ V5i is set to high gain, it will not output music.  It does not matter whether I use Foobar, JRiver Media Center or am just playing a Youtube video.  There is every indication that the music players and youtube are outputting sound to the XD-05, but the XD-05 will not output sound.  Now this is where it gets even more interesting...  If I used low or medium gain, it seems to operate just fine.  And if I start from either of those and switch to high gain, it will play in high gain for all of about 7-8 seconds before shutting down sound output.  If I flip it back to medium or low, it will start outputting sound again in about 5 seconds.
 
So very strange and quite a bit disappointing.
 
Has anyone else experienced something like this?  Is it possible I screwed something up when installing the V5i?  Any ideas or suggestions?

 

[Holypal]

  Hey All!  I have an important update!
 
I don't know whether it is just my unit or not, but I have discovered a problem since installing the Burson V5i into mu XD-05.  It may be a minor problem for most, but it is a problem nonetheless as it affects how the XD-05 functions.
 
I don't usually use high gain, so it had gone unnoticed.  But I was playing some more quietly recorded tracks and I needed to crank up the amp to feed my power hungry Fostex when the problem reared its ugly head:
 
HIGH GAIN WON'T WORK!!!  Allow me to explain...  If my XD-05 w/ V5i is set to high gain, it will not output music.  It does not matter whether I use Foobar, JRiver Media Center or am just playing a Youtube video.  There is every indication that the music players and youtube are outputting sound to the XD-05, but the XD-05 will not output sound.  Now this is where it gets even more interesting...  If I used low or medium gain, it seems to operate just fine.  And if I start from either of those and switch to high gain, it will play in high gain for all of about 7-8 seconds before shutting down sound output.  If I flip it back to medium or low, it will start outputting sound again in about 5 seconds.
 
So very strange and quite a bit disappointing.
 
Has anyone else experienced something like this?  Is it possible I screwed something up when installing the V5i?  Any ideas or suggestions?

 
 
I can't reproduce your problem. My XD-05 w/ V5i works fine at high gain.
 
When you hot switch from high gain to mid gain, does the sound comes back? Or do you have to reboot it?

 

[nplateau]

When hot-switching from high to mid, it's silent for about 3-5 seconds and then sound comes back.  

 

[nplateau]

I have a theory, and at the risk of exposing my ignorance about such things, I'd like to present what I think.  

I don't think the issue has to do directly with the V5i, unless it's a matter of how much power the V5i sends through on high gain.  I think it might have to do with the soldering of the connection to the high gain.  Allow me to explain:  I took apart the XD-05, uninstalled the V5i and reinstalled it, and I encountered the same issues as I had before.  I flipped over the pcb to look at where the connections to the gain swich are and this is what I found:  
 
(please excuse the poor drawing that I made on my phone)


 
So it seems that the lead to the high gain isn't done as well as the lead to low and medium gain.  This might indicate that when current is passing through to the high gain, then the "Bad solder joint (same as cold solder) is the same as a broken/intermittent connection between two points. If there is high current involved, it will cause it to heat up and creates a voltage drop. 
Depending on the severity of the junction, it will begin to attenuate and act like a resistance in the path of a signal."  (found from internet)

Now, if it is indeed a matter of poor soldering, my hypothesis is that if I add a little solder to that connection, it should fix the issue.  I have absolutely no experience with this kind of thing, so it's really a guess at best.  

Any thoughts and input regarding this matter would be greatly appreciated.

 

[eTomcat]

I have a theory, and at the risk of exposing my ignorance about such things, I'd like to present what I think.  


I don't think the issue has to do directly with the V5i, unless it's a matter of how much power the V5i sends through on high gain.  I think it might have to do with the soldering of the connection to the high gain.  Allow me to explain:  I took apart the XD-05, uninstalled the V5i and reinstalled it, and I encountered the same issues as I had before.  I flipped over the pcb to look at where the connections to the gain swich are and this is what I found:  

 

(please excuse the poor drawing that I made on my phone)




So it seems that the lead to the high gain isn't done as well as the lead to low and medium gain.  This might indicate that when current is passing through to the high gain, then the "Bad solder joint (same as cold solder) is the same as a broken/intermittent connection between two points. If there is high current involved, it will cause it to heat up and creates a voltage drop. 

Depending on the severity of the junction, it will begin to attenuate and act like a resistance in the path of a signal."  (found from internet)


Now, if it is indeed a matter of poor soldering, my hypothesis is that if I add a little solder to that connection, it should fix the issue.  I have absolutely no experience with this kind of thing, so it's really a guess at best.  


Any thoughts and input regarding this matter would be greatly appreciated.

You may not really need to add additional solder. Just heating up the joint to melt the existing solder may be enough. If you have or can borrow a soldering iron it is should be verry simple.

 

[nplateau]

You may not really need to add additional solder. Just heating up the joint to melt the existing solder may be enough. If you have or can borrow a soldering iron it is should be verry simple.

Thanks for the idea!  I read that too much solder can also cause problems, so I will give your suggestion the first shot, once I get my hands on a soldering iron that is.  

 

[ElKabong510]

New to this, my question would be can i use the coaxial out cable from my Ibasso Dx80 to this unit, and would it be worthwhile in the long run?
Thanks for any info.

 

[effsandoval]

Just want to ask you guys if you have encountered this problem. Whenever I turn the gain switch to mid, it has no effect on the loudness. But when turned to the highest gain, then the loudness kicks in. I am using it in USB mode.