Yep, I noticed the same with now both the Serenade and the Cyan 2, tho the Cyan 2 now that I have the Serenade to compare it with, is a little bit more lean and it's bring the mids a little bit forward. so far the serenade it's more to my taste, but the combo with the Cyan 2 was also really good, but it's defenitively less bombastic in the lower registries and less exciting.This is my primary use case for XD05 Pro, i.e. I don't use the DAC module of XD05 Pro very often but always fit in analog audio from my DAPs - so far, I have used DX260 and Hiby RS2, each has its own advantages ... but with both sources, the overall sound quality is definitely "next level" comparing with built-in DAC modules.
So far with the current DAC modules available for the XD05 Pro, they're really good but there's definitively scales in it's performance with better DACs, more so if you can pre-amp it properly.