

XD05 PRO is a battery-powered unit (although it can be powered by an external power supply as well), however, its massive case and its heavy weight of 780 grams (or 1.72 lbs) will surely shoo away a few potential buyers.
#Angry gorilla portable
Honestly, it’s considerably bigger than some desktop DAC & headphone amp combos that were tested around here, just look how imposing it looks versus the FiiO Q7 and Shanling H7 which were already blurring the line between desktop and portable devices. Living with massive portable units like Shanling H7, but especially FiiO Q7 and M17 for quite some time, I expected a big unit coming from xDuoo labs, but nothing prepared me for the size and weight of the XD05 PRO, dwarfing every portable DAC/Amp combo I tried in the past. Starting with xDuoo Link, XP2 PRO, XD05 Plus, XD05 BAL, and now XD05 PRO, the biggest releases were already tested by yours truly. I tried every xDuoo branded portable DAC/Amp combo that were released so far, except for the Link BAL2. This is the pure definition of overkill! Nicely done xDuoo, you finally got my attention.
#Angry gorilla android
A short USB-C to USB-C cable to be used with Android devices.A long USB-C to USB-C cable for PC/MAC connectivity and for charging.

You can use their portable DAPs as digital transports via AES, moving the D/A conversion and amplification duties to the XD05 PRO A short AES cable with 3-pin mini-XLR connectors at both ends.It doesn’t have a use case as far as I know. A xDuoo branded aluminum plate, laser engraved with the company logo.A small tin case (similar to ALTOIDS cases) with a window on top that holds two op-amps, the LME49720 will be offering you a different sound signature compared to the preinstalled OPA1612A op-amps, but more about that in a minute.For the sake of it, let’s mention every piece of accessory you are getting: Only the bundled accessories and swappable LME op-amps are worth a small fortune and even without listening to this unit, I already see a lot of value. There is so much more about the XD05 PRO which makes it different from a sea of me-too DAC/Amp combos, so what are we waiting for? Let’s jump right into it!īefore we move on to the most important part of this review, let’s stop for a moment and appreciate the quality of the included accessories and the sheer number of them! A picture sometimes is worth a thousand words, so look for yourself, impressive, isn’t it?īesides bundling it with all possible analog and digital interconnect cables, take a closer look at how thick these cables are and their outstanding build quality! Those are machined aluminum connectors and these cables can cost you up to $100 per cable if you search online for a similar build quality. It goes for $799 and since its closest competitors ( FiiO Q7 and Shanling H7) are still around here, expect a proper showdown at the end of this review. Its stock DAC module is equipped with a flagship ES9039S PRO DAC chip, while the amp module consists of two OPA1612A op-amps which will be driving your cans. The coolest feature of the XD05 PRO is that we are dealing with a fully modular DAC/Amp combo and in time, we’ll be able to swap the stock DAC and amp modules with new ones that are currently under development. The big guy is called XD05 PRO and in the following chapters, I’m going to reveal all the good, the bad, and the ugly. You can dislike its sheer size, weight, and ballsy look, however, these guys put a much bigger effort into polishing its sound, tone, timbre, and feature set, which I believe are standing out from the crowd. Some of those ideas are not ready to be revealed and the unit that I’m most proud about isn’t ready yet, but the gizmo that I will be testing today was discussed for a very long time.
#Angry gorilla plus
From their tiny XP2 PRO to bigger units like XD05 Plus and XD05 BAL, the sound was brimming with more life compared to their close competitors.Īround two years ago I started exchanging emails with xDuoo, trying a plant a few ideas that might be adopted in the future. Starting with tiny dongles and moving up the ladder to bigger units, all of them had an unmistakable house sound that could only be described as fun, life-like, and very dynamic sounding.

I tried multiple desktop and portable devices of xDuoo and up to this point, all of them have been meticulously tested around here. This website and YouTube channel sprinkled with life thanks to an xDuoo TA-20 review that started it all. I have a long history reviewing xDuoo gear.
