Review : xDuoo XD-05 – Right on

Design and Build Quality

Casing

The xDuoo XD-05 case gives the same solid impression we had with the TA-10 and T1-20. In fact, it’s exactly the same black, anodized aluminum, but packed on a smaller device. If the screws remain visible, the DAC doesn’t show any gap, nor lose screw: it feels like a small battery tank, which can also work as an amplifier.

If the XD-05 is available in two finishes (silver or black), only the front/back panel differs. On the black one, the whole body is coated in matte black paint, while the silver version displays a nice grey that lightly contrasts with the dark case.

As usual, the matte finish looks and feels astounding. It’s very different from the Chord Mojo sleek design, the xDuoo XD-05 feels much more brutal and grainy, but in a good way. It’s the kind of amplifier you’ll happily dump inside your bag, with no care whatsoever, and find untouched after a long day of work.

All in all, the xDuoo XD-05 finish doesn’t fall short to its competitor. If the FiiO Q5S remains the most advanced one, thanks to its sleek design, the XD-05 will easily find its spot in my opinion.

The footprint is bigger than its direct competitor, like the FiiO Q5S for example, and it also weighs more than what you’d expect. Measuring 139,5mm long, 75mm wide and 23mm thick, it’s not the thinnest amplifier you’ll find on the market. But, thanks to that, xDuoo integrated a very comprehensive array of inputs/outputs, as we’ll see now.

Let’s take a look at the layout, shall we ?

Layout

As always with xDuoo, the layout of the XD-05 is very comprehensive.

Clearly tailored to support a large range of portable sources, the DAC offers a lot of digital and analog inputs.

The back panel comes with :

• 1x full-sized USB-A port, allowing you to connect an iOS/Android/Windows/OSX device with a pass-through connection
• 1x optical/coaxial jack port, to plug your sources that do not support USB. A CD Player for example, or an old DAP for example. Remember this is a mini-Toslink connector, so you may need an adapter.
• 1x aux in/out, a classic now, giving you the opportunity to use the XD-05 either as a pure DAC, or a pure headphone amp, your call
• a separated micro-USB port for charging, yes you read that right M-I-C-R-O USB not USB-C in this time and age…

As usual, if USB OTG has become the norm to connect your smartphone to an external DAC, you may have to double-check the compatibility if you own an Android device. Apple users won’t have to bother themselves, just get a USB Camera Connection Kit from Apple, and you’ll be good to go.

That said, let’s take a look at the front panel. We have :

• 1x Oled screen, which displays stream information in real-time (source, sampling rates, the mode in use). The screen is surprisingly good and all the pieces of information look crisp and sharp.
• 3x toggle, one for the input choice (Aux/USB/Coax-Opt), one for the bass-boost and one for, the gain setting (0dB/+6dB/+15dB)
• 1x volume wheel, finely detailed with very smooth rotation
• 1x 6.35mm output jack, so no balanced output for this amp

Last but not least, the xDuoo XD-05 also shows buttons on the side.

• 1x filter, giving you 4 distinct PCM filters (sharp/slow/short delay + short/short delay + slow) and 3 DSD filters ( reserved/50k cut off / 150k cut off)
• 1x src, very interesting option as you’ll be able to choose between pass-through or over-sampled flux (only available in coax/opt)
• 1x display, to turn on/off the display

The only drawback here is the lack of a balanced output such as a 2.5mm or 4.4mm output. But, as always, we’d prefer a good unbalanced output, rather than a shady balanced one. The “src” option is a peculiar one, we’ll have to check if up-sampling a classic 44kHz file to 96kHz or 192kHz gives real improvements… or not.

Let’s move on and check the bundle.

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